UTRECHT, Netherlands, Nov 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – When a musical legend dies,
a tribute can often be heard ringing out from the most unexpected of places:
the tallest church tower in the Netherlands.
Days after French crooner Charles Aznavour’s death last month, the strains
of his 1963 hit “For me, formidable” could be heard from the Domtoren (Dom
Tower) in the central student city of Utrecht.
An alert passer-by recorded the unusual ringing of the bells and posted the
clip on Twitter. It soon went viral, shared by countless Aznavour fans around
the world.
Behind the unique musical send-off was Malgosia Fiebig, who, high up in the
centuries-old tower, perched between the bells of an organ-like instrument
called a carillon, was doing what she has done for other popular artists on
their death.
Whitney Houston, Prince, David Bowie and even Swedish superstar DJ Avicii
all received similar musical nods from 43-year-old Fiebig, the Domtoren’s
first woman carillonneur in more than three centuries.
“When a musician dies, I play a sort of tribute,” Fiebig told AFP, before
demonstrating how she knocks out tunes on the carillon’s wooden keyboard,
tucked in a room between the bells, some 80 metres (262 feet) above the
ground.
“On the radio we also hear more songs of the artist that died. I can react
very fast… and am able to play these songs within a few days. I do it
often,” Polish-born Fiebig said.
– ‘Language of music’ –
Appointed in 2011 as Utrecht’s 17th city carillonneur since 1623, Fiebig
shot to national fame when she played tribute songs to Dick Bruna, the
Utrecht-born creator of Miffy the cartoon rabbit, after Bruna died early last
year.
The tributes “are a little for me, but also for people walking in the
street. I hope that they will hear the music and they will make a connection:
‘Oh yes, yeah that’s that song’,” she said.
“A carillon is of course the number one instrument to play during actual
events,” said Christiaan Winter, chairman of the Dutch national carillonneur
centre in central Alkmaar.
“It’s an instrument that can inform an entire city centre — through the
language of music — of something that’s going on,” he told AFP.
Fiebig however is the first to admit that it’s not always easy playing
modern pop music on an instrument that dates back to 1664 and consists of 50
bells of various sizes.
Carillons are often hundreds of years old and originally evolved from the
lowlands of Belgium, France and the Netherlands, where the first instrument
was installed in 1652.
– ‘Very physical activity’ –
Today, there are more than 600 carillons around the world — including in
countries ranging from Brazil to Japan, the United States, New Zealand and
South Africa.
The instrument has a number of bronze bells — some weighing as much as two
tonnes — bolted to wooden beams and does not move like normal church bells
during a performance.
Instead, a small iron ball called a “clapper” is connected via a steel
cable to a wooden keyboard played by the carillonneur, who strikes the keys
with a closed fist, a “very physical activity”, said Fiebig.
As the keys are played, the clapper hits the inside of the bell and a sound
is produced.
There are also pedal keys for the heavier bells and a carillonneur can
“hit” up to six bells at once to create a unique sound.
– ‘A cool instrument’ –
Not every tune lends itself to be played on a carillon.
“A song like Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ for instance works well, while another
of his songs, ‘Kiss’, absolutely doesn’t. It’s impossible to create funk on a
carillon,” Fiebig laughed.
The last seven years have been a labour of love for Fiebig — who also
plays the carillon in nearby Nijmegen — to make an ancient instrument more
accessible to modern audiences.
Together with two fellow musicians playing keyboards, she has given
concerts featuring music as diverse as 1970s pop supergroup ABBA, to songs by
British rock legends Pink Floyd and Radiohead.
“I feel playing pop music reaches a big group of people. We want to make
them aware… that a carillon is a cool instrument,” she said.
But for Fiebig, who grew up in Poland partly before the fall of communism
in 1989, Charles Aznavour will always have a special place in her heart.
“I love French chanson. I don’t speak any French so I don’t understand any
of the words,” she said.
“But for years I was listening on the Polish radio to a programme playing
French songs.”
When Aznavour died in early October aged 94, “it was a quick decision.
Within a few days, I chose three songs and I played them on a Friday
afternoon.”
“Somebody grabbed a phone and recorded it. And it went viral,” said Fiebig.