"We Weren´t Given Anything For Free" - A Film About Women In The Italian Resistance - Crowd-Funding Campaign

The german film-maker Eric Esser started a crowd-funding campaign for the DVD release of his award-winning documentary "We Weren't Given Anything for Free" with bonus film material and a comprehensive booklet about women in the Italian resistance.

Eric Esser writes about the film and the campain:

“We Weren’t Given Anything for Free” follows the dramatic events in the lives of former Italian partisan, Annita Malavasi, and her two comrades, Pierina Bonilauri and Gina Moncigoli.
This film is about the Italian resistance during the Second World War, from the perspective of these women. The 58-minute documentary premiered in Germany at the end of 2014. It had a successful run in a total of 30 film festivals in Germany and abroad. The film was honored or awarded a prize on 13 occasions.

Piera Bonilauri with her medals.

I want to create a DVD box for my documentary, “We Weren’t Given Anything for Free.” The comprehensive booklet will tell the story of the women in the Italian resistance; it will contain biographies of each of the three partisan fighters portrayed in the film, as well as historical information on Reggio Emilia during the Second World War.
The DVD menus will be available in Italian, English and Spanish. Printed materials such as the booklet and the DVD box itself will be available initially only in German and Italian.

Partisans in Reggio Emilia after the liberation

What Is Being Funded

With this campaign, I would like to finance the following endeavors:

• Production of bonus material not included in the original film, including color correction, audio processing, as well as translation, editing of translated texts, and subtitles in three languages.
• Concept and production of a 12-page booklet, including layout, translation, and editing of translated texts.
• Creation of further printed media such as the DVD box and DVD label, and corresponding translation and editing of the translated texts.
• Design and production of the DVD menu, as well as its translation and editing of the translated texts.
• Conceptualization and authoring of the DVD, as well as production of a glass master for DVD pressing.

Because I financed the original film project for the most part by myself, and because the debts which I incurred for the production of that film have not yet been paid off, I am no longer able financially to contribute to the production of a DVD. I have decided to try to mobilize the necessary funds to realize this project through a crowd-funding campaign. I would therefore like to ask you, would you care to support my endeavor with a financial contribution?"

If you are interested, you´ll find detailed information about the crowd-funding campaign via https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/712197499/dvd-release-geschenkt-wurde-uns-nichts/

Jacques Brel - Olympia 1961

Although Jacques Brel's modern reputation rests on the seemingly endless stream of future classics he tossed out in his capacity as a songwriter, acclaim during his lifetime was equally granted to his live performances. Onstage, as surviving footage amply shows, he was a dynamo of expression, emotion, and energy, imbibing every lyric with an intensity that such phrases as "body language," "facial expressions," and "stage presence" simply cannot begin to explain.

It was a smart move indeed, then, for him to wrap up his Phillips label deal with a live album, recorded at the fabled Paris Olympia in October 1961, with piano accompaniment from arranger Francois Rauber and occasional songwriter Gerard Jouannest, and an orchestra conducted by Daniel Janin.

 

The 15 songs include a number with which the audience might not even have been familiar -- new material scheduled for Brel's next few EPs included "Les Bourgeois," "La Statue," "Zangra," and "Madeleine." All, however, are greeted with enthusiasm -- one of Brel's greatest talents, and the concert environment only amplified it, was his ability to turn total strangers into the closest friends, and friends, of course, into lovers -- an exuberant "Les Flamandes," a jovial "Marieke," a whirling "La Valse a Mille Temps."

 

Effortlessly, Brel holds the audience's emotions in his hand. A playful "Les Paumes Du Petit Matin" is high comedy, as Brel toys with both lyrics and vocal sounds; "Ne Me Quitte Pas," on the other hand, reduces a vast auditorium to the silence of the grave, until even the strings behind it sound like trespassers on the singer's soul. "Le Moribund" jerks the dreamers back to wakefulness, and one cannot help but wonder whether any of the so painfully earnest Anglo-American interpreters of this song could ever even imagine the exuberance with which Brel imbibes it. Joy, fun, seasons in the sun -- as the song speeds toward its conclusion, it almost sounds like Brel has started tap-dancing, so unrestrainedly buoyant is his delivery. The album closes with "Quand on N'a Que L'Amour," of course. It opens slowly, gently, Brel alone with his acoustic guitar and sounding almost uncertain as he stutters out the lyrics. As the band comes in behind him, however, his confidence returns, until the performance explodes with the crowd and, as Brel leaves the stage, the horns play out the refrain. It must have been a marvelous night; it remains a tremendous LP.     

