The village of Liberchies, near Pont-à Celles, is a quiet place in southern Belgium. But it has one claim to fame. On 23 January 1910, the jazz musician Django Reinhardt was born here in a caravan. His parents were French gypsies, or Manouches, who lived a nomadic life.
Originally named Jean, he later adopted the name Django, perhaps because it means ‘I awake’ in the Romani language. For the first 20 years of his life, he never lived in a permanent home.
Django spent his early years learning to play violin, banjo and guitar. He eventually became one of the world’s great jazz musicians.
A large boulder in the village serves as a memorial. Carved on it, a guitar, and the words, in French, ‘To Django, 1910-53, born and cared for in Liberchies’.
The village of Liberchies has for many years celebrated Django’s birth with an annual jazz festival. Cancelled for the past three years because of the pandemic, it is making a comeback later this month, on 17 June.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
