bach-bukowski

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Bach-Bukowski

An extraordinary mixture of piano and singing through which Bach‘s baroque music and Bukowski’s hard-driven lines sound simultaneously.

Already as a young boy Willem van Ekeren admired the music of J.S. Bach (1685-1750). In the nineties he also became captivated by the poems of Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), an internationally famous American writer of contemporary prose and poetry. It became apparent to Willem that he had to combine the words of Bukowski with the music of Bach.

22 of the poems of Bukowski’s ‘The last night of the earth poems’ are woven together with 22 parts of the ‘Well-tempered keyboard’ of Bach. (Willem is quite busy with a new, and final, series of 9 BB-songs, see news).

The lyrics are sung blues/jazz style in combination with authentic Bach music on the piano.

Click on the blue figures for the complete poems, on the notes for audio fragments (of the cds), on the cameras for video (from concerts and TV) and on MP3 for a full, free song.
Open a short survey of the poems and the musical themes

1.	the aliens	prelude in D major wk I
2.	balloons	fugue in D major wk I
3.	flat tire	prelude in c sharp minor wk I
4.	blasted apart with the first breath	fugue in f minor wk I
5.	Charles the Lion-Hearted	prelude in E major wk I
6.	transport	fugue in a minor wk I
7.	the bluebird	prelude in g sharp minor wk I
8.	in the bottom	fugue in b minor wk I
9.	be kind	fugue in D flat major wk II
10.	eyeless through space	fugue in f sharp minor wk I
11.	nirvana	prelude in b minor wk II
12.	this	prelude in b flat minor wk II
13.	surprise time again	prelude in A major wk II
14.	jam	fugue in c sharp minor wk I
15.	spark	prelude in b minor wk I
16.	within the dense overcast	fugue in B major wk II
17.	flophouse	prelude in b flat minor wk I
18.	the idiot	fugue in D major wk II
19.	oh, I was a ladies’ man	prelude in B flat major wk II
20.	peace	prelude in D flat major wk II
21.	Dinosauria, we	fugue in b flat minor wk II
22.	you know and I know and thee know	prelude in f minor wk I

With special thanks to the Estate of
Charles Bukowski & Mrs. L. Bukowski and John Martin.
In memory of the Black Sparrow Press.