W.E.R.F. Records Night

As the starting signal for the AMOK festival, KAAP and Cactus join forces for a free evening full of musical adventure, spread over Cactus Club and Cactus Café! For this, KAAP selected a colorful mix of artists from their in-house label W.E.R.F. Records, a quality guarantee for jazz and genre-defying musical talent from our own soil for over thirty years. On the program: immersive dream pop by Margitte, infectious global fusion grooves by re#encounter and Compro Oro, soulful hip hop and R&B by Kunde and Helena Casella, and mesmerizing trance music by bààn. The evening will be closed with a DJ set by W.E.R.F. label head DJ Fallujah in Cactus Café! bààn @ Cactus Café bààn is a Belgian instrumental duo, founded in 2016 in Brussels by Pascal N. Paulus (who helped define the sound of Melanie De Biasio’s breakthrough record No Deal) and Jean-Philippe De Gheest. In their music, they weave ambient, psych, jazz, and rock, creating an intoxicating atmosphere that immediately takes the listener to distant places. Pascal N. Paulus: synths Jean-Philippe De Gheest: drums, percussion Margitte @ Cactus Café Margitte is the band around the Ghent musician Margot De Ridder. Inspired by diverse musical influences, from jazz to twee pop and indie rock, Margitte creates an ethereal, but at the same time sharp and above all characteristic sound. Margot De Ridder: lead vocals, synths Artan Buleshkaj: guitar Annelies De Ridder: synths, backing vocals Simon Raman: drums DJ Fallujah @ Cactus Café Na all the live violence, Fallujah - who is just called Benny Claeysier and is a label executive of W.E.R.F. records - takes care of the turntables. Dancing into the night! Compro Oro @ Cactus Club Al for more than ten years, Compro Oro has been mixing jazz with grooves they get from all over the world, from Turkish psychedelia to salsa and boogaloo to Ethio jazz. For their latest project, they are diving into the Congolese Rumba. Together with the Congolese singer and likembé virtuoso Bouton Kalanda, they will release a full album in early 2027. At AMOK, you get a foretaste – albeit without Bouton. Wim Segers: vibraphone Bart Vervaeck: guitar Falk Schrauwen: percussion Frederik Van den Berghe: drums Matthias Debusschere: bass Helena Casella @ Cactus Club De name Helena Casella grew in a short time into an established value within the Belgian jazz, soul, and R&B scene. The particularly talented Belgian-Brazilian singer and songwriter delivered an impressive debut album with Pit Of Impressions and has since shone on numerous stages at home and abroad. Neo-soul of the highest level, which beckons to the level of greats like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu. And no, that is not an exaggeration. Helena Casella: Vocals, Keys Max Sergeant: Drums Agus Fulka: Guitar Tomas Casella: vocals and percussion Léa Kadian: Bass Thibaut deryckere: Keys Seppe de Bleser: Alto sax KUNDE @ Cactus Club De Belgische rapper with Cameroonian roots KUNDE is a master of storytelling and a true performer. Both his albums, ‘Dandelion’ (2024) and ‘Late Bloomer’ (2026), are autobiographical and tell the story of growing up as a child between two worlds. His music is a refined mix of (neo) soul, jazz, and hip hop. Joram Kunde Boumkwo: keys, synths, vocals and percussion Samuel Mampuya: drums Léa Kadian: bass Seppe De Bleser: sax and flute Peter Lesage: synths