Disc-Cover!

Interesting albums from folk and roots music history, hosted by Marius Roeting.

Disbelief. Dismay. Disgust. Dejection. These are some of the superlatives and states of mind you may experience when you visit the Flanders Field exhibition in the Flemish town of Ypres. The horrors of war are shown here in all its violence, especially those of the Great War, as WW I is called in Flanders. This region, the South-west of Flanders and the North-west of France, was the war sewer of the four-year battle. Hundreds of thousands were killed, hundreds of thousands more were mutilated or otherwise injured, by bullets, but also by the massive use of poisonous gas. The many graveyards with crosses row after row, are the visible memories of these atrocities.

Piet Chielens, resident of this region, is one of the initiators of Flanders Field. In 1992 he was still a freelance journalist for music magazine Gandalf and started another memorial project: the Peace Concerts, performed by an international variety of folk and world music artists. ‘We died in hell, they called in Passchendaele’ is the revealing title of this first production. Many were to follow.

The Great War is commemorated on 11 November, the right moment to introduce you to the CD production ‘We died in hell, they called in Passchendaele’. Though maybe not a musical masterpiece, it is an important initiative in the history of roots and folk music though.

‘We died in hell’ renewed the interest of mainly youngsters and especially British folk musicians in this part of history. Anti war songs were written again, this time with a modern view, but with historical awareness. This way of musical commemoration was followed outside the national borders as well. Therefore, a release such as ‘We died in hell, they called in Passchendaele’ fits remarkably well in the concept of Disc-Cover, in which we introduce you not only to musical gems, but also – again- to insignificant interesting albums.