DUTCH VERSION
(Het Parool, Amsterdam, Monday, June 17, 1985)
Canadese dichters boeien met geluiden
Canadese
Literatuur in het Holland Festival. The Four Horsemen en Louis Bird,
geintroduceerd en geinterviewd door Albert Helman. Sondagmiddag in Bellevue. The
Four Horsemen treden dinsdagavond (18/6) om 21 uur nog op in de Ijsbreker in
Amsterdam
door Max Nord
Voor het eerst waren ettelijke tientallen belangstellenden op een
literaire middag van het Holland Festival naar Bellevue in Amsterdam gekomen om
de vier Engelstalige dichters uit Canada te zien en te horen, die sinds 1970
optreden onder de naam The Four Horsemen. Daarnaast trad ook de Indiaanse
verhalenverteller Louis Bird op. Zij werden op bekwame en scherpzinnige wijze
ingeleid en geinterviewd door de uit Suriname afkomstige schrijver en dichter
Albert Helman.
De dichters Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery en
bpNichol, die de groep The Four Horsemen vormen, begonnen met een gezamenlijk
optreden, dat de kracht van hun "geluidspoezie" onmiddellijk voor alle
aanwezigen in volle glorie tot uitdrukking bracht. Een ritmisch en muzikaal
samenspel van alle mogelijke geluiden en woorden, van donkere keelklanken tot
heldere kreten, bracht een aanzienlijke spanning teweeg. De werkelijkheid
veranderen met fragmenten en geluiden, dat was wat ze beoogden, zeiden ze in een
gesprek met Albert Helman dat hierop volgde. Als voorbeeld werd de Franse
dichter Tristan Tzara aangehaald, die een Maori-gedicht (uit Nieuw-Zeeland) in
de oorspronkelijke taal ten gehore bracht. Dat wordt geluid, klank, en blijft
poezie.
Het solo-optreden van de vier dichters bracht veel
enthousiasme teweeg bij de toehoorders, die ook de uiteenzettingen van de
intelligente en over de hele wereld succesvolle dichters met aandacht volgden.
Na een korte pauze kwam de Indiaanse verhalenverteller Louis Bird aan het
woord. In een gesprek met Albert Helman vertelde hij in het noorden van Ontario
te wonen, deel uit te maken van de stam der Canadese Cree-Indianen. Hij woont in
een dorp, niet in een reservaat, en hij verzamelt de legenden van zijn
voorouders, die niet verloren mogen gaan. Op verzoek van Helman vertelde hij een
van de legenden in de taal der Cree-Indianen, zodat de toehoorders met deze
muzikale taal konden kennismaken, alvorens dezelfde legende in het Engels voor
te dragen. Ook een van de legenden over het vinden van de zon was even
verrassend als boeiend, en Louis Bird oogstte eveneens veel aandacht en
enthousiasme bij de aanwezigen met zijn door authenticiteit en eenvoud
gekenmerkte voordracht, die een andere en onbekende werelde uit de literatuur
van Canada vertegenwoordigde.
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DOUBLE-DUTCH
VERSION
(notebooks, 1985-1987)
Canadian poets boing with gladness
Canadian literature at the Holland Festival. The Four Horsemen and Louis
Bird get introduced and get interviewed by Albert Helman. Sunday afternoon at
the Bellevue. The Four Horsemen come in Tuesday night (18/6) at 21 hours (bring
a good supply of eggnog) at The Icebreaker in Amsterdam.
by Max Nord
For heating up worn ears that like tin talent, be still for a long time,
then go to an open literary afternoon near Bellevue in Amsterdam when the
Holland Festival gets the four Anglophone poets out of Canada coming in to sing
and to whore, they who since 1970 have walked up under the name The Four
Horsemen. The darnedest trade took the Indians' fur-hauler and fur counter,
Louis Bird, up. These were, then, up back, when in chirps a nigger-wise,
angle-eyed one and interviews the door out, its surname coming after writer and
poet Albert Helman.
