How to say your Best Wishes to all?

Dear Reader

Dear Listener

We don't know, but this is how we want to thank you...

2012 was a very unique year for our radio program. Not only did Lumière have his first birthday with the main editor, Ruben Laureys and technician Dieter De Roover. After one year, our program can be proud and conclude that our audience was stable and starts to get a good reputation in the student population of Leuven and an audience worldwide. A new member joined the team, Bert Wastijn, and next to a bigger fanbase on facebook, a new account on mixcloud and a twitter channel, we can proudly say that our blog is our biggest succes. 

After only 4,5 months, our pages and blogs have been read more and more every month. This December, it was visited more than 400 times and we published monthly new facts, opinions and information about our program (average of 6/month). We hope to continue this evolution by growing and presenting even more quality blogs by inviting experts and enthusiasts to write for us. We already received 3 guest blogs that were appreciated by all our readers and started multiple discussion in the small Lumière community. Thank you Laura Van Wymersch and Diana Goderich for writing those great texts for us. We invite u all to contact us, send blogs or get involved with our blog and program to make this an even broader platform for movie music and its history. 

On Air, we also invited a remarkable amount of guests and had opportunities to interview different amazing composers. Not only the World Soundtrack Award winner Brian Byrne and Wim Mertens, also Jef Neve, David Wingo, Lucas Vidal ... made time to get in touch with us. A huge thanks to them and to professor Jan Baetens from the Institute of Cultural Studies in Leuven, who took us more than once in an adventure of Literature that was adapted to the big screen. Those experiences were great for us as team behind Lumière, but we hope they were as educating, entertaining, informative ... for you as they were for us. Also, you are invited to suggestions, remarks and questions to make Lumière even better in 2013.

For a team like us, three volunteers, it's great to produce a weekly program and to work for our weekly hour of movie music. But that isn't the thing that gives us energy: it's you, the listeners of our radio show and the readers of our blog that give us the satisfaction we hope for. We hope to keep raising our amount of audiences and to keep receiving honest and nice feedback! Keep up the good work and we will try to keep up ours too!

So, to get this blog to an end... we would like to thank everyone who ever cooperated with, listened to an read Lumière. We want to stress that for us, this year was magical with only great 'ups' and we hope to continue this even more in the next year. Thanks especially to every name that was mentioned in this blog and every name that slipped our mind. Know that without you, our program wouldn't be what it is now. We hope you'll hear Lumière as it is a program of all of us. Thanks to work, listen and read us. 

Keep spreading the word! To finish, we present to you our top blogs and mixclouds, to relive this year the fullest before entering 2013. Enjoy your stay at our blog and dream with the sounds we played in 2012. 

Blog Top 5: 

1  Soundtrack Broken Circle Breakdown

2  John Parish' soundtrack voor 'Little Black Spiders' opent het Filmfestival van Oostende

3  The Hobbit: Soaring over Middle-Earth (Guest Blog by Laura Van Wymersch)

4  "Rond de wereld met filmmuziek" (V): Spanje

5  The Russian action movie: the sociological poetry of criminality (Guest Blog by Diana Goderich)

Mixcloud Top 5:

1  Lumière 2012.9.9

2  Lumière 2012.16.12 Lumière SPECIAL: Best of Soundtracks on Sunday

3  Lumière 2012.23.9 De Ontknoping (I)

4  Lumière 2012.14.10 "Rond de wereld met filmmuziek" (II): India

5  Lumière 2012.3.09 La Nouvelle Vague - Godard (I)

We hope to 'hear' you soon. With the best of wishes in 2013!

The Lumière Team

Ruben Laureys, Bert Wastijn, Dieter De Roover

Best of Soundtracks on Sunday (Part 3)

Who missed our Best of Soundtracks on Sunday? The Lumière Special is now uploaded on our Mixcloud.

Just curious about the top 10 of the Best of Soundtracks on Sunday that you all picked for us?
Here is the line up!

