Over two weekends in May and June, ReMuA / El Sistema Belgium put on its annual festival, with some special programmes written especially for the occasion.

Incorporating musicians from 26 schools in Brussels, Liège and Eupen, the festival brought together pupils from the Flemish, German and French-speaking parts of Belgium in bilingual performances which showcased both the linguistic diversity and the full reach of the Sistema programmes in the country. Visitors to Comme-ci, Comme-ça on June 10th were, for example, treated to a West Side Story adaptation in which the gangs engaged in call and response pieces in their own languages, with calls in French and responses in Flemish and vice versa.

Love in Liège & brokenhearted dinosaurs in Brussels

Starting off in May in the south-east of Belgium, the festival began with L’amour un jeu d’enfants …?. This piece featured 160 children playing in Liège’s Salle Philharmonique and drew on oriental, African, Indian and European influences and featured arrangements from Bizet’s Carmen. Combining these diverse frames of inspiration through the mediums of romantic comedy and an enchanted world, L’amour un jeu d’enfants …? gave the children the opportunity to relay their own diversity and to portray the beauty and magic of a number of different cultures, all in the form of an entertaining romp through different takes on the theme of love.

After a short break, the festival then came back with a bang, as it recommenced 100 kms north-west of Liège in Brussels' Flagey two weeks later. The second weekend started off with a heartwarming manifestation of the theme of empowerment in the form of Les super-héros, a piece made for and with the children and featuring a wide spectrum of colourful characters, with brokenhearted dinosaurs and sumo baby invaders all having a role to play. Performed by c.120 eight to twelve year olds and members of the Belgian National Orchestra, this performance was the culmination of an engaging creative process carried out by the children, ReMuA's creative team and local student cartoonists, who provided the fantastic illustrations which the audience could see on a huge screen above the orchestra.

On the following day, Comme-ci, Comme-ça not only perfectly embodied the Sistema ethos of coming together through common engagement but also got in on the Bernstein 100th anniversary celebrations being held worldwide. Adapted to suit the pupils and performed in Flemish and French, this West Side Story brusselaise featured c.250 six to 12 year old singers and instrumentalists from throughout the capital region and brought the festival to a fitting close in a celebration of diversity, mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Watch the full festival performance of Comme-ci, Comme-ça

The making of 2018’s El Sistema Festival

Yet, as with any concert, 2018's El Sistema Festival was about much more than just the final performances. Indeed, the story behind the performances began long before summer 2018, with it taking five months just to put together the texts and characters for one of the tailor-made pieces the children performed.

This August, Sistema Europe, therefore, took the opportunity to talk to Sarah Goldfarb (Artistic & Pedagogic Director, ReMuA) and Nick Hayes (Composer in Residence, ReMuA) about how the the pieces had come about. In particular, we discussed the genesis of Les super-héros and Comme-ci, Comme-ça and the impact that ReMuA's approach had had on Nick, Sarah and the pupils involved.

Our conversation began with Nick & Sarah telling us how their intense first-hand experience of the children's group dynamics had formed the backdrop to Comme-ci, Comme-ça, whose West Side Story homage plays testimony to Bernstein's legacy, Belgium's multilingual environment and the children's own personal development. Written especially for 2018's El Sistema Festival, Comme-ci, Comme-ça would have been unimaginable without the inspiration provided by close interaction with the children and both Nick's jazzy, Bernstein-inspired score and Sarah's tailor-made story and liberetto were written for the children and with their behaviour and growth within the Sistema programme firmly in mind.

We also heard how, in the case of Les super-héros, ReMuA had gone a step further, with the children not only providing the inspiration for the piece but actually thinking up its storylines and majorly contributing to its music themselves. Recalling the early days of its development, Sarah told us how she and 18 student cartoonists had worked with the children to develop the characters and background stories for the piece over a number of sessions together. Describing these sessions, Sarah emphasised the children's role in the creative process & told us how the development of the stories and their characters had benefitted from the flexible and playful approach adopted, with, in some cases, quasi-card games being used to inspire the children and to get their imaginations going.

At this point, Nick took up the tale and spoke of how he then came into the classes and, with the help of a small piano, worked with the children to put the storylines to music, improvising and adapting the melodies for the phrases until nine long songs (of five-nine minutes) had taken their basic forms and could be finalised and orchestrated for the rehearsals to come.

Take a look behind the scenes at ReMuA’s El Sistema Festival 2018 (mainly in French!)

Drawing conclusions & looking ahead

Talking about the fruits of their labours, both Nick and Sarah declared their delight at how the children had responded to being so intensively involving in the creative process. In particular, they emphasised how the children’s ownership of the pieces had resulted in extraordinarily personal, highly passionate performances. Yet, at the same time, it was also clear how much work goes into producing well-made pieces in such close cooperation with the children. The extensive interaction required to collaboratively form new works creates remarkable results, but it also inevitably restricts the frequency at which new work can be developed and an intrinsic dilemma arises as regards the future application of pieces which are so intimately connected to a specific group.

Consequently, when talking about their plans for the future, Nick and Sarah spoke about how they would rotate the groups with which they instigated tailor-made pieces going forwards, with members of their burgeoning advanced orchestra due to be the particular benefactors of their innovative approach over the course of the coming year. Nick and Sarah also talked about how they wished to increase the longevity of their work and their desire to ensure that the pieces had an extended life cycle. So, if you’ve been impressed by what you’ve seen and are a publisher or have Dutch, German or French pupils, then don’t hesitate to get in touch, as Nick and Sarah would love to publish both this and future years’ work and to make the pieces available to other teachers and classes going forwards.

Photos of the festival

All photos courtesy of ReMuA

Use the arrows to scan the gallery

 

How can I find out more about ReMuA / El Sistema Belgium and the El Sistema Festival?

Want to find out more about ReMuA / El Sistema Belgium? Visit their member’s page at: https://www.sistemaeurope.org/Network-Members/ReMuA_El_Sistema_Belgium/

Looking to see ReMuA / El Sistema Belgium in action next year? Keep an eye on Flagey’s festival page to find out more about next year’s concert and to be the first to know when tickets become available: https://www.flagey.be/en/group/5059-el-sistema-festival-2019