Dinner with De Kift. |
De Kift is rehearsing a new show that will be premièred at the Oerol festival on the Waddenzee island Terschelling in June. Twice a week fans come in to cook for the band in its rehearsal room and offices in Koog aan de Zaan. A building that may have been a factory owner's home right opposite the factory, as was usual around 1900. The band rehearses in a large garden shed, in which it also records most of its records. Something of a sacred ground for fans, looking at it this way. We even got a glimpse of how De Kift's cd covers are assembled, as usually they are works of art in their own right. Sorry, we didn't see the new one.
De Kift head quarters |
A fan never knows what to expect next. The new project can be a regular song cycle album, an
opera or a stage show with lots of music. 'Bidonville' is the last option.
Matthijs studying sequences. |
If something became clear, it's that being De Kift is hard work. The switching of instruments looks tiring from just standing in the audience. Here we saw how narrow escapes are made or that an intended switch is impossible to make in the time allowed. Solutions have to be found, pieces of music changed to make it work. Knowing exactly when to put down a tuba and switch to a zither, from guitar to drums or bass guitar to the glass organ. A piece of music is still missing here, spoken word that has to fit the length of music there. We saw the birth of a harmony contra vocal melody and the addition of the glass organ, just from experimenting a little. For those who don't know, counting is everything to make these rhythms work. To think that the whole visual aspect still has to be added and it is clear that De Kift still has a lot of work ahead of it before the show premières at Oerol. Two shows on most days for a whole week in the open air. In other words, my son and I saw a show coming alive in little steps at a time, while still a long way from perfection. Being De Kift is hard work.
Ferry Heijne. |
For fans of e.g. Tom Waits and Kaizers Orchestra check out this band!
Wo.
All photo's by Wo.
For more information on 'Bidonville' and De Kift see http://dekift.nl/
P.S. Here's the promo filmed during our presence, yes, yours truly is in it for 0.25 of a second:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrAGLh88f1U
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