The poets Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery, and
bpNichol died to form the group The Four Horsemen, a big one in mittens that
gets to be like men walking upright, dotted and cracked when hung with "gladness
poetry" that's not like mittens for all with visages like drunken tots
brought out in full glory. In a well-balanced mix with the same kind of spell
that music casts, when they all make like there's gladness in words, when
they're heehawing like donkeys that cherish being cretins, bright eyes bridge an
antique kind of tweak. They work like heads wandering with fragments of gladness
-- that was what they were like then, sitting down in an interview with Albert
Helman, that old fogey with his hair sticking up. They all warbled words the
French poet Tristan Tzara angled in on, who died in a Maori ditch (out in New
Zealand) in the Spronk Lake region, where he'd brought ten tall whores. That
warded off gladness (a real klinker) and blitzed poetry.
Hot solo-works by the four poets drew an enthusiastic response from
the crowd, who felt that their toes were tweaked and they ought to be sitting
out in a van like intelligent people the whole world over, where successful
poets might not read so vulgarly.
Gnawing on corded paws came the Indian fur-hauler and fur-counter Louis
Bird and his words. In an interview with Albert Helman, the fur-counter, who
hides in the north in a van that he won from Ontario, revealed the make of his
van, the stamp of a Canadian Cree Indian. His weren't eyes that drooped, nor
eyes held in reserve, and his warm words about legends from forefathers steeped
in gin didn't make anyone leave feeling forlorn. He up and forsook Helman and
foretold that his level van-full of legends in the Cree Indian dialect would be
toe-holds, with this musical dialect kind of making spells, in the overall goal
of dissolving with heat the English legend of the dragon. Okay. When the van of
legends overheated, the windows of the van made a sound that was even, furry
sandals bent, and Louis Bird got stuck evening the wheel, enthusiastically
ducked away again by his own wits, got in the door with authenticity, pulled it
inwards and lurched forward, his eyes lowered and his nose pointed towards a
world outside his van of Canadian literature, digging up fresh new words.
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STANDARD ENGLISH VERSION
(courtesy Mieke and Pedro
Bevelander, 1987)
Canadian poets intrigue with sound
Canadian literature in the
Holland Festival. The Four Horsemen and Louis Bird introduced and interviewed by
Albert Helman. Sunday afternoon in Bellevue. The Four Horsemen perform Tuesday
evening (18/6) at 21 hours in The Icebreaker in Amsterdam.
by Max Nord
For the first time, virtually scores of interested people came to the
Holland Festival's literary afternoon at Bellevue in Amsterdam to hear and see
the four English-speaking poets from Canada who have performed since 1970 under
the name The Four Horsemen. The Indian storyteller Louis Bird performed as well.
They were introduced and interviewed in a pleasant and inciteful manner by the
writer and poet of Surinam origin, Albert Helman.
The poets Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery, and
bpNichol, who formed the group The Four Horsemen, started with an ensemble
performance that immediately impressed all present with the full power and glory
of their sound poetry. A rhythmical and musical blending of all possible sounds
and words, from dark throat sounds to clear cries, it achieved substantial
creative tension. In conversation with Albert Helman after the performance, they
said they were trying to alter reality with word fragments and sounds. They
cited, as antecedent, the French poet, Tristan Tzara, who took a Maori poem from
New Zealand (in the original language) and performed it. Thus it becomes noise,
sound, and still remains poetry.
The solo performances of the four poets drew an enthusiastic response from
the audience, which was composed of thoughtful followers of intelligent and
successful poets from around the world.
After a short intermission, the Indian storyteller Louis Bird began
his performance. In conversation with Albert Helman, he explained that he lives
in Northern Ontario and is a member of the Canadian Cree Indian tribe. He lives
in a village, not on a reservation, and collects the legends of his ancestors,
so that they will not be lost. At Helman's request, he related one of the
legends in the Cree Indian language, so that the audience could become
acquainted with that musical language. He also told the same legend in English.
Another of the legends, one about the finding of the sun, was equally surprising
and intriguing, and Louis Bird held the enthusiastic attention of those present,
with his authenticity and simplicity, the hallmark of his performance, which
represented a different and unknown world of Canadian literature.
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