RTBF Belgian Documentary
RTBF, Belgium
November 17, 1969
19 min., B&W
—Amougies Festival Belgian RTBF TV Documentry (French Language)—
main song title : Hang on to a Dream
video mpg Length: 18 min 53 seconds
Belgian B&W TV documentry made by TV station RTB
appears to have been shown on TV in Belgium in late 1969
this is only the first part of the documentry and it is missing
the opening title credits but catches the date
November 17, 1969 and the director : Marc Mopty
it opens with the Church bells tolling in Amougies with scenes
of the town and just outside the Festival site and tent being
prepared, interviews with town officals and scenes of teenagers
arriving, interviews with some shop keepers and teenagers
heading to the festival site.
music releated segments are at
4'14 audio music for 30 or 40 seconds
8'45 audio music for 10 seconds .........Who is this ?
10'33 an Amougies Festival poster visible in a store window
15'05 The Nice introduced play "Hang on to a Dream"
15'21 > 15'28 Frank Zappa seen in the crowd
16'32 Bill Bruford playing drums (obviously dubbed in)
In the last 5 minutes there is a few seconds of Frank Zappa in
the crowd just after The Nice start to play with a short glimpse
of Bill Bruford and a bass player ? while The Nice play
"Hang on to a Dream " the camera in a car drives through town
and you see some of one of the film crews making the movie
about Amougies "Music Power" standing on a street corner
then there is an ariel view of the site and just as the
song ends this tape ends.
I believe from the way this is set up this is only part of what
was shown it would be nice if someone in Belgium could inquire
at RTBF archives about the details of the rest of it.
Additional informant and screenshots: Oscar Bianco
Amougies (1969): Music Power & European Music Revolution
May 1970
215 min.
Directed by Jérôme Laperrousaz & Jean-Noël Roy
IMDb (retrieved January 1, 2009)
Directors: Jérôme Laperrousaz, Jean-Noël Roy
Release Date: May 1970 (France)
Runtime: 215 min
Country: France
Color: Color
From the book "Viva Zappa" by Dominique Chevalier: "1969. MUSIC POWER. A film by Jerome Laperrousaz, showing the festival at Amougies, October 1969. Zappa, the presenter, jams with Pink Floyd, Aynsley Dunbar and Archie Shepp".
I saw this movie in Montreal this past summer. There is some Pink Floyd footage, also FZ and some CB but no Intersteller Overdrive. Boy what a shitty movie, like woodstock on that brown acid! Zappa introduces the Captain, and plays a little guitar with an other band. PF plays a couple of songs, maybe Eugene and I forget the other one. I had read about the FZ/PF jam, and was dissapointed that it was not in the film. Boy what a horrible film!
He rushed off to the Festival D'amougies in Belgium and played there on stage with the Pink Floyd. And he brought Beefheart with him. The festival was filmed by one Jerome Laperrousaz, and the film was to be called Music Power. It never came out.
Rock & Folk, June 1970
Mais, depuis le 20 mai, vous pouvez (si vous etes parisien) voir trois heures at demie sur Amougies, en deux films. Le premier, "Music Power", dure une heure et demie et passe à la Pagode at à l'Action République, le second dure deux heures et passe au Plaza et au Celtic. Il s'appelle, lui, "European Music Révolution". Ces films sont l'œuvre de Jérôme Laperrousaz et Jean-Noël Roy et l'enthousiaste Jacques Robert en supervise la distribution.
Ok, here we go:
From: Frank Zappa et les Mothers of Invention, by Alain Dister [...] page 177:
Filmographie 1969:
Lors du festival d'Amougies, Jérôme Laperrousaz toune un film documentaire, Music Power, dans lequel on voit Zappa jouer avec Archie Shepp, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd...malheureusement retenu par des raisons de droits
Filmography 1969:
During the Amougies festival, Jérôme Laperrousaz made a documentary movie, Music Power, in which Zappa can be seen playing with Archie Shepp, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd...unfortunately never released because of copyrights.
Javier Marcote, January 23, 2009
Amougies (1969)
Released in France in 1970
Two films of 140'
Technical Credits:
Directors: Jerome Laperrousaz & Jean-Noel Roy
Production & distribution company: Pagode
Director of photography: Raymond Meyer
Music composers: Archie Shepp, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Steve
Lacy Featured by Pink Floyd, Nice, Soft Machine, East of Eden, Frank Zappa, Don Cherry, Steve Lacy...
Javier Marcote, February 7, 2009
According to "Le Monde" (28/05 /'70) and "France-Soir" (30/05 /'70) I've
consulted:
See press clipping from "Le Monde" ( 28/05 /'70, page 18)
where is announced the film Amougies (1969) in cinemas.
"Amougies (1969)," by Jean-Nöel Roy and Jérôme Laperrousaz, is divided
into two films in turn:
"Music Power"—Celtic Square ( ODE.4762 OPE 7455) : 1h: 35 '
"Music Power" is dedicated to "pure" pop music fans and the monitoring of
groups of pop style, free or contemporary music, such as Nice, Pretty
Things, Frank Zappa, Soft Machine, Art Ensemble of Chicago ( AACM), Archie
Shepp, G.E.R.M. of P. Mariétan, Don Cherry ... and Pink Floyd.
