Water Cradle Me – The Long River Slides (2019)

Directed by: Sanne Rovers | 53 minutes | documentary, music

For more than thirty years, De Kift has been making poetic fanfare punk, with lyrics borrowed from world literature. In ‘Water cradle me’ documentary maker Sanne Rovers tries to capture the creative process in which new songs are created. Frontman Ferry Heijne literally sails out to meet people who want to share their story with him. That should lead to new inspiration and therefore to new music. Early in the documentary, Heijne reveals what drives him to set (existing) texts to music, namely: “That you can enrich the text with music, make it more beautiful.”

How this works is beautifully illustrated with a poem by the Iraqi poet Rodaan al Galidi, who came to the Netherlands as a refugee and is one of the people who wanted to share their story with Heijne. Ferry reads part of it, visibly enjoying the text, and gradually more sound is added during the documentary. But also the story of a father who loves surfing and the water, and his daughter is lost in a fateful storm. Heijne makes the mental connection with Paul van Ostaijen’s ‘Melopee’ and argues for the rhythm of the music and the choice of different instruments and how they should behave. “Along the high reed / Along the low meadow / The canoe slides to the sea…”

Heijne is basically alone on the boat to work on the new music, but his band members are never far away from him. They are located along the quay, on the banks, and are part of the landscape through which Heijne passes. Rovers also brings poetry into her images. The creative side of De Kift is further interpreted by percussionist and artistic director Wim ter Weele, who gradually paints a large canvas with a mixture of water and mud from the river. Even if you don’t know the band yet, it becomes clear what makes De Kift so special. The connection with the audience becomes extra intimate, especially for the people whose story leads to new music. Rovers shows their reactions by filming them listening to ‘their’ song for the first time. The emotion is easy to read from the faces.

But Ferry himself also appears to carry a sad story. He tells about father Jan Heijne, metal worker, who played the trumpet with the Assendelft brass band, which meant Ferry’s first acquaintance with live music. When he started De Kift together with Wim ter Weele, a trumpet player was needed and that is how Jan entered the band after his retirement. Ferry gets emotional when he talks about how his father’s health is deteriorating. Unilateral paralysis after a TIA. When Jan now hears old music by De Kift, he invariably starts to cry. Ferry describes his father as “a smaller and smaller flame, which at some point just… goes out.” During this story you initially see a television on the bank slowly disappearing into the twilight. In the picture: father playing ‘Orenmens’ in his heyday in De Kift, a key song from the band’s oeuvre.

The documentary is called ‘A musical ode to sadness’ and some of the stories are certainly sad. But ‘Water cradle me’ also gives a lot of beauty and comfort. And resilience. Like the woman who bought a boat for her family, but who was left alone after a breakup. At first the boat was a difficult place to be, because of all the memories. But now she is busy working again, to make it as beautiful and homely as possible. “Continue hard,” Ferry Heijne sums it up for her. Or as it sounds in the song written for her: “Heisa, ho, yoochei!” The Kift in full.