Bron IIII Makes for a Worthy End

Bron IIII picks well in on one of the hottest themes of modern (Western) society. That was welcome as the previous events came over a bit far sought. Immigration issues tend to attract populistic debate and, with The Bridge, popular detective series which reflect actual tendances. In that option we are captivated once again. 

From the second episode on Saga is being presented a bit like a super heroine after her dismissal out of prison, but okay no series withour her autistic character and super heroes fight back so that's where the viewers like to identify. But our clear-sighted heroine has obviously some traumas and then you need a therapist, so she's human after all. Further on the same ingredients - nordic cool, nice air shots, dark sides and intrigues of course and many story lines - which fans love and expect and that is overall a good thing.

In episode four things get in acceleration but it never gets really cheap. At the right times information is being brought to light and contributors to the story shed their mysterious skins. As said, this series go along with modern times: abortion issues, the come-back of breast-feeding, office flexibility and the usage of drones... It sets the sphere but that's not the most important point for spectators of Bron want to feel the suspense and that's slowly building up. The main story-line even reminds us at the mother of modern crime movies, Seven, with the means of death penalty, a list of seven deaths that the killer seems to go by when choosing his victims.

Like business networks

Bron IIII's also like business networks, family or a little village: in the end everyone's connected and that's on one hand a bit too simplistic, but on the other hand the chess play and unexpected turns can begin, certainly in episode six. That's how detective series often go or speed up because otherwise you have a boring story and The Bridge is no difference: find the connector or connection and you come close to the killer. 

        Øresund Bridge © BBC

But what's special is that another crime story entertwines and also comes to a close here. And that gives it some extra salt and pepper. So all in all the production team keeps the level that is expected from them. When it gets difficult there's always the autistic side that solves things or messes it up which is a useful means for the scenarist. 

"When it gets difficult there's always the autistic side that solves things or messes it up"

Bron IIII is in my opinion a worthy end - better than the third - to a popular series before it becomes a gimmick. And the theme song's main verse "Everything goes back to the beginning" shows that there's always been an underlaying psychological line or motive in Bron which proves this series was not put together at random. That's why the translation of Bron in dutch becomes very appropriate : the source!

----------

       • Bron | Broen 4 (TV series, 2018, Sweden-Denmark), 8 episodes

☆ Created by Hans Rosenfeldt. Written by Hans Rosenfeldt and Camilla Ahlgren

☆ Starring Sofia Helin and Thure Lindhardt

☆ Sveriges Television (SVT), Danmarks Radio (DR) and the German ZDF are the main financiers and co-producers of the series. ZDF is also the distributor.

☆ Nordic noir is a genre of crime fiction happening in 'dark' Scandinavia, usually seen from police pov. The Nordic has a history of almost two centuries in crime writing. Due to its success, demand for this top export product has overgrown production capacity

28.09.2018

LES NÉGRESSES VERTES Live @ De Casino, Sint-Niklaas - Belgium - 05.05.2018

ARTISTS BY NATURE BACK FOR FESTIVAL SUMMER

This review on the gig of Les Négresses Vertes at De Casino (Sint-Niklaas) appeared on Peek-a-boo (www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be) also and I put it here too. In may 2018 Négresses Vertes visited Belgium and Holland and sold out these gigs. Luckily I was there... Now we're a year later and Les Négresses are still going strong in their neighbouring countries with another hot summer in sight. So my heading remains relevant!

One of the most original, playful and rhythmic bands from France, Europe and even the world has decided to tour again and to visit Flanders and Holland in april and may for that reason. Les Négresses Vertes… weren’t that those punks in costumes with their mix of rock, chanson and world music? Sort of… Because Music rebought their back catalogue and rereleased the four studio albums of the band, also on LP. And the record label wanted to celebrate that in the best way possible. The idea was launched, they talked… et voilà. End of february 2018 their secretly prepared tour began carefully with three shows in Wallonia. In the end there were more than eighty dates fixed and there are still new shows being added to the list. The interest in this band remains big and rightfully so!

That Helno, the poet and parttime clown from the 19th arrondissement of Paris, isn’t present anymore because of death is known. His cheeky lyrics and first fellow bandmembers, for a good part, still are. Those that remember the record sleeve of debut Mlah (1988), where the tour is being dedicated to, know that they were a numerous family. The first two drummers and also the pianist/multi-instrumentalist L'Ami Jo left the band already long ago. Longtime accordeonist Canavese too has been replaced for this tour. That still makes five of the original gang joining in: the Mellino’s, the brothers Paulus (or Paulo and Sirinix) and also film maker Michel Ochowiak aka Twist. Mlah roughly means ‘it’s okay’ in Arabian slang and was a good indication for the musical ode the band brings to the diversity in Paris and suburbs.

