Ekseptional
Ekseption was out of my mind for a long time until in the twentyfirst century I came across a revival album called Ekseption ’89. Again, it was a remake of the good old classics with unfortunately a disco beat at some points. Well, one has to connect to trends at times, true? What I did like was that there were a few Ekseption versions of tracks from Rick van der Linden’s GX1 synthesizer album on the list.
After many years, I found this album more convincing than the previous Ekseption ’78 and Dance Macabre records.
One of the peculiar tracks on this album is My Pianoman, a piano solo arrangement of the song Mache Dich mein Herze rein from the Matthaeus Passion by Bach. The melody was quite well known in the sixties as Cent Mille Chansons, as sung by the French/Moroccan singer Frida Boccara.
At one side this melody brings mixed feelings with me. It reminds me of the battle around the black spots of sin on your soul that were extensively discussed by the school teacher during the morning prayers when I was attending the Dutch Reformed school in my childhood. It was a story that stroke fear in a child’s heart. This blackness became even worse at Good Friday, in the Dutch version of Bach’s song called Maak nu mijn hartje rein.
At the other side this melody calls emotions indeed, something I particularly feel when listening to Frida Boccara’s song, so the melody has this strength. In that aspect Boccara’s lyrics in my opinion fit the music better.
Whatever, Ekseption ’89 was a pleasant piece of nostalgia!