The Orchestre International du Vetex started up in february 2004. Two professional Flemish (Belgian Dutch-speaking) musicians, Ruben Deprez and Michaël De Schrijver, gathered volunteers in the deprived neighbourhood of Venning-Veemarkt in Kortrijk (Belgium) to create a festive brassband for the yearly Spanish ‘Fiesta Mestiza’ in the old building of the knitting factory Vetex. Next to the locals of Kortrijk, they also found musicians in the french-speaking part of Belgium, Wallonia, ánd across the French border in Lille.