The legendary Belgian poet Jotie T'Hooft developed a heroin addiction at a very early age, around 16 or 17. At 17 or 18, this addiction led to him spending more than a year in a juvenile prison/ detention center: Rijksheropvoedingsgesticht Ruiselede (the Ruiselede State Reformatory).
The poem ‘In het Gedicht’ (In the Poem) is about this period, during which he was deeply unhappy. Change the letters in the title from ‘d’ to ‘st’ and you get a completely different title: ‘In het Gesticht’ (In the Asylum). It is remarkable that the images in this clip were filmed in this ‘asylum’. Revealing unique images of the very white corridors of the chapel Jotie T'Hooft had to walk to attend church services on Sundays. With brilliant drawings by Jenny Collot d'Escury, great vocals by Jan Eilander
A track from the album: Jan Eilander sings Jotie T'Hooft.
Production & music: Rainer Hensel
When Jaap Cohen, the author of the biography about filmmaker/writer Theo van Gogh, was driving along the highway beside Lake De Kaag, he listened to the music from this videoclip. He pulled off the highway, stopped, bewildered, and listened to the lyrics:
Wij roeiden op zwart water, omringt door riet van goud
Het was zo koud het was zo stil, alsof de wind ons had bevroren
We rowed on black water, surrounded by golden reeds
It was so cold, it was so quiet, as if the wind had frozen us
Jaap was overwhelmed that the villainous critic Theo van Gogh had such a poetic, gentle side. This is the video clip for the music, composed for this tranquil poem. Filmed on the Kaag, on ‘black water’ surrounded by ‘golden reeds’. Beautifully sung by the “Tom Waits of the lowlands”: Jos Bloemkolk.
From the CD: Gloedvolle Momenten (Glowing Moments).
Production & music: Rainer Hensel
The filmmaker/ journalist/ social critic Theo van Gogh experienced his wildest years between the ages of 18 and 20. He drank heavily, wrote short stories and poems like a wild man, slept very little, and used a lot of drugs. His local bar was Café Bellefleur in Amsterdam, a rough place filled with the strangest characters. Jaap Cohen, the biographer, described the regulars at this bar as an extremely curious collection of human oddities. Many of these characters played the strangest supporting roles in his first film, Luger.
This video clip is about this café. Theo wrote the lyrics about a rapidly aging woman who regularly met her ex-husband in this café. It perfectly captures the “down and out” atmosphere of Theo van Gogh's life during that period. Brilliantly sung by the Tom Waits of the Lower Countries: Jos Bloemkolk.
From the CD: Gloedvolle Momenten (Glowing Moments).
Production & music: Rainer Hensel
The American poet Charles Bukowski states: A brilliant poem should groove like the rattling rhythm of a typewriter. When Rainer Hensel read the following lines of poetry by Jotie T'Hooft:
De lucht is zwanger van mijn zaad, dat doelloos wegeschoten geen sporen laat
Dan geel-gerande vlekken op het laken, en de snel verdwijnende vochtaanslag van mijn eigen hijgen, op uitzichtloos venstergals
The air is pregnant with my seed, that aimlessly shot away leaves no traces
Except yellow-edged stains on the sheet, and the quickly disappearing moisture from my own panting, on windowpanes without a view
After having read these lines Rainer decided to set Jotie T'Hooft's poems to music. Rainer called his soul mate, singer/screenwriter Jan Eilander, and this is the first track from this collaboration. Electronic drums are used to accentuate the groove, while bandoneon, piano, and double bass provide a musical interpretation of these uniquely vicious lyrics about loneliness and melancholy. Vocals: Jan Eilander, drawings: Jenny Collot dÉscury,
From the album: Jan Eilander zingt Jotie T’Hooft
production & music: Rainer Hensel