10  Sound of Music: My Favorite Things

09  La Vita è Bella: La Vita è Bella

08  Beauty and the Beast: Tale as Old as Time 

07  Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring: Theme

06  Pulp Fiction: Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon

05  Requiem for a Dream: Theme

04  Pirates of the Carribean: Theme

03  Kill Bill 1: Twisted Nerve

02  Lion King: Circle of Life

01  Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain: Comptine D'un Autre été l'après Midi

Lumière 2012.16.12 Lumière SPECIAL: Best of Soundtracks on Sunday by Lumiere_Radioscorpio on Mixcloud

Best of Soundtracks on Sunday (part 2)

Dear Lumière fan!

This sunday it is the moment of truth. As described in our previous post, on sunday December 16th a Lumière Special will take place. With not just one, but two special guests, not only will the mystery be solved about our last Film and Literature contest, also you all voted for your favorite movie music.

To help you enlighten this episode, we provide you this small tip! The top ten will look like this:

10  ______________________________________

09  ______________________________________

08  ______________________________________ 

07  ______________________________________

06  ______________________________________

05  ______________________________________

04  ______________________________________

03  ______________________________________

02  ______________________________________

01  ______________________________________

Keep this sheet close on Sunday! Fill in the missing movies and songs so you will never forget what were the Best Soundtracks on Sunday 2012!

Hear you soon!

The Lumière Team

The Hobbit: Soaring over Middle-Earth

The Hobbit takes us on a new journey through Middle-Earth, decades before the story of The Lord of the Rings. We are reunited with some old, trusted characters and are introduced to a number of new ones. Despite quite some production issues, the film is directed by another trusted character, Peter Jackson and written by Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh, with the addition of Guillermo del Toro. The composition of the music was once again entrusted to Howard Shore.

All in all, the story is nicely interwoven with The Lord of the Rings through a shared moment. Bilbo and Frodo are preparing for Bilbo’s one hundred and eleventh birthday as Bilbo decides to write down his adventures in a book, with the intriguing opening: “My Dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. While I can honestly say I have told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it…” However, the story takes a long time to gather speed. In an effort to draw us right back into Tolkien’s fantasy world, the film opens with an impressive battle sequence that tells the background story of the dwarves that are soon to appear. I would have liked for the film to have started of differently though, with the joyful wit that is so characteristic of The Hobbit and separates the book from its big brother. That playfulness luckily comes into play when we revisit Hobbiton and the thirteen dwarves start tumbling through Bilbo’s door, figuratively and literally. The strength of the book and of Bilbo as the unlikely hero, lies in the growth of the character from a homebird with childlike qualities to an epic hero without ever losing his charm and humouristic appeal. The filmmakers and actor Martin Freeman succeed in bringing this transformation to the screen, but in my opinion, it would have been more true to the heart of the story and more beneficial to its progress to allow for the film as a whole to develop in a parallel way from the start on. The Riddles in the Dark scene was one of those scenes strongly anticipated by many Tolkien fans and as such also by me. I have to say that I was not disappointed and might even say that the long moment when Bilbo looks into Gollem’s eyes and makes the fundamental choice without which the whole further history that is The Lord of the Rings never could have ended well, is one of those scenes that will stick in my mind forever.

As we visit a lot of the same places we did in The Lord of the Rings, a large part of the music in this film is reminiscent of the existing trilogy at many points. The themes for the Shire and Rivendell have remained the same, with some minor arrangements here and there to keep it fresh and when Galadriel appears we even hear parts of the old Lothlórien theme. The “In Dreams” melody also makes a comeback, but the music that accompanies the dwarves is an entirely new theme, characterised by the use of brass players, translating the robust nature and mighty history of the dwarf folk, but also the nostalgic longing to regain that history into music. This history and sense of longing is very clear in the dwarf song that is integrated in the trailer and consequently in the film. The song is an original poem from Tolkien, as included in the first chapter of his Hobbit book, put to music and a beautiful accolade to the writer’s poetic talents. However, for me, the one scene where music and image reach their full potential has to be the one where we as viewers are soaring through the air together with the mighty giant eagles and the music brings such a calm and peace, as if there are no dark forces and no wars to be fought and there never were.

Laura Van Wymersch

Laura Van Wymersch is 24 years old and studied English & Dutch Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. Not only has she been one of the most loyal fans of Lumière, on November 25th, 2012 she was also our guest expert in Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings adaptations. Listen to the interview here.  Laura already wrote a blog about the Lord of the Rings that can be read here.