An old friend’s visit

Just outgrown the Paris’ subway and the flea market of Saint-Ouen, it went fast upwards for Négresses Vertes. That changed suddenly with the disappearing of their figure-head. The rise has been stopped since then, the pleasure in music and life of the bandmembers didn’t. The ferventness may have gone away or become lesser, but the fire, the accordion melodies, the southern guitar rhythms and the trumpet and trombone blowing – what made them so unique – are still present. However it must be noted that the impressive percussion of the debut is missing. New drummer Rabaté often plays a serious beat and Iza Mellino does her trick but only a tambourine or shakers are not a match for the original hand rhythm section. It might be the reason the pace in their show has weakened a bit.



Besides that is replacing the astute frontman Helno a nearly impossible task. The Négresses solved it again among themselves and that certainly was and is the most integer choice. The loss of inspiration and counter-balance that street rascal Helno gave to the other singer (and also guitarist) Mellino and the members after all caused a creative impoverishment with the band, ultimately performing till begin 2002. Gathered around a common no future-sentiment, the first but also second album stood full of realistic and dark pessimistic songs despite the cheerful folk sounds. A brilliant paradox so to say!

"Their first two albums stood full dark songs despite cheerful folk sounds. A brilliant paradox!"

Maybe therefore that current accordionist Cizzko started their magnificent 'Valse' out of the dark. Following immediately was a line put out to the other tormented by life, the fishermen, with the anthem 'Pas La Mer À Boire'. The song started out a bit slowly but what an ingenious lyrics and accordion melody!

The merry 'Voilà l’Été' gets dug up every year with the first rays of sun and that timing was right on here again. It’s a classic and not only with the lovers of the French chanson. Paolo on vocals and with his little ukulele managed to give the song yet another new life. The first climax also for the fans of trumpet and trombone thanks to Sirinix and Twist. Furthermore, guitar player Mellino has been touring long enough to articulate his dutch words perfectly. Little things maybe but it feeds the good vibes.

The concert needed some time – let’s say as with the visit of an old friend – but once loose it went swinging from 'Orane' with its mysterious arabic (electronic) tones completed by organ over 'Hey Maria', a complaint against suicide, to Mellino’s equally rhythmic 'L’Homme Des Marais' that made the party explode for the first time. An ode to love but surrounded by a swamp, what did you expect? While most of the songs were played on a classic and acoustic guitar the band moulded 'Les Yeux De Ton Père' in a more modern rock jacket with Mellino on electric guitar, Cizzko on portable keyboard and Paulo at vocals. Undoubtedly they know their punk classics – The Clash wasn’t far off – but it was somewhat more upbeat which yielded a lot of applause.

Post-punk manifest

On 'Les Rablablas' Mellino and Cizzko, reunited with his Parisian trademark, threw themselves – not for the last time - enthousiastically on the front of the stage near or under the fans. And during the close of 'Zobi', in fact a genuine post-punk manifest, trombonist Sirinix this time played for living fly that fears to be crushed. You don’t have to sing perfectly if you have a sense for the song but what a vibrating atmosphere! With Mellino driving the rhythm as a worthy gypsy king and finishing it off solo. As for show and artistry he and his ‘copains’ don’t need lessons. While they’re in their fifties they even more resemble a travelling musical street theater group than before.

In the encores that same man soloed in the beautifully shady 'Face À La Mer', after which he picked  the melancholic sounding slow 'Hasta Llegar' on his Spanish guitar, supported by Paulo and his familiar bass. Also 'Les Mégots', another somewhat slow song from the same Trabendo album, showed up. Only for a real festival band to make a ska version of it and that’s when the trombone plays a leading role while Ochowiak took over the bass. And even rapping wasn’t akin to the Parisians. They used it to wrap around the public and their final song 'Soleil De Bodega'. That was the absolute climax of the evening with the whole crowd on fire at the southern flamenco rumba guitar rhythms.

