Alex Roeka
Alex Roeka - Forward!
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Alex Roeka took a sabbatical. He thought that after nine albums and just as many theatre tours it was time to go on mountain hikes and do other things that people on a sabbatical do. He decided to enjoy life for a year. After a while on sabbatical he felt compelled to visit a psychiatrist. He advised him to start writing songs again as soon as possible. 'Continue!', was his advice. This became the title of Alex Roeka's tenth album, the latest performance of his Muziektheater van de Autobiografische Stroom.
Ten years ago, Alex Roeka told me about his first sea voyage. He was seasick for days, until the swell had died down at Gibraltar. 'That's where I saw the blue sea for the first time. Dolphins. From a radio in the wheelhouse, Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles sounded.' That moment is now captured in his beautiful ode to the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Beatles, Als Een Rollende Steen.
He had written about his mother before, but never before so heartbreakingly beautiful and melancholic as in Mother: 'take another good look at your lost son'. You live to show who you are, he said at the time. He wanted to expose himself completely, to report in his songs on what life does to him. 'You never quite get to the core, but you can keep trying to get closer. What I do is almost shameless. I am my own material.' He approaches the truth ever closer. From the love that has deteriorated into routine in 'Samen Alleen' ('alienated and entangled'), to the stunningly beautiful Still Always Together, about a past love. In the search for what life has done to him, Alex Roeka now allows himself mild irony - 'That I sing beautifully, everyone now knows' (Ik Wil Leven). Or: 'Laugh at me when I'm raging again/ about life on the street' (Naar Mezelf Terug).
It seems as if the black and sometimes heavy vitalism of Roeka's earlier work is gradually making way for a lighter, more optimistic tone. As if, as he understands life better, he also enjoys it more. 'The world is old and worn out/ but life is still youthful and strong' (Vrolijk Ochtendlied). He can make do with smaller words, his pen has become milder. But Roeka's rock 'n' roll has remained raw, and perhaps more vital than ever, thanks in part to drummer Jeroen Kleijn and multi-instrumentalist Reyer Zwart.
The sabbatical, however short, has done Alex Roeka good. Voort! is his best album so far. (Bert Wagendorp)
Ten years ago, Alex Roeka told me about his first sea voyage. He was seasick for days, until the swell had died down at Gibraltar. 'That's where I saw the blue sea for the first time. Dolphins. From a radio in the wheelhouse, Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles sounded.' That moment is now captured in his beautiful ode to the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Beatles, Als Een Rollende Steen.
He had written about his mother before, but never before so heartbreakingly beautiful and melancholic as in Mother: 'take another good look at your lost son'. You live to show who you are, he said at the time. He wanted to expose himself completely, to report in his songs on what life does to him. 'You never quite get to the core, but you can keep trying to get closer. What I do is almost shameless. I am my own material.' He approaches the truth ever closer. From the love that has deteriorated into routine in 'Samen Alleen' ('alienated and entangled'), to the stunningly beautiful Still Always Together, about a past love. In the search for what life has done to him, Alex Roeka now allows himself mild irony - 'That I sing beautifully, everyone now knows' (Ik Wil Leven). Or: 'Laugh at me when I'm raging again/ about life on the street' (Naar Mezelf Terug).
It seems as if the black and sometimes heavy vitalism of Roeka's earlier work is gradually making way for a lighter, more optimistic tone. As if, as he understands life better, he also enjoys it more. 'The world is old and worn out/ but life is still youthful and strong' (Vrolijk Ochtendlied). He can make do with smaller words, his pen has become milder. But Roeka's rock 'n' roll has remained raw, and perhaps more vital than ever, thanks in part to drummer Jeroen Kleijn and multi-instrumentalist Reyer Zwart.
The sabbatical, however short, has done Alex Roeka good. Voort! is his best album so far. (Bert Wagendorp)