Tracklist:

1. "Les prénoms de Paris" (Brel / Gérard Jouannest)
2. "Les bourgeois" (Brel / Jean Corti)
3. "Les paumés du petit matin" (Brel / François Rauber)
4. "Les Flamandes"
5. "La statue" (Brel / Rauber)
6. "Zangra"
7. "Marieke" (Brel / Jouannest)
8. "Les biches" (Brel / Jouannest)
9. "Madeleine" (Brel / Jouannest / Corti)
10. "Les singes"
11. "L’Ivrogne" (Brel / Jouannest / Rauber)
12. "La valse à mille temps"
13. "Ne me quitte pas"
14. "Le Moribond"
15. "Quand on n'a que l'amour"

Jacques Brel - Olympia 1961
(192 kbps, cover art included)         

Georges Brassens - Fernande (1972)

One of French pop's most poetic songwriters, Georges Brassens was also a highly acclaimed and much-beloved performer in his own right. Not only a brilliant manipulator of language and a feted poet in his own right, Brassens was also renowned for his subversive streak, satirizing religion, class, social conformity, and moral hypocrisy with a wicked glee.

Yet beneath that surface was a compassionate concern for his fellow man, particularly the disadvantaged and desperate. His personal politics were forged during the Nazi occupation, and while his views on freedom bordered on anarchism, his songs expressed those convictions more subtly than those of his contemporary, Léo Ferré.

Though he was a skilled songwriter, Brassens had little formal musical training, and he generally kept things uncomplicated - simple melodies and spare accompaniment from a bass and second guitar. Along with Jacques Brel, he became one of the most unique voices on the French cabaret circuit, and exerted a tremendous influence on many other singers and songwriters of the postwar era. His poetry and lyrics are still studied as part of France's standard educational curriculum.    

Tracklist:

A1	Fernande
A2	Stances A Un Cambrioleur
A3	La Ballade Des Gens Qui Sont Nés Quelque Part
A4	La Princesse Et Le Croque-Notes
A5	Sauf Le Respect Que Je Vous Dois
A6	Le Blason
B1	Mourir Pour Des Idées
B2	Quatre-Vingt-Quinze Pour Cent
B3	Les Passantes
B4	Le Roi
B5	A L'Ombre Des Maris

Georges Brassens - Fernande (1972)
(ca. 192 kbps, cover art included)

John & Alice Coltrane‎ - John & Alice Coltrane (Hörzu Black Label, 1970)

Alice Coltrane was an uncompromising pianist, composer and bandleader, who spent the majority of her life seeking spiritually in both music and her private life. Music ran in Alice Coltrane's family; her older brother was bassist Ernie Farrow, who in the '50s and '60s played in the bands of Barry Harris, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs, and especially Yusef Lateef. Alice McLeod began studying classical music at the age of seven.

 

She attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School with pianist Hugh Lawson and drummer Earl Williams. As a young woman she played in church and was a fine bebop pianist in the bands of such local musicians as Lateef and Kenny Burrell. McLeod traveled to Paris in 1959 to study with Bud Powell. She met John Coltrane while touring and recording with Gibbs around 1962-1963; she married the saxophonist in 1965, and joined his band -- replacing McCoy Tyner -- one year later. Alice stayed with John's band until his death in 1967; on his albums "Live at the Village Vanguard Again!" and "Concert in Japan", her playing is characterized by rhythmically ambiguous arpeggios and a pulsing thickness of texture.               

This compilation with tracks featuring John and Alice Coltrane was released in 1970 on the "HÖR ZU Black Label" in Germany.

Tracklist:

A	My Favorite Things	17:41
B1	Reverend King	10:55
B2	The Sun	3:58

"My Favorite Things" was recorded live at Newport Jazz Festival 1963, "Reverend King" on Februara, 02. 1966 in San Francisco and "The Sun" on January, 21, 1968, in New York.
         

John & Alice Coltrane‎ - John & Alice Coltrane (Hörzu Black Label, 1970)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Kurt Weill - Symphonies 1 & 2, Kleine Dreigroschenmusik - The Gulbenkian Orchestra & Michel Swierczewski

"For years the two Weill symphonies were dominated in the LP catalogue by two conductors: Gary Bertini and Edo de Waart. More recently Marin Alsop successfully took the symphonies into the studio for Naxos. Bertini – well respected for his Mahler cycle on EMI Classics – has kept a tighter grip on the shops having been reissued on CD several times. It began life with BBC Symphony Orchestra sessions at the Kingsway Hall in 1965-67. These emerged as an EMI Classics stereo LP (ASD 2390) and then turned up on Argo (ZRG 755) – or was it the other way around. Its somewhat overshadowed ‘echo’ came out in 1975 when the LP had less than ten years to live. The Read more Gewandhausorchester Leipzig were conducted by de Waart. This initially appeared on East German Eterna as ED1 826673 but may be better known as Philips LP 6500-642; I am not sure whether it was ever re-issued on CD - does anyone know? However in 1996 the Bertini had the CD treatment from EMI Classics (5 65869 2.). It was number 25 in their admirable Matrix series.

There is a link between the Bertini recordings and the present disc. It’s to be found in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The Foundation – always a champion of fine neglected music - financially supported the Bertini sessions and it is the Gulbenkian Orchestra that plays these two symphonies and the Weill-Klemperer suite.

