SummerJazzCyclingTour
Working on the chain gang 
On the last Saturday in August, 1700 cyclists will set out across the north of Holland in search of musicians. Waiting for them inside barns and churches will be Tristan Honsinger, The Ex, Trevor Watts, Veryan Weston, Han Bennink, Ned Rothenberg , Ernst Reijseger, Hyperactive Kid and a host of others - even Spoon3+1Fork, a Dutch quartet with singer Jodi Gilbert, whose photos show little sign of cutlery. Part music festival , part promotion of the beauties of the Reitdiep Valley north of Groningen, the SummerJazzCyclingTour is celebrating 25 years of alternative themed concerts deep in rural Holland. Marcel Roelofs pedalled among the first audience in 1987, and since 1993 has assumed programming duties. What is this little known part of Europe like? Roelofs explains: "It's quite a historical area, and it was always flooded . The monasteries and farms were lifting themselves up on garbage to cope with the floods, so 800 years ago every farmhouse was like a little island when the high spring tides came in. You're really in the countryside here, some of our villages are one church and two farmhouses."
The festival offers 28 concerts in one day, but the 1dea is that you listen to one set, then cycle 15 minutes to the next venue, maybe catching four or five performances during the afternoon, fuelled by locally made soup and pies. Roelofs relishes the special effect of this : "Because you 're on a bicycle, you come into a concert differently from a club or concert hall. If there's a strong headwind everybody's sweating, everybody's glad to sit down. And it's a nice way to get to know the area. People invite their friends who are not even music lovers, and don't know the lmprov scene at all. These churches are pretty small and the concert's acoustic. You're close to the action and the musicians. Artists sell lots and lots of COs on that day - I often hear that when people put on the CD at home they hate it, but they really loved it when they were there!"
Berlin based Korean cellist Okkyung Lee is playing a duo with Dutch bassist Wilbert De Joode, who toured the UK recently with lg Hennemann. This, says Roelofs, is an example of the intimate music that can work perfectly in these rural venues. Lee is part of the 'Berlin Route', a Berlin-themed concert series that the audience can choose to follow. "In the past we had a Young Hounds Route, or All Female, or Brass. This year we have a Berlin Route because Berlin is the focal point of lmprov these days. All the great improvisors are moving there, and if you see their calendar there are more lmprov gigs in Berlin than New York or Paris."
Originally local , Roelofs's audience has expanded internationally, with many visitors from Dutch cities, Belgium, the UK and Germany. The resulting culture shock amuses him, as when people eager to buy albums discover the nearest cash dispenser is in a village 30 kilometres distant.
"You know, in the cities hardly anyone
has lights on their bike," Roelofs
concludes, "but if you don't have lights in
the countryside you're completely lost,
because there's no street lamps. So the
concert experience can turn into something
else, there's some extra stuff in there." D
The SummerJazzCyclmgTour begms on 26
August.
see Out There ZJft nl
Clive Bell Bites I The W1re I 13