Carousel: The Songs of Jacques Brel

This show is a celebration of the songs of Jacques Brel. It is 80 years since his birth in Belgium; he moved to Paris in his mid-twenties to forge a career as a singer-songwriter, and was also known as an actor and director. He died in 1978, aged 49. His lyrics are poetic and often dark, tackling life, death and love but his legacy of songs are not just the musings of a tortured artist, he also wrote some light and comedic, cabaret-like material.

Brel has been and remains an influence on many musicians and some of his admirers are here tonight to perform three songs each. The artists are accompanied by an orchestra with brass and string sections, drums, piano and keys, accordion, harp and vibraphone.

Momus (aka Nick Currie) is on first and has the privilege of opening with Brel's most famous and most recorded song 'Ne Me Quitte Pas', accompanied by beautiful strings from the orchestra. He sings this in English, translated as 'Don't Leave Me', which is felt to be more accurate than the popular 'If You Go Away'. Momus explains that he is 49 years old, the same age as Brel when he died of "smoke induced" lung cancer.

Hailing from France, Arthur H (aka Arthur Higelin) is able to deliver more authentic renderings of the next three songs in the language they were originally written in; he gives a passionate performance with Waits-style vocals. My school French doesn't stretch to understanding all the words but they definitely sound more poetic and romantic in French.

The next act, Diamanda Galás, an accomplished pianist and singer-songwriter/performance artist, receives an enthusiastic welcome from the audience. Immediately she tramples my idealistic view of the French language and sings the next three songs in a growly, phlegmy, and, frankly, quite scary voice. The delivery is commanding and dramatic but also aggressive, jarring and disturbing.

Thank goodness for Camille O'Sullivan to restore the romanticism and soothe our ears. She's the only reason I have a faint clue who Jacques Brel is after previously hearing her sing some of his songs, including 'Marieke' which she begins with tonight. O'Sullivan sings this unaccompanied and in both English and Flemish, full of passion. She sits for the next song 'Les Vieux (Old Folks)' which is a very touching but also slightly depressing study of old people whose "world's become too small" and of the "old silver clock that's hanging on the wall that waits for us all". She finishes with a raunchy and fearsome 'Au Suivant (Next)' – Brel's comment on the army and, as O'Sullivan says, a "more brutal sort of love".

Belgian singer-songwriter Arno sings three songs, in the original French, in his deep, gravelly voice, but the arrangement of the music seems to lose some of the vocals and the power of the songs.

The final performer, Marc Almond, lights up the stage with his charisma and sheer enthusiasm. He's obviously a massive Brel fan and recorded an album of his songs back in '89. He starts with 'Le Diable Ca Va (The Devil OK)' and says that this song gave him a hernia when he sung it previously and he's still got it – we can see why: it begins with Almond frantically bashing a cymbal and is quite a wild song. His next song is 'J'Arrive' and he's using the Paul Buck translation of 'I'm Coming', rather than 'I'm Here'. He explains that it has connotations of sex and death, and that as we say goodbye to one, we get ready for the other. It's a poignant choice for him after his brush with the grim reaper a few years back following a serious motorbike accident. Almond says that the next song 'Carousel' gives him vertigo, and he's already wearing high heels. It certainly becomes a whirlwind of a song, which gets faster and faster towards the end and it's some achievement to fit in all the words at that pace.

The show finishes with an exuberant version of 'La Chanson de Jacky (Jacky)' sung by Almond, O'Sullivan and Momus - the only possible song choice for the finale.

For another showcase evening at the Barbican, check out their alternative to seasonal songs, 'Twisted Christmas' - Richard Hawley, Ed Harcourt and Polly Scattergood are scheduled to appear, and I've already booked my ticket.

Set List
Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me)
La Ville S'Endormait (The Town Tumbles to Sleep)
Les Bourgeois (Bourgeois Pigs)
Sur La Place (In the Square)
Je Suis un Soir d'Eté (A Summer's Evening)
Madeleine
La Chanson des Vieux Amants (Song for Old Lovers)
Amsterdam
Fernand
Marieke
Les Vieux (Old Folks)
Au Suivant (Next)
Le Bon Dieu (Good God)
Bruxelles (Brussels)
Voir un Ami Pleurer (A Friend Cries)
Le Diable Ca Va (The Devil OK)
J'Arrive (IÂ’m Coming)
La Valse a Mille Temps (Carousel)
La Chanson de Jacky (Jacky)

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.