In 2004, the band The Ex had been together for 25 years. They organised a party in Paradiso with 68 very different musicians (from Ethiopia, Japan, America, Italy and Netherlands) and afterwards 35 of them went on a one week tour of France. A cinematic report.
"In november 2004, The Ex celebrated its 25th anniversary. We organized a two-day party at Paradiso in Amsterdam and invited 68 of our favourite and most adventurous musicians. Then we took 35 of them on a week long bus tour through France...
Everyone came from very different countries and performance backgrounds: 71 year old Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria (playing for the first time outside his home country) and the grindcore/pop duo Zea (from Amsterdam); Japanese modern dancer, Hisako Horikawa, and French sound poet, Anne-James Chaton; Fugazi front man Ian MacKaye (who played with his new band The Evens), and blind singer Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed (who played with his Ethiopian trio and Dutch drum whirlwind Han Bennink); plus wild Italians (ZU), bizarre French (Silent Block), an opinionated saxophone player (John Butcher), The Ex living Jukebox (Wilf Plum), some stubborn Dutch musicians (of course) and much, much more.
To make things even more exciting, we also invited some extra guests: From Api Uiz to Thermal to the ICP Orchestra.The whole event was the result of our 25 years in the heart of new music. It was a journey of unexpected combinations and far-too-long drives; every night was packed with surprises and amazement.
Here is our story of this adventure."-from the liner notes