Best of Soundtracks on Sunday!

During the last few weeks, Lumière tried to collect the most favorite soundtracks of its audience. On sunday, between 7 and 8 pm, the selected top tracks will be played and for one hour: radio scorpio will again be the place to be for your favorite music. Take your shot and vote for your favorite tracks before the voting ends!

Hear you all on sunday!

John Debney composes for Jobs

Picture found on screenrant.com 

Apple fans, beware! Today, an interesting post of the Internet Movie Database draw our attention. The website posted a picture of Ashton Kutcher as the former CEO of Apple: Steve Jobs on their facebook. According to the iMDB website, the life of Steve will be displayed and told in the movie titled Jobs, that will come on the big screen in 2013.

For the movie, that will be more than just about Apple, John Debny will compose the soundtrack. If it will be only new composed music or if they will use songs connected to Jobs life, is not clear. Still, with a quote from the iMDB: "Academy award nominated John Debney is considered one of the most sought after composers in Hollywood. His unique ability to create memorable work across a variety of genres, as well as his reputation for being remarkably collaborative, have made him the first choice of top level producers and directors ..." Our expectations are high! Debney already composed for both movies and animated movies. He wrote music for disney's 'The Emperor's New Groove (2000)' and 'Sin City (2005)', just to give some examples.

Who cannot wait to see the movie, can go for the page on iMDB, or one of the articles. Listen to some music of Debney here while waiting for more.

Film&Piano

Zondag 2 december staat onze aflevering in teken van de relatie tussen piano en film. 
Omdat dit zou kunnen uitmonden in een onoverzichtelijke hoeveelheid hebben wij voor u een selectie gemaakt. 

+ We beginnen met een interview met op het moment een van de meest opvallende jazz-pianisten in België, Jef Neve. Zijn output en projecten zijn zeer divers: onder andere jazz, popmuziek en soundtracks. Eerder dit jaar verscheen zijn Sons of the New World, waarvan hij al materiaal speelde op Pukkelpop en waarmee hij in december de Vlaamse podia afreist. Zijn Sons of the New World tournee zal hem ook in het buitenland brengen. Jef Neve is een van de jazzpianisten die zijn muziek bij een zo groot mogelijk publiek wil bekend maken. Hij verwelkomt dan ook samenwerkingen met popartiesten als Gabriel Rios met open armen. Daarnaast schreef hij ook de soundtrack voor Felix van Groeningens' De Helaasheid der Dingen, gebaseerd op het boek van Dimitri Verhulst. Voor de in 2011 verschenen The Artist speelde hij de pianopartijen van de soundtrack. En daarnaast schreef hij ook nog eens twee pianoconcerti. Je kan wel terecht spreken van een muzikale duizendpoot. 

+ We duiken de geschiedenis in naar wat bekend staat als de vroege film of stille film. Dat deze niet stil was is duidelijk. Vaak was er muzikale omlijsting door pianobegeleiding (geïmproviseerd, repertoire stukken uit de klassieke muziek, populaire muziek, muziek uit catalogi zoals deze van Sam Fox). Daarnaast werden ook het harmonium, orgels en voor de grote 'movie palaces' uit de jaren 1910-20 heuse orkesten gebruikt. Maar mechanische instrumenten zoals de playerpiano of fonografen werden ook ook gebruikt. Het is niet logisch dat het dan steeds om korte stukjes muziek gaat, fonograaf-cilinders kon namelijk maar een 3-tal minuten muziek bevatten
Maar dat was lang niet alles. Soms was er een commentator die uitleg gaf bij de beelden (of de toeschouwers tot stilte of interactie aanzette), sprekers achter de schermen, een geluidstechnicus die voor geluidseffecten zorgde. 
En het publiek droeg ook zijn steentje bij. Tot 1910 was cinema een waar community-gebeuren: er werd gelachen, gezongen, geschreeuwd, gepraat, ... Met de institutionalisering van de cinema veranderde dit evenwel. De toeschouwers' interactie werd in de juiste banen geleid (serieuze film = stilte in de zaal, komedie = lachen op het juiste moment) en vanaf 1913 was stilte zelfs de norm. 
Muziek en geluid in films is van een heel andere aard in de vroege periode van de cinema dan vandaag. Er was voor je jaren 1910 nog geen sprake van echte filmtheaters. Film werden bekeken in vaudeville theaters, café's of op kermissen. Dat het een heus multi-mediaal spektakel was (met bijvoorbeeld veel gezang, muzikale tussenspelen) hoeft dan niet te verbazen. 
De pianist speelde niet noodzakelijk tijdens de film en ook niet noodzakelijk de meest toepasselijke muziek. Er bestaan karikatuurprenten van pianisten die even 15 minuten pauze nemen voor een sanitaire onderbreking. Soms is er zelfs sprake van ware jackass-muziek die het karakter van de film helemaal ridiculiseert door "ongepaste" muziek. Rond de jaren 1910 begon men echt na te denken over welke muziek bij welk beeld paste. Hieruit vloeide cue sheets, catalogi voor pianisten en handboeken voort. Stukken werden gerangschikt naar een gemoedstoestand of iets wat men wil illustreren (Hurry Music, Agitato, Chinese, ...) De bekendste zijn deze van Sam Fox (met muziek van JS Zamecnik), Guiseppe Becce's Kinothek en Ernö Rapée's Encyclopedia of Music for Pictures  en Motion Picture Moods for Pianists and Organists. 