( See pic: Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Pretty Things...)
" European Music Revolution"—Pagode (551.12.15- Studio Republique vol.
51. 33 ): 2 hrs.
"European Music Revolution" is an anthology of moments from the festival as
impressionist documentary together the attendees, "hippies", and local
people.
( See pic: Soft Machine, Nice, East of Eden...).
In relation to the style of camera used. It's not subjective but incisive
in the filming of musicians and groups and it transmits the feeling of
strength and musical closeness to viewer together with images of fog at dawn
& at night.
Javier Marcote, March 15, 2009
Jazz Mag # 180
July 1970
Article on "Amougies en deux films" by Jean Patrick Capdeveille.
It mentioned some groups on "European Music Revolution" like: Nice, Pink Floyd, Musica Electronica Viva, Don Cherry.
On "Music Power": Joachim Kühn, Anthony Braxton, John Surman, The Pretty Things, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band ( by their difference and the presentation of Frank Zappa: "Listen well, even the silence, for fear of missing something important".)
And then, Zappa: bluesy with Dunbar Retaliation, hard rock with The Pretty Things, sideral with Pink Floyd. Zappa lost amid the black Archie Shepp (who, in less than ten minutes, offers a shortcut to the amazing history of jazz). It seems to be FZ said "This festival is a political success".
Swiss Premiere
Le Matin-Le Tribune, Lausanne, June 26, 1970
The CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée) web site has on record, three films by Jérôme Laperrousaz about the Amougies Festival:
1- Amougies Music Power
(AKA Amougies Free and Pop Festival I)
Produced in 1969
Released in 1970
Visa # 37202
2- Amougies European Music Revolution
(AKA Amougies Free and Pop Festival II)
Produced in 1969
Released in 1970
Visa # 37203
3- European Music Revolution
(AKA Amougies)
Produced in 1972
not released
No Visa #
Reedition of 1 & 2 into a short version
La Presse, Montreal, c. June 16, 1974
Musiques à voir
á la cinémathéque québécoise
17 juin 7.30 h. 75c
Festival
d'amougies
lapéroussade-roy
105 min.
Avec: Steve Lacy, Soft Machine, Captain Beefheart, Nice, East Of Eden, Pink Floyd, Noah Howard, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Frank Zappa, Pretty Things, etc.
La Presse, Montreal, June 21, 1974
On a aimé, sans l'applaudir très fort, le reportage de Jerôme Lapérrousaz et Jean-Noël Roy, sur le festival d'Amougies, petite ville belge où se sont retrouvés en 1969 les Pink Floyd, Nice, Soft, Machine, East of Eden, Don Cherry, Art Ensemble of Chicago, etc. Ce fut peut-être une date pour la musique pop; ce ne l'est certainement pas pour le cinéma. La caméra de Lapérrousaz est un témoin passif, gêné, muet au milieu du tapage. Heureusement que des 215 minutes originelles, on n'en a retenu que 105.
We liked the report by Jerome Lapérrousaz and Jean-Noël Roy on the festival of Amougies, a small Belgian town where, in 1969, the Pink Floyd, Nice, Soft, Machine, East of Eden, Don Cherry, Art Ensemble of Chicago, etc. This may have been a date for pop music; it certainly is not for cinema. Lapérrousaz's camera is a passive, embarrassed, mute witness in the midst of the noise. Fortunately, of the original 215 minutes, we only retained 105.
La Presse, Montreal, September 21, 1974
tele-cinema
2:30 "Amougies, et Laperoussay"
Fr. 1970 Reportage de J. Lapperousaz et J. N. Roy.—Le festival pop music qui se déroula en Belgique, en octobre 1969 (1h30)
La Presse, Montreal, August 8, 1975
La Presse, Montreal, June 4, 1998
Molson Dry Rock Fest
Aujurd'hui
[...]
17 h—Cinemathèque:
Amougies, 4 $.
Le Soleil, Quebec, January 12, 1977
11 Cinéma: "Amougies". Fr. 1970 Reportage de J. Lapperousaz at J.N. Roy—Le festival pop-music qui se déroula en Belgique, en octobre 1969. N.B.
Projections
Le Jeudi 02 Mai 2019
Amougies
Réalisation : Jérôme Laperrousaz, Jean-Noël Roy [Fr., 1969, 100 min, 16 mm, VOF]
Un festival de musique tenu sur le territoire belge après avoir été interdit à Paris et qui se voulait prospectif et de recherche. Les acteurs de cette célébration : Soft Machine, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Franz Zappa, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Keith Emerson et plusieurs autres.
A worn out copy of the European Music Revolution version of the film.
[...] Frank only appeared introducing Beefheart and jamming with the Pretty Things, unless I missed a glimpse or something.
Very sloppy editing, many songs incomplete. A festival under a large tent, we get to see a lot the locals hanging around the festival site, curious about all those hippies in town. You see the kind.
We got to see mostly Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, The Nice, East of Eden, Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Pretty Things (and the Blossom Toes, so I'm told). Not that many band names are mentionned, mind you.
Additional informant: Denis Griffin.