Conclusion: musically maybe a little less perfect and sharp than before, it’s obvious that Les Négresses Vertes remain artists by nature with a big joie-de-vivre, with strong danceable folk songs and with a twist (literally and figuratively 😉). At the same time they’re punks that don’t give a damn about likes on the internet. No, they prefer to play music! Who missed them out in Sint-Niklaas, Rijkevorsel or Leuven: don’t panic... In Belgium you can still see them in august this year on Dranouter, the Brussels Summer Festival and in Namur (Festival Des Solidarités). La fête, mlah!

Setlist: La Valse/ C'est Pas La Mer À Boire/ Voilà l'Été/ La Faim Des Haricots/ Orane/ Hey Maria/ L'Homme Des Marais/ La Danse Des Négresses Vertes/ Il/ Marcelle Ratafia/ Les Yeux De Ton Père/ Les Rablablas Les Roubliblis/ Zobi La Mouche

Encore 1: Face A La Mer/ Hasta Llegar/ Les Mégots

Encore 2: Sous Le Soleil De Bodega

19.05.2018

Another Cold-hot Issue!

END OF THE WORLD MIGHT'VE BEEN NEARER THAN WE THOUGHT

It used to be better! In the days... Okay, this was what I thought at the height of fundamentalism attacks on western society. It wasn't too hard to conclude that. At this moment things have bettered, it seems the safety and peace have returned a bit, and we can only hope this will last. We don't want to live in fear or lose our western values, that's as obvious as it is a truism. But things go fast and guess what, maybe cold war times are coming back or maybe, in the darkest holes, these times never ended. I don't want to make this net op-ed too political, I'm not that man... Just keep in mind that in cold war times, even or especially in the eighties, the end of the world might've been much nearer than we thought.

Pretty tight sphere

Maybe you've seen the documentary The Man Who Saved the World about the Russian colonel Stanislav Petrov who allegedly prevented a nuclear disaster after Soviets panicked when they got a false nuclear alarm call in september 1983. Okay, maybe this incident has been blown up (sorry...) somewhat for filmic reasons. If not we can't ask colonel Petrov anymore because sadly he died in 2017. So we should ask another protagonist when not under wodka. But that's not the point, the documentary captures well the sphere in militaristic circles of that time and that was pretty tight. The end of the world was close but funnily it was as in the movies where they say:

"There's a bomb under the table"

... it never happened and that's why I'm writing about it now. Still, was it that better? Hum... it's not that the Russians were or are such darlings but personally I prefer communists with their psychological warfare over a bunch of fundamentalistic madmen who are shredding themselves and your favourite discotheque (yeah I'm a bit old-fashioned) into pieces just when you think you're a polar bear at the cold North Pole.

        Grauzone - Eisbär (remastered)

And then, obviously, you can not weep anymore... I mean that goes from icecold to burning hot in a few seconds and honestly... no one will benefit from such an act. Some do ages to come to that understanding, others just use their logical natural reasoning. It's true, I oversimplify these things and for many it's not as playful as I want my words to be. Far off in fact, there's a lot of misery, hidden or not, we all know that but that's not what I want to say. I started to say things used to be better. And I wanted to add... 'in espionage times'. Again not everyone will agree to that and maybe on second thought I don't fully agree anymore either.

Espionage never ended

Because what I realise now is: espionage times never ended - it just evolved - and cold war is what we're sitting in right at this moment. It's just that most of us are not being aware of it. I don't know if this will become clearer in future but one can say the dazzling trick of governments worked well because few have noticed what's really going on... Foreign jet fighters still cross other national borders in a provoking game. The teasing continues and there are some new competitors that try to profile themselves in today's cold war. Rockets are back in style. So I ask myself who will become the new Petrov?

   

   Russian colonel Stanislav Petrov in 1999 © Juliet Butler 

In the new documentary he will most probably be an underground internet hero that has prevented a state from undergoing a lethal hacking attack. No need to ask in fact, because such a movie might have already been made and analogous stories will be made in future although they will not be a mainstream succes or else the blinding trick would fail. It's not that sources come out that easily, it's more - like I said - that things go faster now. Anyway still nothing can compare to the dark eighties espionage movies. So yes, to answer my own question, it used to be better now! Enough written, I'll end with something I don't question and that is polar bears DO weep. Yet that's another alarming cold-hot issue...

----------

       • The Man Who Saved the World (2013, Statement Film, Denmark)

☆ Directed by Peter Anthony. Starring Stanislav Petrov, Kevin Costner, Nataliya Vdovina and Sergey Schnyryov

☆ Awarded eight times and nominated seven times at festivals around the world

www.themanwhosavedtheworldmovie.com

15.02.2018