De geschiedenis van de vroege film zal uitgediept worden in de eerste aflevering van de reeks "Reis doorheen de geschiedenis van de filmmuziek" die in maart 2013 geprogrammeerd staat. 


+ Tot slot kijken we naar drie recentere films en welke rol de piano hier speelt:
Shine (1996)
The Pianist (2002)
La tourneuse des pages (2006) 



Hier alvast een voorsmaakje: 

Lord of the Rings: "the one thing that films can do better than books"

When I first saw the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings in theatres, I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and intrigued by a new world that opened up before my eyes and was so extraordinary and complex that I just had to find out more about it. So I dove into every and any Tolkien book I could find, until that world started to take shape inside my head. I became so invested in this “Middle-Earth” and the story of The Lord of the Rings that when I saw the second movie, I was at first bothered by the “mistakes” I saw on the screen. It didn’t take long though before I realised that the changes these filmmakers made were actually no mistakes at all. The adjustments they made were based on a deep understanding of the story and its driving forces and of the medium they were using. They understood that what works in a book, does not necessarily work on film and vice versa, so changes need to be made to ensure that the story doesn’t lose some of its power when translated into a different medium. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, who wrote the screenplay, did exactly that. What is more, they managed to bring into the story some of the material that Tolkien himself would have loved to integrate into his trilogy, but could not find a way or a place to do so. I am talking of course about the love story of Arwen and Aragorn, a story line that much to the writer’s grief was relegated to the appendices at the end of The Lord of the Rings. The three script writers however managed to integrate the epic love between these two characters into the main story in a way that makes it almost impossible to imagine the trilogy without its inclusion. Through all this, they manage to stay true to the characters and to honour the authenticity of the story and the fantastical world, turning what Tolkien himself called an unfilmable book into an Oscar winning film production.

The music of this film trilogy, composed by Howard Shore, plays a big role in the success of these movies and in the bringing to life of Middle-Earth on the big screen. It is said that Shore regarded the scoring of these films as his chance to write an opera. The three acts therefore blend together beautifully, but more importantly, he gave every people of Middle-Earth its own theme and its own sound. For the simple, nature loving Hobbits of the Shire, he chose a wooden flute and a warm, peaceful melody, while he brought the mystical Elves to life with much more ethereal, exotic sounds, produced by instruments that sound very strange to the Western ear, complementing their not-from-this-world appearance. For the Dwarves, he found inspiration in the fact that they are a miner's folk and integrated hammering and very rhythmic male vocals. He also translated Tolkien's disapproval of industrialisation into sound. The overwhelming music that can be heard when diving into the production fires of Isengard is written in the rather unusual 4/5 time, that feels very forced and unnatural, as if it keeps stumbling. It still sounds very threatening though, as it should, since this is where a large part of the destruction of Middle-Earth is forged and bred. The force of the Ents of Fangorn forest however, is also one to be reckoned with. Shore wasn't afraid to experiment with different sounds to find the right companion for Treebeard the Ent and the dark forest he lives in. What he came up with, sounds very earth-like and tree-like, with a lot of wooden percussion instruments calling the tune. On the contrary, the realms of Men, Rohan and Gondor, are given a much more recognisable and “human” sound, with a Norwegian Fiddle as the lead instrument for the Scandinavian inspired Rohirrim and a French horn accompanying the more bombastic Gondorians.

