Boris Kor Tom Zeebroek (born in 1985 or 1986) is a Belgian musician, known by the stage name Bolis Pupul. He is best known for his collaborative work with

Charlotte Adigéry Charlotte Adigéry, also known as WWWater, is a Belgian musician. Early life and education Adigéry was born in France and grew up in Ghent, Belgium. Her mother was Jewish, born in France. She is of Martinican and Guadeloupian descent. Her fami ...

, and particularly for their debut album ''

Topical Dancer ''Topical Dancer'' is a studio album by Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul and co-written and co-produced by Soulwax. Released on 4 March 2022 under the label Deewee, ''Topical Dancer'' is Adigéry and Pupul's debut album as a duo. Background ...

''. His solo debut album, '' Letter to Yu'', was released on 8 March 2024. Zeebroek was born in Belgium and raised in Ghent by a Belgian father, the cartoonist

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the absurd nature of his work. He created various comic st ...

, and a Hong Kong-born Chinese mother. He was previously in a

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

band called Hong Kong Dong with his sister and her husband, then later signed as a solo artist with Soulwax's record label

Deewee Deewee, stylized as DEEWEE is a record label founded in 2015 by David and Stephen Dewaele of the band Soulwax. The label operates from a building in Ghent (Belgium) that the Dewaele brothers nickname ''DEEWEE 001'', referring to it as the first ...

, through which both ''Topical Dancer'' and ''Letter to Yu'' were released.

Early life

Boris Kor Tom Zeebroek was born in Belgium and grew up in Ghent. His father is the Belgian cartoonist Luc "Kamagurka" Zeebroek, and his mother, Yu Wei Wun, was a Hong Kong-born Chinese woman. She was born in a maternity clinic on

Ma Tau Wai Road Ma Tau Wai Road () is a main road in Kowloon City District, Kowloon, Hong Kong. History Named after Ma Tau Wai, Ma Tau Wai Road The northern section was named after Ma Tau Chung as Ma Tau Chung Road. There is a new Kowloon City Road that connec ...

which has since become a nursing home, and moved to Belgium at age seven where her parents ran a Chinese restaurant in Aalst. She died in a car accident in June 2008, at age 49. Zeebroek has a sister named Sarah, also referred to as Salah. The name "Bolis" came from how his maternal grandmother pronounced his real first name, and "Pupul" was a sound that his dad would repeat to help him fall asleep. In order to counteract bullies who targeted him for his race, he studied judo. Zeebroek's parents were both music fans who kept their house full of vinyl records. His father was a fan of

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

, and similar artists, while his mother was into Neil Young and introduced her son to ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

''. Zeebroek's interest in music exploded after hearing the

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

albums ''

Mellow Gold ''Mellow Gold'' is the third studio album by American musician Beck, released on March 1, 1994 by DGC Records. Critics noted the album's hybrid of various styles including rock, hip hop, folk, blues, psychedelia, and country, as well as iron ...

'' and '' Odelay'' and attending a Beck concert in

Torhout Torhout (; french: Thourout; vls, Toeroet) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Dri ...

. Subsequently, his father bought a guitar for the home, got Zeebroek a

Fostex is an electronics company that manufactures loudspeakers and audio equipment for other companies or sells them under the trade name Fostex. It is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Overview Foster Denki supplies audio equipment as an OEM: *sp ...

eight-track recorder for his birthday, and would take him to

Herr Seele Herr Seele, the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (Torhout, Belgium, 13 April 1959), is a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor, piano tuner and piano collector. He is mainly known for the absurd humor comic strip ''Cowboy Henk'', for which his col ...

's music shop where he once found a Beck songbook. Zeebroek was also a fan of Cornelius when he was young.

Career

Zeebroek was a member of a

band called Hong Kong Dong with his sister and her husband. Hong Kong Dong competed in '' Humo''s Rock Rally in 2008, reaching the finals in March. After losing their mother later that year, their creativity slowed down. They released their first record in 2012, but interest in the band had waned by that time. Boris and Sarah also appeared in the 2016 film ''

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

'' as part of the fictional band the Shitz, with actor Boris Van Severen as their frontman. They recorded two songs for the soundtrack, "How Long" and "Sell It With Your Face", both written by Soulwax's Stephen and David Dewaele. Zeebroek was one of the first artists signed to Soulwax's record label

after it was founded in 2015. On 4 March 2022, Zeebroek released his debut album, ''

'', a collaboration with fellow Belgian musician

. The two were paired up by the Dewaele brothers, who released the album through Deewee. Zeebroek and Adigéry originally met in 2013, chatting on the terrace of a Ghent jazz café. Zeebroek announced his solo debut album, '' Letter to Yu'', on 29 November 2023. The album was released on 8 March 2024 by Deewee. Zeebroek produced the album with the Dewaele brothers, and recorded it at their studio in Ghent. Its lead single, "Completely Half", was released with a music video shot in Hong Kong by director

Bieke Depoorter Bieke Depoorter (born 1986) is a Belgian photographer. The relationships she establishes with her subjects lie at the foundation of her practice. Depoorter is a member of Magnum Photos and has published the books ''Ou Menya'' (2011), ''I am About ...

. The album was inspired by Zeebroek's mother and his Chinese heritage. Ahead of the album, Zeebroek performed his first solo live show at the Artefact Festival in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

Personal life

Zeebroek lives in the Muide neighborhood of Ghent with his girlfriend, Bieke Depoorter. After his mother died, he and his sister studied

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

for four years. Zeebroek has traveled to Hong Kong four times.

Accolades

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (with

, 2022,

) * '' Letter to Yu'' (2024, Deewee)

EPs

* ''Zandoli'' (with Charlotte Adigéry, 2022)

Singles

Music videos

* "Completely Half" (2023, dir.

)

Remixes

* Metronomy – " Hold Me Tonight"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pupul, Bolis Living people 1980s births Musicians from Ghent Belgian people of Hong Kong descent Deewee artists Synth-pop musicians