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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.

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.
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1.

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the aliens prelude in D major wk I

there are people who go through life easily, but I am not one of them

 

 
2.

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balloons fugue in D major wk I

a guy who was selling balloons got shot

 

 
3.

 

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flat tire prelude in c sharp minor wk I

misery on the freeway

 

 
4.

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blasted apart with the first breath fugue in f minor wk I

if, at the end of our life, we look back, we find out that it is sad, incomparable, and worst of all is not that we wasted our lives, but that it was wasted on us

 

 
5.

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Charles the Lion-Hearted prelude in E major wk I

ode to an old man

 

 
6.

 

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transport fugue in a minor wk I

characteristics of travelling by bus, train and airplane, peculiarities of own cars and in the end a dream trip

 

 
7.

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the bluebird prelude in g sharp minor wk I

there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out, but nobody may find out it’s there, occasionally, when everybody is asleep, I let him out

 

 
8.

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in the bottom fugue in b minor wk I

apparently chaotic series of impressions

 

 
9.

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be kind fugue in D flat major wk II

we always have to be kind to other people, especially if they are old, but age is the total of our doing; age is not a crime, but a deliberately wasted life is

 

 

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eyeless through space fugue in f sharp minor wk I

it’s no longer any good, the world is upside down, lots of things are wrong, it was going to happen and now it did

 

 
11.

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nirvana prelude in b minor wk II

on a bus ride a young man experiences the unexpected magic of a little cafe in the hills

 

 
12.

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this prelude in b flat minor wk II

this ridiculous idolizing of our celebs, but hey, we maintain it ourselves

 

 

 

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surprise time again prelude in A major wk II

wanted: killer

 

 
14.

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jam fugue in c sharp minor wk I

friday night traffic jam troubles

 

 
15.

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spark prelude in b minor wk I

I always hated my time as a worker, I considered suicide, but something in me said I had to save a spark


 
16.

 

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within the dense overcast fugue in B major wk II

reflections of different kind

 

 
17.

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flophouse prelude in b flat minor wk I

the atmosphere at the shelter for the homeless, where 56 men are squeezed together; it’s hopeless, you cannot bare it and you wonder what has happened to the children from once

 

 

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the idiot fugue in D major wk II

as a child I decided to become an idiot, slowly people started to notice and Mrs. Gredis took care of me

 

 

 

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oh, I was a ladies’ man prelude in B flat major wk II

hunter or hunted, in control or submit to, lust or load?

 

 

peace prelude in D flat major wk II

in a cafe a couple drink a beer

 

 
21.

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Dinosauria, we fugue in b flat minor wk II

a profetic sketch of the end of life on earth; even the rich can’t get away from it

 

 

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you know and I know and thee know prelude in f minor wk I

the end as we know it now seems a lousy trick after a lousy agony, but we all know, during the most different situations, that we will defeat death

 

 

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