When a number of these people meet in the battle of Helm’s Deep, these different sounds also fight each other. When we see the Elves ready for combat, we hear the same melody that we heard before in Lothlórien, but now in full battle mode. Soon after however, the Uruk-Hai start storming the keep and the unwholesome music of Saruman quickly takes over. This overwhelming piece of music contrasts sharply with some of the other battle scenes throughout the trilogy. For example, when when Faramir and his cavalry storm Osgilliath, the lone voice of a singing Pippin is nearly all that accompanies them. Somehow, this emphasises the madness behind the attack and the tragic end that certainly awaits them down by the river. The music is also used as a tool to differentiate between Gollum’s two sides: a melancholic, sad, pitiful sound for his good side, Sméagol, and a much creepier sound for his bad, manipulative side.

On the one hand, Howard Shore thus succeeded in establishing an emotional link to Middle-Earth through his music, while on the other hand giving depth to the cultures that inhabit this mythical world, in a way that is very close to Tolkien. The writer himself wrote down numerous songs and poems to the pages of his books, but their melody would always merely exist in the heads of the readers. This might be the one thing that films can do better than books and the one thing that Tolkien might have liked about the adaptation of his work. He meant for his work to be an English mythology that would serve as inspiration for artists to create more artistic work and that is exactly the desire that Shore answered to.


Laura Van Wymersch

Laura Van Wymersch is 24 years old and studied English & Dutch Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. Not only has she been one of the most loyal fans of Lumière, on November 25th, 2012 she was also our guest expert in Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings adaptations. Listen to the interview here.  

Brian Byrne: the interview

On the World Soundtrack Awards we spoke with the Irish movie composer Brian Byrne. From now on you can watch the whole interview here.

In our episode about Ireland we played some of his music. Listen here to these great moments.

Feel free to leave comments!

"Rond de wereld met filmmuziek" (V): Spanje

Beste Lumières! 

Het is je de laatste weken allicht opgevallen: we toverden onze onze uitzending om tot een ontdekkingsschip  dat ons voerde naar Italië, India, Rusland en vorige week Ierland. We verlaten de kusten van Ierland en Seán Ó Riada's volkse en traditionele klanken en zetten koers naar Spanje. Onze stoomboot brengt ons niet Sint Nicolas, maar wel onder andere Pedro Almodovar en Alberto Iglesias. Deze laatste was een aantal weken geleden nog op de World Soundtrack Awards in Gent.

Wat kan je zondag 4 november bij Lumière verwachten? 

+ Omdat de temperaturen waarschijnlijk niet boven de 10°C zullen klimmen, en regenbuien ook niet zullen uitblijven zullen we je vervoeren náár en ontroeren mét  Iberisch schiereiland en haar (film)muziek: 

-  Een interview met Spaanse Hollywood filmcomponist Lucas Vidal. 

- Een vergelijking tussen twee samenwerkingen die van groot belang zijn geweest voor de Spaanse film(muziek)industrie: Carlos Saura/Luis de Pablo en Pedro Almodovar/Aberto Iglesias 

- Een live-interview met twee schiereiland-bewoners met een grote passie voor cultuur, literatuur, muziek, film: Curro Fuentes (University of Murcia: MA European Compartive Lietrature, PhD) en Ana Alvarez (KULeuven: MA Antroplogie)  

+ Een nieuw boek voor ons film&literatuur spel. 

- Foto (rechts). Het boek van oktober: To Kill A Mocking Bird met de score van Elmer Bernstein die ons terug naar de kindertijd brengt. 

- Foto (links). Het boek van november. Mooi ingekaft om ons geheim te bewaren. 

Thuis kan je al wel een gokje doen, mail je antwoord naar lumiere.radioscorpio@gmail.com en wie weet win je wel een cinema ZED ticket! 

