Introducing…

Paul Lemmens: programme maker Popart & Electronic music

“I have been involved with the Concertzender since the summer of 2013. A friend
of mine who already worked here, Bert Broere, set things in motion. One evening
he casually asked if working for the Concertzender might be something for me. I thought it might be and he passed that on to someone in the organisation. I was called a short time later by Hessel Veldman, invited for an interview and was soon at work. Initially my involvement concerned electronic music (for more details see this link). But then a vacancy became available in Popart and I started doing that as well. This gave me the opportunity this year to play something other than carols on Christmas day. So this year it was possible to listen to Can while wrestling with the turkey. It is fun to prepare a programme like that. I look for unusual and interesting music in my own collection and write (hopefully) a similarly unusual
and interesting text to accompany it. If Hessel (the 'boss') agrees, the programme is broadcast. It doesn't seem much, but if you want to do it well, it takes quite a lot of time. You also listen to your own CDs in new and different ways, which I also enjoy.”

A walking encyclopedia

“I have built up a considerable knowledge of music over the years. It seems odd to me to keep all that knowledge to yourself. I also have some experience with writing and that allows me to link things together and make coherent programmes. And if the programme also has some impact on the listener, all the better. That how it used to work for me anyway. I would listen for hours (when I was in Limburg) to the programme
‘King Kong (always announced
in a French accent 'Kieng Konge'
- something like that) avec Marc Moulin’ on the NAVO station and then you really got to hear some exceptional music! I always enjoyed it, despite all the inter-
ference on the medium wave.
I also helped Radio Breda with their Zappa special. Four hours
of Frank Zappa! Pure pleasure and fun to do as well. Unfortu-
nately this station is no more, but maybe this was the start that has brought me to my current work for the Concert-
zender.”

Trailrunning and websites

“The Concertzender is something that I do in my spare time. I work during the
week as a teacher; 6 to 10 year-olds. Teaching is the best profession that there
is. I also enjoy running and train several times a week. My passion is for ‘trail-
running’, so off the road, across the fields and into the woods. I take part in races and enjoy every moment, even though it is sometimes very tiring. Music fans are often not really into sport, but I am one of the exceptions. I also make websites, one about my hero Frank Zappa, but also others about Soft Machine, Supersister, electronic music and an autobiographical website my life with music, which primarily concerns the alternative side of 'my' music. I have also made a website
for a friend that concerns his favourites, Zappa again, but also Igor Strawinsky
and 20th century classical music. It is worth looking at. And if that isn't enough,
I am also a painter of abstract art and a photographer. I mainly take photos of
the countryside near my home. My friends have decided that my days must have more than 24 hours. But then again I don't spend much time sitting on the sofa
and watching TV. A heart problem in the past taught me that time is valuable,
so I don't waste any.”

Zappa

“There is no life without music for me. Even though I did not have a musical education, I have been listening intensely to music since I was 12 years old.
It began with marching bands, but that soon led to Black Sabbath. And then
on to the Kilima Hawaiians, Glenn Miller and Mahalia Jackson and then via my neighbour and his records to the Beatles, Stones, Monkees, Spotniks, Shadows.
There are worse ways to start. But then I heard ‘Freak Out’, ‘Absolutely Free’
and ‘We’re Only in it for the Money’ by Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention during my first holiday in secondary school. Since then, my world has never been
the same. I have listened to many sorts of music, from classical to contemporary, from Abba to Zappa, from Cannonball Adderley to John Zorn, and also from pygmy music to desert blues. And – my current favourites – from the sound of the wind through the grass in a Japanese zen garden to walls of feedback and electronic noise. But my greatest love will always be for the music of Frank Zappa. It was because of him that I started to listen to all the others and have continued to extend my musical boundaries .”

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