Newsletter 10
Autumn 2001
- Unlimited XV
- Ex & Ethiopia
- Some reviews
- The movie
- Kat & IvaA bizarre half year it
has been. It all started so well: some good tours in France and Holland,
the release of our regular album Dizzy Spells, followed by Een Rondje
Holland, the live album of Ex Orkest (the extended Ex big band), a
succesful tour with The Ex in the US, and Ex Orkest shows at festivals in
Europe.
Then, in September, while on our way to concerts in Texas and New Orleans,
halfway the Atlantic our plane had to turn back due to the horrible
terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. No doubt, suddenly music was
the last thing on our minds. But, although we find it only fair that those
responsible shall be punished, we don't believe that bombing Afghanistan
is the solution. Let's face it: there is no war against terrorism. If
there was, quite a few of our sudden allies would be facing the same
treatment. Mirror, mirror on the wall... There's only a war against those
which suit our governments best. For the moment, that is. Where's the will
to stop the cause of this aggression? Famine, poverty, imperialism,
greed... Dr. Frankenstein, you've created a munster! Of course, we feel
sorry for the innocent victims in New York. But the same goes for the ones
in Kabul.
We realize, somehow it sounds futile, to talk about music right now. But
then again: music, art, culture, that's what can save us from savagery.
And we know we are with many who believe in this. Let this be our weapon.
Don't go to pieces, go for peace.
Unlimited XV in Wels,
Austria
As we already wrote in our News Letter number 9, we had the honour to
get invited to curate the fifteenth version of the Unlimited Festival at
the Alter Schlachthof in Wels, Austria. A fantastic opportunity to invite
some of our favourite musicians to play at the same event. The programme
is as follows (although there may be, of course, last-minute changes.
Check out the festival's website www.servus.at/w8 for more details): on
Friday the 9th of November there's Banda Ionica (a brassband from South
Italy with amazing funeral music), Mary Oliver (Amsterdam violin-player of
American origin going solo), Terrie Ex & Han Bennink (Terrie teams up
with the world's number one drummer), Kletka Red (Andy's other band, a
cosmopolitan mix of klezmer, noise, and world music, formed around Ne
Zhdali's Leonid Soybelman). DJ on the first night is Roy Paci (Ex Okest,
Manu Chao, Banda Ionica).
Saturday the 10th there's Iva Bittova & Katherina Ex (violin, drums,
vocals; Iva and Katherina give a foretaste of their upcoming Spring tour),
followed by Happy Wizz (our friends from Bordeaux who never leave town:
"It's cool that you've invited us for the festival, but we are a bad
band. You must be crazy!"). Next will be Melt Banana (radical and
extreme music from Japan), and the Ethiopian Azmari Group (from Addis
Abeba, featuring masenko players, dancers and drummers; their
social/cultural functioning can be compared with that of the Mexican
mariachi-bands). The last band that night will be (surprise, surprise) The
Ex itself, and after that DJ Hans Falb (organizer of the magnificient
yearly Konfrontationen festival in Nickelsdorf) will take over.
On Sunday the 11th you can enjoy 4Walls (Luc's other group, the successor
of Roof), Zu (our punkjazz friends from Rome who always leave town),
Shellac (intelligent rock music from Chicago, should we say more), and
final band of the festival will be Fanfare Savale (irresistible gypsy
music from Roumania-Moldavia to be more precise- from the village of
Savale where literaly everybody plays a brass instrument). Andy will close
the night as DJ with his favourite music picks.
There will be record stalls, an art exhibition, (Ethiopian) food, films
during the daytime (The Best of Spike Jones, Jacques Tati's Jour de Fete),
and more. Anyway, for the latest information about all this and the rest
(ticket-prices, accomodation, addresses, whatever... check out the website
(www.servus.at/w8, remember). Hope to see you there!
Beautiful Frenzy
At the end of this year The Ex can be seen on the cinema screen. Beautiful
Frenzy, an unconventional and musical portrait of the band, will be
premiered in late November during the renowned IDFA, the yearly
International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam.