+  Laurence Rosenthal wordt zondag 4 november 86 jaar. Wij brengen een ode aan de filmcomponist die we reeds tegenkwamen toen we je vijftig jaar mee de tijd in namen met zijn mooie score voor The Miracle Worker (1962).

Volgende week sluiten wij "Rond de wereld met filmmuziek" af met onze verste muzikale reis: Japan.  Máár, we willen onze expeditie niet beeïndigen zonder jouw inbreng. 

Bepaal dus  mee waar "Rond de wereld met filmmuziek" (VII) een laatste halte houdt en

mail je voorstel naar lumiere.radioscorpio@gmail.com. 

Hier onder al een opwarmer: morgen meer over het beeld waarbij deze muziek hoort. 

Alberto Igelsias - El amante menguante (Hable con Ella OST) 

Tot morgen! 

Soundtrack The Broken Circle Breakdown

Todays hottest Belgian movie is with no doubt 'The Broken Circle Breakdown'. This movie, directed by Felix Van Groeningen, opened and closed the Film Festival of Ghent. With their performance on the World Soundtrack Awards the importance of the movie music of the film got to the fore. The genre of the soundtrack isn't the stereotype of country and bluegrass music. Bjorn Ericksson rewrote existing classics in the country- & bluegrass-repertoire creatively for, for instance, the voices of Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh.

cast Broken Circle Breakdown live at the WSA (c) Bert Wastijn

Who watched the movie can tell that the soundtrack is not just supporting the story but is standing in constant relation to all the aspects of this film. Not only because the main characters are no doubt the key figures of a bluegrass band that perform in diverse scenes. Also the lyrics connect with different layers in the soundtrack and the story. We can state that the music is one of the important elements that take this film to a higher level and make it even more touching.

For huge fans of this tupe of bluegrass music and for those who want to hear more movie music of this kind, the Original SoundTrack (OST) is already available in multimedia stores. It contains 15 tracks, as shown below:

1. Will the Circle Be Unbroken

   Johan Heldenberg : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : voice, guitar

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : voice , banjo

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Nils de Caster : voice , violin

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

2. The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn

   Johan Heldenberg : voice, banjo 

   Veerle Baetens : voice 

   Bjorn Eriksson : dobro, guitar

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   Geert Waegeman : violin

   Nils de Caster : mandoline

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

3. Dusty Mixed Feelings

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar

4. Wayfaring Stranger

   Veerle Baetens : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : dobro

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson: guitar

   Nils de Caster : violin

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

5. Rueben's Train

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Nils de Caster : violin

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

6. Country in My Genes

   Veerle Baetens : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   Nils de Caster : mandoline

   Geert Waegeman : violin

   Johan Heldenberg : backingvocal

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

7. Further On up the Road

   Johan Heldenberg : voice, banjo

   Bjorn Eriksson : dobro

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : guitar

   Nils de Caster : violin

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

8. Where Are Heading, Tumbleweed?

Bjorn Eriksson : Ukelele, autoharp, e-bow guitars, bass, national guitar

9. Over in the Gloryland

   Veerle Baetens : voice

   Johan Heldenberg : guitar, voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar, voice

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : voice

   Nils de Caster : voice

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Lenn Dauphin : bass, voice

10. Cowboy Man

   Johan Heldenberg : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar, backingvocal

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   Nils de Caster : violin, backingvocal

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

11. If I Needed You

   Johan Heldenberg : voice

   Veerle Baetens : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : national guitar

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

   Nils de Caster : viool

12. Carved Tree Inn

   Bjorn Eriksson : national guitars, bass

13. Sand Mountain

   Bjorn Eriksson : dobro

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   David Buyle : violin

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Peter Pask : guitar

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

14. Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us

   Veerle Baetens : voice

   Bjorn Eriksson : national guitar, banjo, string arrangement

   Nils de Caster : violin

   Geert Waegeman : violin, alto violin

   Nathalie Delcroix : backingvocals

   Charlotte Vandermeersch : backing vocals

15. Blackberry Blossom

   Bjorn Eriksson : guitar

   Karl 'Hank van Damme' Eriksson : banjo

   Geert Waegeman : mandoline

   Lenn Dauphin : bass

(source: HUMO)

To see what the film is about, we suggest you go to a local cinema or try to get to watch this flemish production. But for a sneak peek on the music, we add a video of one of the tracks the cast performed live on the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony.

