Curator: Jan Turkenburg
Subject: Puzzelstukken (Jigsaw pieces)
echo 5
nederlandse versie
« previous week next week »
| |
Curator: Jan Turkenburg Subject: Puzzelstukken (Jigsaw pieces) echo 5 nederlandse versie « previous week next week » |
 |
1. Peter Live at De Muziekdoos Antwerp, april 9 1988 - Message in a bottle First of all, I would like to tell you something about the person who gave me the cassette with "Puzzelstukken": Peter G. In 1988 he was a street musician in Antwerp, Belgium, just like yours truly. Peter was one of the few fellow buskers who used to sleep every now and then at my place, a cheap appartment at the second floor of a house in the Scheldestraat. He was a very poor but also very decent young man, who at least did not vomit on your stairs in the middle of the night. A clever and versatile singer guitarist with a large repertoire, but mainly known in Antwerp as the singer of Sting/Police- songs. He admired my beginning music collection on tapes and vinyl and he also liked to use my primitive recording equipment. Sometimes he brought along cassettes for me with recordings of local artists. He let me keep some of those tapes. "Puzzelstukken" is the first of two that I want to pay attention to in this project. But not before I've let you hear the music of Peter, live at De Muziekdoos (=musicbox) at the first night I saw him perform. |
 |
2. Wouter Smekers - Puzzelstukken (over 17 minutes!) In fact I don't know very much about this piece or it's composer/performer. It sounds to me as a attempt to make a cross-over between the styles of Philip Glass and Mike Oldfield. I remember it was a friend of Peter, who studied at Antwerp's "Conservatorium" (music academy), but I'm not sure. What I do remember clearly is why it was called: "puzzelstukken" (=jigsaw pieces). Peter told me the title was about the way the piece was constructed and recorded. Wouter Smeekers had tried to create the illusion of a flute-player who didn't need any breath. Today this can be achieved easily with computers, but Smeekers only had a four track tape recorder: after he had recorded keyboard and guitar he played the flute-part "with gabs" in it. On the fourth track he had filled in those blanc spaces, which made it sound like a perpetual motion. In spite of some minor imperfections it somehow still impresses me. I've tried to find Wouter Smeekers and Peter G. on the internet, but with no result. Maybe one of the Belgian visitors can help me a bit with this. I'm very curious what has become of both of them. |