Music has never been merely a form of expression. Throughout history, music has created spaces for encounter, resistance, and imagination. From punk and hardcore to other alternative music scenes, subcultures continually find ways to question dominant ideas, form new communities, and make their own voices heard.

Aalst has a rich musical history within these movements. In the 1980s and 1990s, it grew into an important hub for the Belgian hardcore punk scene. Collectives such as Smurfpunx organized concerts for Belgian and international bands and turned places like Netwerk into cultural meeting places where music, a DIY mentality, and social engagement came together.

In collaboration with Rock ‘n Load from Aalst, NW presents a film program that explores the legacy and ongoing influence of these music scenes. The selected documentaries bring together different generations and geographical contexts in which music becomes more than a sound: a way to shape identity, build communities, and develop alternative perspectives on the world.

Each screening is followed by a live performance by a local band, selected by Rock ‘n Load. In this way, the program brings together the historical music scenes and the contemporary underground in Aalst. From the punk movements of the 1970s and 1980s to present-day forms of musical expression, Songs of Dissent shows how music can, time and again, open a space for experimentation, critique, encounter, and collective imagination.

Before the screening, you can have dinner at the No Choice Restaurant by Dennis Tyfus x Kitchen Stories and visit the exhibitions.