For more information on the soundtrack and the live tour, visit this website.

World Soundtrack Awards 2012

Pressconference WSA (c) Bert Wastijn

Gisteren vonden de twaalfde World Soundtrack Awards plaats in 't Kuipke van Gent. Op zaterdag 20 oktober 2012 begon om 11 uur een persconferentie 'slash' Meet&Greet met Dirk Brossé, James Newton Howard, Pino Donaggio en Alex Heffes. (1) Aansluitend hadden amateurcomponisten de mogelijkheid om aan te sluiten bij een Masterclass met nog meer internationale componisten. Ieder met wat lef kon voor, tijdens en na deze momenten met hun vragen bij hen langs. De meest memorabele uitspraak was toch van Newton Howard: "I am an afwul conducter ... I just swing my arm like everybody can. I just love to do it."

Alberto Iglesias (c) Bert Wastijn

's Avonds vond de World Soundtrack Academy Award Ceremony plaats waarbij de langverwachte prijzen werden uitgereikt. Een kort overzicht van de gelukkigen. Twee componisten liepen met een dubbele prijs weg: Alberto Iglesias werd beloond als Film Composer of the Year 2012 voor zijn muziek in de film ‘Le Moine’ (‘The Monk’), ‘La Piel Que Habito’ (The Skin I Live In) en ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’. Met deze laatste film kaapte hij ook de award voor Best Original Film Score of the Year weg.

Brian Byrne, een Ierse componist die naar Amerika verhuisde, ontving de World Soundtrack Award boor Best Original Song Written for Film boor ’Lay Your Head Down’ from the film ‘Albert Nobbs’. Dit nummer was naar zijn mening "not supposed to happen". Glen Close schreef voor dit nummer de lyrics en samen met Sinead O'Conner werd dit een pareltje. Hij kaapte ook de Discovery of the Year Award weg.

De Public Choice Award ging naar Abel Korzeniowski voor de film ‘W.E.’, Pino Donaggio ontving de World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award en de Sabam Award for Best Young European Composer was weggelegd voor Valentin Hadjadj. Het 'huisorkest' van de World Soundtrack Academy, het Brussels Philharmonic, ontving het Certificate of Outstanding Recognition.

Wilt u toch graag nog meer info? Breng deze website gerust een bezoekje.

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(1) Later verschijnt deze samenkomst integraal op de blog. Ook onze interviews met Brian Byrne, David Wingo en Lucas Vidal komen integraal hier terecht. Hou ons in de gaten!

The Russian action movie: the sociological poetry of criminality

A little history

The russian action movie of the 90s was highly influenced by the historical and cultural context of that time. During the early 90s – during and after the fall of USSR – there was a huge wave of criminality throughout the country. Almost all goverment structures lost all their influence and the power came into the hands of criminal group (bandits). These groups had specific territories of influence. For example, Moscow was controlled by 6 bandit groups. The criminal groups not only owned their own businesses and property but also “roofed” (“крышовать” [krishovat'] - from the russian word “крыша' [krisha] - “roof” - controlled, defended from other criminal groups, collected money from – usually monthy) most organizations (however small) that were in their zone/territory of influence. It is not a secret that those memebers of bandit organizations/groups that survived the 90s – for it is obvious that some of them didn't, a lot of conflicts between groups were solved with viloence – have afterwards become successful businessmen. This does not, however, mean that all Russian businessmen have a crimial background, although there is always a possibility of that being the case.

The depiction of those times in film in literature has specific features. We can see that in film and literature banditism is in a way romantisied. The protagonist (a lot of times a member of a criminal group) becomes a pseudo-romantic hero – individualistic and lonely, overcoming hardships, abolishing old idols and searching for new ones.

The protagonist

Analyzing (or simply watching) a russian action movie we have to keep in mind that it is in a lot of ways different from the classical Hollywood action film. However, I will not focus here on the differences and will not make a comparative analysis, but will briefly describe the main characteristics of the russian action film.