Fine performances from this conductor and Nimbus’s analytical recording reports a host of details without losing impact or the broad sweep in what is a richly resonant acoustic. The First Symphony is tender, world-weary and salty. Its energy is threaded through with disillusion and a knowing cynicism. This is not sufficient to preclude an ending which has a sense of repose. The music has perhaps a shade of Markevitch’s inhuman exuberance but there are also Bergian passages that evoke a tender Klimtian dream. The Symphony was written in April and June 1921 while Weill was part of Busoni’s class. It was premiered in Berlin in 1957 and only published in 1968. The gritty and acrid tang of Kleine Dreigroschenmusik is not tempered by Swierczewski. Indeed the cigar smoke, diesel and drains miasma mixes well with the pompous and dissolute Weimar-Grosz atmosphere. This is greatly helped by the role played by saxophone, guitar and banjo. The Second Symphony Pariser was written around the time of Weill’s enforced departure from Germany in 1933. It was premiered by Bruno Walter at the Concertgebouw in 1934. An agreeably harsh and grating rhythmic mordancy is coupled with a grunting and waxing undertow. There’s a very catchy finale with sparkling woodwind and a Svejk-like strut. The last few pages offer up a galloping romp." - http://www.arkivmusic.com/

Tracklist:

1		Symphony No.1 (1921)	25:46
		Kleine Dreigroschenmusik Für Blasenorchester. Suite Aus Der "Dreigroschenoper"	21:37
2		1 Ouverture: Maestoso	2:05
3		2 Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer: Moderato Assai	2:21
4		3 Anstatt Daß-Song: Moderato	1:54
5		4 Die Ballade Vom Angenehmen Leben: Foxtrott	2:57
6		5 Pollys Lied: Andante Con Moto	2:50
7		5a Tango-Ballade	2:38
8		6 Kanonen-Song: Charleston-Tempo	2:30
9		7 Dreigroschen-Finale	4:22
		Symphony No.2 (1933)	26:31
10		I Sostenuto-Allegro Molto	8:51
11		II Largo	10:51
12		III Allegro Vivace	6:49

Kurt Weill - Symphonies 1 & 2, Kleine Dreigroschenmusik - The Gulbenkian Orchestra
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Les Ambassadeurs ‎– Dance Music From West Africa

After first breaking into the Malian music scene with the Super Rail Band, Salif Keita left to help form Les Ambassadeurs. The strong Cuban influence in the music (obvious not only in the rhythms, but also in the horn charts) helped bring them local fame in the mid-'70s before Keita embarked on a solo career. With some stunning, but laid-back, guitar work from Kante Manfila, this record moves at a wonderful pace, never straining at the leash, but more danceable than 12 albums of funk. An absolute delight. --Chris Nickson

Though it's billed as "Dance Music From West Africa" (these folkie labels, anything for a buck), what you notice is more for the ears than the feet--the emotional range of Mali tenor Salif Keita, a far more stirring singer than the renowned Rochereau, and the way Kante Manfila's guitar anchors synth here and horns there. Gorgeous. And if you wonder what Keita's emoting about, read the notes. He doesn't much like war, prefers past leaders to present, hopes the poor man's prayers will be answered but que sera sera, praises not just cops but also informers for combating the drug scourge, and passionately opposes the newfangled practice of men marrying women older than themselves. Oh well. - R. Christgau

Had the chance to see them playing live on stage a year ago. It was a wonderful evening...

 

Les Ambassadeurs ‎– Dance Music From West Africa
(320 kbps, cover art included)

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra - Sleeping Beauty (1979)

This is the great late-night Sun Ra chillout album you never knew about. The band had been working in a more groove-oriented setting off and on for over a year, as evidenced by the albums "Lanquidity" and "On Jupiter", with both featuring prominent electric bass and electric guitar.

"Sleeping Beauty" picks up right where "On Jupiter" left off, with the gentle, swaying "Springtime Again" echoing the same mellow vibe of "Seductive Fantasy" from "On Jupiter". A skittering intro coalesces as different instruments pick up bits of the melody, which is then fully expressed by the horn section and ensemble vocals. It's a simple two-chord vamp, with beautiful solos that seem to embody the reawakening and rebirth of springtime.

"The Door of the Cosmos" starts with a gospel-like chant and handclaps, with comments from Ra's electric piano and electric guitar. A strong bassline enters, very reminiscent of "A Love Supreme, Pt. 1: Acknowledgement," but the accompanying chant celebrates the mysteries of the unknown rather than the universal truth of "A Love Supreme". This track builds in intensity, but never loses its groove or becomes nearly as raucous as the Arkestra is sometimes known for.

"Sleeping Beauty" is the album centerpiece, taking up all of side two. Ra's beautiful electric piano gets things rolling, and the band falls into a peaceful groove before the vocals enter, led by the wonderful June Tyson.

These songs are all built on the simplest of structures, and the playing from everyone is understated and sublime. "Sleeping Beauty" is truly a high point in an unwieldy discography, and something of an anomaly at the same time. There's a good reason copies of this album go for several hundred dollars on the collector's market, but it really deserves a proper release so more people can hear it. Outstanding.

 

Tracklist:          

A1		Springtime Again	9:17
A2		Door Of The Cosmos	9:00
B		Sleeping Beauty	11:51

 

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra - Sleeping Beauty (1979)

(224 kbps, cover art included)