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Archive for July, 2011

We still had to get in shape: it was only the third song of the evening. In the dark, all kinds of percussion instruments are put on stage. The orchestra started the wonderful Cinema Time from Franck van der Heijden, and Uffe and Morten got on stage. It was very impressive music; with the drums of Safri Duo, huge screens appeared behind the orchestra showing different kinds of African masks. A hard rhythm for the conductor and the orchestra. Where will it lead to? A first climax as from 3:30. And then the sounds of The Bongo Song echo through the arena; all hands in the Sportpaleis are beating the same rhythm. It still don’t know what Uffe is shouting at 7:05 but from then on it goes to a stormy second climax of their show. Followed by Ace of Base on the stage, but that is another story.

This is a historical recording. You can see the young Robert Groslot directing the ouverture of Gershwin’s musical Porgy & Bess; Robert also was the laureate of the Queen Elisabeth competition and shows his talents at the piano.
It’s the first performance of a choir, not fully organized and without the current discipline, which will become Fine Fleur two years later.
The stage is setup longitudinal at the south of the Sportpaleis (18 000 spectators!).
Many expected Sting only at the end of the show but from 2:15 you can hear their enthousiasme when the see him on stage in the first part of the show. Sting’s voice is perfect for the song and he brings it with much joy. He will use this experience in the future.

Shaggy has proven during the show of 2004, the 20th edition in Antwerp, that also another type of artists had their place at the NOTP shows. UB40 was a guest in 2000 but reggae- and dancehallmusic like this was never seen before.
After the classical introduction at the beginning of the show, Il Novecento is playing a Spanish intro which is followed by Laurie Wisefield, the nice guitar player who plays with the Electric Band for many years; he quickly gets a reaction of the audience in his search of Olé’s.
From the first tone following that, the audience is clapping and Shaggy is heating them up even more, supported by Rayvon. Wonderful ambiance!

This isn’t Mozart or any other old composer, but the very alive (classical) music of Karl Jenkins, who was a guest at the Proms with Adiemus in 2001. Later, in 2008, he played his work again with Il Novecento. A fixed rhythm that you spontanious will clap along and leads you to a big finale.
After about two minutes, Patrick De Smet, the sympathetic percussionist of the orchestra, comes up to ask the cooperation of the audience. Except for a few, Patrick took part in all the NOTP shows since 1986