#85 De Kift

I had never heard of De Kift until the day we scheduled to film a session with them. I didn’t have time to listen some of their tracks on their Myspace. So, Chryde and me went to the Café de la Danse completely ignorant of De Kift’s music, to meet Vincent Moon who was very ,very enthusiastic. Inside, there were dozens guitars and brass instruments. Guys from De Kift are Dutch, but above all, they are many. Smiling, welcoming, happy, friendly. It could not fit better for the Take away show. We sometimes have to deal with blasé artists, bored and annoyed, and this is not something which gives us the desire to spend time with them, and enjoy working. The brass band offered 3 songs, but they sang every one of them twice, in different locations, so that we’d have the choice in the publication. But the thing is.. We had difficulty making a choice.

We took them to wander in the streets around the Café de la Dance, where we paseds across indifferent teenagers, fascinated little kids, parents showing and naming the instruments. We stopped in the middle of a paved little yard. People appeared at their windows, Vincent Moon was in his own world, totally immersed in the whirl, happy to be filming. We all had this dumb smile, the one which says "This is magical, this is going to be a fantastic session".

Rue des Taillandiers. We could hear the first notes of Wee My. The De Kift are not twenty-something guys, there’s something on their face, some story told, just like when singer Ferry Heijne confronted the camera to the story he declaimed. A moving, unique moment, nothing existed but the sounds of all these instruments, we were definitely elsewhere. I was about to cry but tried not to. A brass band is not something usual in Paris, but it’s rare to see so many people applaude at the end of a Take away show. We were happy for the "crazy Dutch guys" as Chryde called them.

Vincent Moon wanted to have De Kift play in a park at Ledru-Rollin. Reiziger is the only song in French they played for us. Unfortunately, because of winter hours, the gate was closed earlier than usual. However, having them all in a row, playing before the park, was wonderful. It felt like we where at the theatre, the privileged audience for this company. "Vanished along with his shadow, has he ever existed ?", the lyrics are dark but full of hope, just like their solemn faces, suddenly illuminated with joy, from time to time.

"A drinking and singing song, full of the sadness of love". This is Beguine, the most moving song of this afternoon. This is also the very first song of the session, but the two versions were so beautiful we could not chose only one. All of us entered a tiny shop where hundreds of tiny little fragile things were exhibited, we were like a bull in a china shop. This was surreal, and the saleswome, were a little bit panicked, at first, but they relaxed and got into the music. We could have spent the whole day with that theatrical brass band, wander with them in the city, listen to them singing their stories in French, in Dutch. The beauty of a language we do not understand. Be moved by its poetry, its sadness, its happiness. "We play our most fragile song" said Ferry Heijne after he bowed.