The film, the first release of CUT Productions, was made by Christina
Hallström and Mandra U. Wabäck, two independent Swedish filmmakers
living in Amsterdam, who filmed the band on location over a period of two
years: on tour in Europe and the US, along squats, clubs and festivals,
during rehearsals, and at the band-members homes. Crossed with various
archive material and poetic sequences, the film gives a vivid impression
of the band making music without giving in to established conventions.
Made with modest means (i.e. digital video cameras, a lot of sweat, a
couple of tears), with the help of dear friends, and with no support
whatsoever from any official sources within the Dutch film industry, the
result is an unorthodox document on independent music-made by two
independent filmmakers going their own way, in the same spirit as the
band.
The Ex & Han Bennink
& Ethiopia
We're still in the process of definitely making it become reality, but
we're getting more sure every day that in January 2002 The Ex together
with drummer Han Bennink will travel to Ethiopia. We've been busy
organising like mad the last couple of months, and still not everything is
totally sorted out yet, but eh, well, anywyay, we're getting there. As one
can understand it'll be pioneering and not easy; they don't really have a
vital rock club scene! We'll be one of the first foreign bands to go
there, but then again, the idea didn't come from the aim of doing
something completely different or extreme, or being the first ever. It
more grew out of our love for Ethiopian popmusic, lots of conversations
and meetings with Ethiopians in Holland and elsewhere, and a growing
understanding of this incredible country; the culture, the people, its
unfortunate history. Slowly but strongly we got convinced that we should
go there and that, maybe, somehow, the Ex music could have an impact over
there.
For years now we have been big fans of this fantastic Ethiopian music,
especially from the "Golden Years"; late 60ies till 1974. At the
end of the Haile Selassie reign there was an unprecedented outburst of
creativity and renewal. In this short periode over 500 singles and 30
elpees were released. On Philips, but also on two independents: Amha
Records and Kaifa Records. Next to that there's thousands of songs on
tapes and in radio archives. A kind of pop music and jazz, with western
elements picked up from the radio, lots of brass from army bands, but
still typically Ethiopian. The scales, the vocals, the flair. But Ethiopia
suffers from a confusing image problem. Of course, it's poor, and there
are many problems, but it is not all desert and misery. There's mountains,
with big rivers and lakes. (80% of the water of the Nile comes from
there!) There's agriculture, cattle-breeding, amazing food, a very strong
culture of its own because it has never been colonized.
The musical heydays ended in 1974 due to the military coup of dictator
Mingistu. Musicians were thrown in jail if they didn't flee the country. A
crisis lasting till 1991. A lot of that beautiful music has vanished.
Culturally the country is still suffering. The musicians of old have died,
or are still abroad, often totally demoralized. Ethiopia received a lot of
help, but never culturally, and the new music-generation wants it
desperately. They want contact, encounter new things and exchange
experiences. And so Ethiopians in Holland encouraged us to start this
enterprise. They believe that the live-music of Han Bennink and a band
like The Ex can mean an inspirational impulse. Of course we're not sure
what to expect, but it's quite a challenge to find out and we're willing
to take the risk!
Early this year two of us already went to Addis Abeba, to check out if
people were interested at all or not, if there were places to play,
etcetera. The Dutch Embassy organised a dinner with musicians,
journalists, theatre-holders, to get acquainted. At first they looked a
bit like: "Why would you bother, we have our own music...", but
when they heard the music and saw some of the videos we had brought, they
all opened up and became very enthusiastic.
So now we have possibilities to play in at least three theatres, at two
music schools and there's a possible cooperation with Circus Ethiopia, set
up to help young kids and active in 15 cities. We also found a bus for
transport, and the plan is to play Addis Abeba and then make a round trip
to cities in the north. Equipment would be a problem, as there is hardly
anything there. But with financial support from Chumbawamba we will buy it
here, fly it over and leave it there after the tour with people who really
need it. Some music school, a circus group, we'll see. They hardly have
material, but the more spirit. So if we can be of help a bit, that would
be great. A true challenge this is, really!
