How could it be otherwise than that Tore Tom Denys speaks about Adriaan Willaert, the composer who was born around 1490 near Tore's city Roeselare, more specifically in the current sub-municipality Rumbeke. Even the skateboarding youth in Roeselare have heard of that mister Willaert… "Who is that?"
Tore Tom Denys sings as a tenor with, among others, Collegium Vocale Gent, sang with the unequaled Capilla Flamenca of the late Dirk Snellings who left us too soon and now sings with his own ensemble Dionysos Now! primarily polyphony and renaissance. Besides singing polyphony, with an extra love for Willaert (out of chauvinism or nostalgia for the great name from his native region?), he has a drive to unite old and new or at least in some way bring them together, to let people who 'know nothing about it' become acquainted with, for example, the music of Willaert. And that? That led the musician to the skate park in Roeselare. To listen there himself, but especially to let others listen to and talk about Willaert and in extension thereof polyphony with, yes, the skateboarding teenagers between roughly 12 and 18 years old.
"So that's one of us?"
You have to come up with such an idea! Boys who with 'earbuds' in listening to way too loud rap or whatever and swaying back and forth, jumping, falling, juggling on their skateboard interrupt their activity to go ask if they know Willaert. Well yes, now? "Well now I want to listen to his music. Put my headphones on for a moment". Willaert? No, I don't know him… Well yes, young man, there's a street named after him, answers a mate while another gets the idea that the conservatory (of Roeselare) bears that name. But that that guy is a musician? No, they don't know that and even less do they know his music.
Tore knows how to get things done and he tells the boys who that mister Willaert was and that in his time he was a kind of Michael Jackson or something like that, in any case very famous in Europe. The teenagers' eyes widen. They never knew anything about that. And yes, they want to listen. They listen… They become quiet. It touches them, it does something to those skaters. It is a discovery and more, it is a revelation. It has something of heaven, that's no music of this world, that's from the Angels… The boys are actually at a loss for words. That something so beautiful existed, they didn't know that and even from someone from Roeselare, from 'our city'?!
The new ensemble starts
A few years ago Tore Tom Denys is in Oostende, the seaside city. There is an annual festival, not so much of classical music, but a theater festival, Theater aan Zee, where sometimes some classical music is involved. There Tore gets the crazy idea to do something with Willaert and something contemporary. He is declared mad, it will not and cannot succeed. Nobody will come, let alone a tourist, right in the middle of summer when the beach is full of sun worshippers and people eating Berliner pastries and ice cream, children digging holes, paddlers, swimmers, walkers and what else. The beach and the promenade are the terrain of the big crowds and you won't get them to move to listen to some polyphony. Really not? Tore goes for it and the hall is too small. Everything sold out before ticket sales could even start, so to speak. It is a phenomenal success, unexpectedly. This is how Dionysos Now! comes to light.
Back to Oostende for a new festival
Tore Tom Denys has lived and worked in Vienna for years. He took vocal lessons there at the end of the 1990s and stayed in the city where Mozart and Beethoven also wanted to be. Willaert, however, not, he found the good life in Venice and stayed there forever. He no longer traveled to Rumbeke, Roeselare and even less to Oostende. Tore Tom does and he takes his ensemble with him. There will be another opportunity to listen to Adriaan Willaert, but also to how today's DJs go about their business. It will take some getting used to for all ears: the ears of the Willaert fans and the ears of the DJs with their sound and scratches. The Midsummer Night Polyphony Festival Flow settles for the very first time in the Queen of the Seaside Cities. It is a one-day festival, but certainly not a one-day wonder, that much is already certain. You can find out more via the link (see above) to the festival and know that through the Newsletter of Klassiek Centraal you can win free tickets for the festival and even CDs from Dionysos Now! Follow the Newsletter and answer the prize questions. With a bit of luck you are one of the winners and can enjoy polyphony, Gregorian chant, conversations, but also the beats of Tsar B… whether the weather is good or bad.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJRdzT9Lv4Q[/embed]
