rel through his songs became the conscience of his generation. Skillfully employing his major melodic and poetic gifts, Brel wrote songs about death, despair, the land, women, the middle class, and war. He also wrote songs about love – not the love of Junes and moons, blue skies and good-night kisses, but about the love that is also hate, love that is profound, love that is glorious. Above all, Brel wrote about his love, his pain, his despair, his hope. He managed to speak for all of us.
Concert includes the following songs and more . . .
Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM
Bruxelles
BRUSSELS
Fils de
SONS OF
J’aimais
I LOVED
La bourrée du célibataire
BACHELOR'S DANCE
La chanson les vieux amants
SONG OF OLD LOVERS
La Fanette
FANETTE
La valse à mille temps
WALTZ OF A THOUSAND TIMES (Carousel)
La ville s’endormait
THE CITY WENT TO SLEEP
Les désespérés
THE DESPERATE ONES
Les timides
TIMID FRIEDA
Madeleine
MADELEINE (I’m waiting for)
Marieke
MARIEKE
Myn vlakke land
MY FLATLAND (Flanders)
Ne me quitte pas
IF YOU GO AWAY
Quand on n’a que l’amour
IF WE ONLY HAVE LOVE
Rosa
ROSE
Seul
WE ARE ALONE
Le moribond
SEASONS IN THE SUN
Jacques Brel created and performed a catalog of literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that brought him a large and devoted following in Western Europe and abroad. Born in Belgium to a wealthy Flemish family in 1929, Brel spent his adolescence in occupied Brussels. At age 23 Brel abandoned the option of an expected role in his family business and, with guitar in hand, moved to Paris to chase his dreams of a musical career. Here he hoped to find either a publisher or a performer for his songs. Instead he found closed doors and hardships for himself and his young family. Brel persevered, and by the end of the decade he had begun to build an international reputation, developing something of a cult following. He realized that if his songs were to be heard, he would have to sing them himself. In 1968 Brel’s American audience widened considerably with the New York opening of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, a musical review of Brel’s work. Brel was only forty-nine when he died. His life was short but prolific.
Jacques Brel created and performed a catalog of literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that brought him a large and devoted following in Western Europe and abroad. Born in Belgium to a wealthy Flemish family in 1929, Brel spent his adolescence in occupied Brussels. At age 23 Brel abandoned the option of an expected role in his family business and, with guitar in hand, moved to Paris to chase his dreams of a musical career. Here he hoped to find either a publisher or a performer for his songs. Instead he found closed doors and hardships for himself and his young family. Brel persevered, and by the end of the decade he had begun to build an international reputation, developing something of a cult following. He realized that if his songs were to be heard, he would have to sing them himself. In 1968 Brel’s American audience widened considerably with the New York opening of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, a musical review of Brel’s work. Brel was only forty-nine when he died. His life was short but prolific.