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FERNAND SCHIRREN: BETWEEN TWO BEATS
Although he had accepted my request for an interview about his practice as a rhythmist, Fernand Schirren observed me with a more interrogative look than my questions could ever warrant. From the outset, he warned me that he preferred to be called ‘Schirren’ without the addition of his first name, which he despised. It is of course a contraction of Ferdinand, the name of his father, a painter, but we did not discuss the reasons for his aversion any further. On the other hand, Schirren was more talkative on another point of dissension, that concerning the music of Mozart. It annoyed him because it gave the effect of a character wearing a wig on a powdered face, much like the gallant style with which the divine composer is sometimes associated. In the same vein, Schirren liked to reside in a seaside establishment facing the dike, deliberately turning his back on the shore and the endlessly repeating spectacle of its summer visitors.
It was therefore with an invisible reluctance that he consented to being filmed during a course delivered on the initiative of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker at P.A.R.T.S. He wore a khaki sweater for the occasion, possibly inherited from a former military serviceman or bought at an army disposals store. It was a training outfit which, in short, fitted quite well with his binary basic education, where, when spoken in French, the words ‘boom’ and ‘and’ alternated between rhythms of relaxation and tension. He used a very telling image to show the dancers what the ‘boom’ represented:
It’s like when Elisabeth Schwarzkopf greets the audience after her performance. She goes ‘boom’ and bows as if she were performing charity.
I later learned that with Maurice Béjart’s apprentice dancers—to whom he had taught the basics of rhythm, sticks in hand—he used two exclamations stressing the very beginning of life, to be repeated at will: Daddy / Mummy, Daddy / Mummy, and so on.
The repetition of the four syllables, punctuated by the drumsticks, could vary with changing accents, but was intended to instil and keep a constant rhythm.
His practical knowledge of music obviously went much further. His virtuosity as a percussionist, one able to fly from eighth notes to triplets through a thousand other saccades, sung with flexibility. In such moments he was impressively at ease.
- Philippe Dewolf, October 2, 2020
Includes unlimited streaming of Fernand Schirren - Dimanche / Masques / Cartoon Circus
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Fernand Schirren was an exceptional musician and composer, rhythm teacher to Bejart and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, silent film accompanist of the Brussels Musee du cinema (now CINEMATEK) from its founding in 1962 until the 1980s, and eccentric collector of pipes and romantic postcards. He chose anything but a traditional historical-oriented approach, and left his avant-garde stamp on the film, dance and music worlds at home and abroad. This compilation gathers never before published works that Schirren specially composed for the short films 'Dimanche' by Edmond Bernhard in 1963, 'Masques' by Jean-Marie Buchet and Marc Lobet in 1959, and Cartoon Circus by Benoit Lamy and Picha in 1972. Some of the most intense and curious soundtracks cinema ever gave us.
credits
released October 4, 2021
A1 Composed by Fernand Schirren for the short film Dimanche by Edmond Bernhard in Brussels, Belgium, 1963
B1 Composed by Fernhand Schirren for the short film Masques by Jean-Marie Buchet and Marc Lobet in Brussels, Belgium, 1959
B2 and B3 Composed by Fernand Schirren for the short film Cartoon Circus by Benoît Lamy and Picha in Brussels, Belgium, 1972
Mastered by Felix-Florian Tödtloff
Artwork by Alain Roch
Design by Koos Siep
Photography by Francine D’Hulst and Philippe Dewolf
Texts by Jean-Marie Buchet and Philippe Dewolf
Special thanks to Anne-Marie Simon, David Esser, BonBon Lamy, Philippe Dewolf, Contredanse,
Christophe Piette and CINEMATEK
Printed in an edition of 150
supported by 4 fans who also own “Fernand Schirren - Dimanche / Masques / Cartoon Circus”
An excellent collaboration yielding melancholic and unsettling looping noise with ethereal vocals, tinged with a bit of 80s horror synth. Highly recommend! cedarshims
The mallet percussionist and improviser's solo debut is flush with nostalgic melodies and stirring dissonances—a rich, experimental universe well worth exploring. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jan 15, 2021
