Fontyn is now on holiday in Normandy, but was called by the VRT’s radio channel MNM. Fontyn confessed that it was “the worst possible nightmare for any artist. I had prepared very well, though, but suffered a complete black-out. I had never sung the Brabançonne before, but had memorised the lyrics. Then this black-out came. I am a jazz singer so I couldn’t stop. I started to improvise as I did not want to throw in the towel. I had to end in style.” (click on the photo on top to play)

Things had already gone wrong before the silence fell, when she confused a couple of words, which put a smile on the faces of some Belgian players, while others were frowning. The incident triggered a hype on social media: “But I was already on holiday then, so I didn’t read them.” 

Helena Fontyn takes it with a philosophical touch: “When everything goes well, nobody says something. But when things go wrong, everybody has noticed. Call it a professional hazard.”

Flandersnews.be / Expatica