The main hero (protagonist) of the action movie does not exist outside of action and movement — only in actions he obtains his character and appearance. In the Russian action film there is always only one protagonist, there can not be two, three or a group of them – this fact correlates with the main characteristic of the hero – although he is the main focus point of the story and everything revolves around him, he exists separately from his surrondings, he stands out, there is no ahrmony between him and the world he lives in.

The hero usually doesn't have a family – he could be an orphan – but even if he does, there is never a father, but just the melanholic image of his “greyhaired mother” (“the mother whose hair turned grey too soon” - from the work of Dubin - a russian researcher of cultural studies). Despite this the construction of the personage does not obtain a shade of weakness but seems stronger and even more selfsufficient.

A very important element of the russian action film is the presence of the “teacher” or mentor that, in a way, substitutes the father that the hero never had. The teacher is a figure of power and strength, he is the moral idol of the protagonist. The teacher does not have power over the protagonist, but only helps him to discover his enormous inner source of will.

The fact that the protagonist has a moral idol does not mean he cannot (and will not) destroy/abolish those morals and idols. The protagonist of the action film can do anything – space and time are in his hands, the events in the movie only happen because of him. Accourding to Dubin - “...there is no limit to his abilities (capasities)...”. The protagonist is fighting against the evil of the world, he wants to destroy the heart of it.. and we know he can do it.

Diana Goderich

Diana is a 21 years old student Russia, Moscow. She's polish, russian, ukrainian and cuban - all in one. In 2008 she graduated from Physic-Mathematics School of Novosibirsk State University - a boarding school in the middle of Siberia, specializing in technical education. She has a bachelor degree in the Russian State University for the Humanities in 2012 - specialization "History and Theory of Culture". Now she studies a Master in Cultural Studies in Europe (Belgium) at the Catholic University of Leuven.

Diana is a guestblogger for Lumière. Want to read more? Want to write something yourself? Let us know: lumière.radioscorpio@gmail.com!

India of Bollywood?

Voor de uitzending van vanavond, stoppen we bij het tweede land in onze wereldreis door de filmmuziek: India. Dankzij enkele enthousiaste luisteraars en supporters werden er twee films naar voor geschoven die hen (jullie dus) aan India en Bollywood doen denken.

// Wil je vanavond meer horen over Slumdog Millionaire?

// Ben je gebeten door de filmindustrie of gewoon nieuwsgierig wat Bollywood nu precies is?

// Ben jij de winnaar van onze film&literatuurprijsvraag of gewoon de gelukkige bij de 'social media'-wedstrijd (facebook: Lumière en twitter: @LumiereRS)?

// Wil je graag iets horen over James bond?

Luister dan vanavond tussen 7 en 8 naar Radio Scorpio (via www.radioscorpio.be of 106 FM in leuven)!

Geniet alvast van deze smaakmaker:

Lumière 2012.7.10: Italië; oude filmscores en een nieuw boek!

Lieve cinemusicofielen! 

We hebben weer een mooie aflevering klaarstaan, 

+ we gaan  van start met onze eerste "De wereld rond met filmmuziek", we beginnen in Italië met Federico Fellini en zijn trouwe filmcomponist Nino Rota

en bekijken en beluisteren we La vita è bella dichterbij

+ we introduceren we een nieuw boek voor ons film&literatuurspel, doe mee en win tickets!

+ we eren we een van de vroegste scores uit de geschiedenis van de filmmuziek, deze van Camillie Siant-Saëns voor L'Assasinat du Duc de Guise (uit 1908)

en Stanley Myers

Hieronder alvast een opwarmertje! 

Special: The French New Wave - Godard I

+ We eindigen de maand september met een special, namelijk een uitzending rond de franse New Wave. We focussen daarbij op een regisseur, Jean-Luc Godard. 
Vaak gebeuren er rare dingen op de soundtrack, en daar kom je in deze aflevering alles over te weten. 
We laten u alvast even genieten van een musical-a-like fragmentje met de mooie Anna Karina: 

+ We vroegen Florien Wyffels wat meer over de soundtrack van Pulsar (2011). 

+ Vergeet niet te blijven mailen naar lumiere.radioscorpio@gmail.com met suggesties die je vindt bij de beste 100 scores op de website van het American Film Institute