Some reviews
THE EX - Dizzy Spells Now into their third decade as Holland's bravest
avant-punk terrorists, the Ex seem incapable of slowing down. (...)
Rhythmically (for starters), there are few who can touch the Ex, and
Albini's hand lends these proceedings an especially scalpel-sharp wallop,
allowing the band's now-trademarked taut, skittering trapwork, thrusting
bass-encounter play and nicked-guitar screech to propel their cleverly
refined political/social text with an irrepressible mix of dexterity and
abrasiveness. Drummer Katrin occasional steps up to pierce the clattering
with her clean, folk-influenced soprano, but it's sing-shouter G.W. Sok
who provides Dizzy Spells with its most up-front bite, especially on the
frantic opener "Town Of Stone" ("No chance to stop this
money vulture/ From turning bullshit into culture"). Get in their way
at your own risk. [Colin Helms / CMJ]
THE EX - Dizzy Spells Doesn't matter if you're cynical or starry-eyed;
it's still hard to believe that a band formed more than 20 years ago are
capable of releasing a new album that's both vital and worthy of the
promise of their earlier material. But the Ex have defied the odds more
than once. (...) And now, with Dizzy Spells, the quintet may have topped
it all. (...) Whether they're engaging in sparse atmospherics ("Oscar
Beck") or in frenetic, barking punk ("Fistful Of Feed"),
the Ex, like Lungfish and Fugazi, always sound immediate and fresh. And
with its trebly, jittery guitars, "Walt's Dizzyland" is as
jarring a punk song as you're likely to hear in 2001. For as well-received
as 1998's Starters Alternators-the band's Touch And Go debut-was, Dizzy
Spells may prove to be even better. If nothing else, it's more tuneful,
and yet the Ex sacrificed nothing in the name of
"accessibility". [Eric Bensel / Alternative Press]
EX ORKEST - Een Rondje Holland The Ex, one of truly the best live bands
EVER, explodes on this CD, which is both a great departure from their own
work and an expansion of their urgent, suspenseful, driving sound. With 20
musicians at their disposal, the work is like John Williams scoring and
conducting Ex songs played by a marching band, huge, chaotically rhythmic
but pitched forward w/clarity. Weird chanting and whispering in the
corners only adds to the mystery, while horns and drums reveal everything.
They even reconfigure their own songs anew in this form. If it's possible,
this is 10x better than their records with Tom Cora from a number of years
ago. "Een Rondje Holland" is a New Orleans street band meeting
up with poetry, punk, Eastern-European folk and orchestral jazz: mournful
and powerful, angry and crashing. (The bizarre tongue-lashings of Jaap
Blonk are amongst the many sounds, too). One of the records of the year,
in my book. [RE / Other Music]
Iva Bittova &
Katherina Ex
Iva Bittova from Brno in the Czech Republic hardly needs an introduction.
Her music has triumphed in many a venue all over Europe. Except for her
violin-playing, she is also very well know for her fantastic vocal
talents, through which she manages again and again to create a special
atmosphere. Moravian folk music, classical music, and jazz mix with the
most ingenuous and bizarre guttural sounds.
Iva and Katherina got to know each other in April 1995 when The Ex and Iva
played at a festival in The Hague. They both liked what the other did that
night, and so they kept in contact. So, when Iva came to Holland during
the spring of 2000 for a series of concerts and was looking for a partner
to play with, she asked Katherina to join her. They rearranged some of
their own songs and the rest of their repertoire contained of
improvisations. They both liked the result very much, so they decided to
continue this collaberation when a new opportunity would present itself.
Well, that opportunity is now. In November they will be playing at the
festival in Wels, in February next year they will be touring Holland and
Belgium.
+++ That's all. No
shortcuts this time. +++ News Letter no. 11 will arrive in April 2002. +++
Bye for now. +++
Andy, Terrie, Luc, Sok,
Katherina, Colin, Grrrt
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