Rene van Helsdingen - the gift of life

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Rene van Helsdingen - 2023 Album
"The Gift Of Life"

front cover art-work: Peter Mills; back cover art-work: Ramses van Veldhuisen

artists:
Rene van Helsdingen - piano / Mark Edward Fuller - lyrics / Ivan Gambini - drums / Giacomo Dominici - bass / Lain Barbier - vocals / Jane Proove - vocals / Teije ter Maat - saxophones / Jaap Voeten - trombone / Andrea Agostinelli - cello / Ilaria de Maximy - oboe / Luluk Purwanto - violin / Alex Sahasrabudhe Graf - guitar / Mouchette van Helsdingen - choire / Aurora Foster - choire / Mark Alban Lotz - flute / Peter Mills - narrator, visual arts / Walter Lampe - narrator / Anastasiya Lisevich - dance / Gerard Mosterd - choreography / Martijn van Beenen – camera / Hans Arends - camera / Peter Gentur - visual arts / Henny Schueler - visual arts / Ramses van Veldhuisen - visual arts / Victor de Boo - visual arts / Heidi Goes -visual arts / Rita Rinci -visual arts
All songs composed by Rene van Helsdingen - All lyrics written by Mark Edward Fuller

The Nasty Side Of Life

We nearly all experience something nasty during our lives.

Statistics tell the real story. In Mark Edward Fuller and Rene van Helsdingen's case it was Parkinson's disease, a brain disorder. This video combines a poem by Mark, graphic art by Victor de Boo and music by Rene. Music performed by: Rene van Helsdingen - piano; Lain Barbier and Jane Proove - vocals; Teije ter Maat - saxophones; Jaap Voeten - trombone; Ivan Gambini - drums, Giacomo Dominici - bass'. The Helsdingen trio was recorded at the Marzi Recording Studio, Riccione, Italy. Engineer: Dani L. Marzi. Additional recordings and mixing at the Farmsound studio, Heelsum The Netherlands. Engineer: Wil Hesen. Production: © Helsdingen Music 2021. Amsterdam

Pain

Everybody knows about Pain

Lyrics by Mark Edward Fuller. Music performed by the Helsdingen trio featuring: Rene van Helsdingen, piano, keyboard, Fender Rhodes; Ivan Gambini, drums; Giacomo Dominici, bass. Lain Barbier, Vocals; Teije ter Maat, saxophones; Jaap Voeten, trombone; Andrea Agostinelli, cello; Ilaria de Maximy, oboe; Alex Sahasrabudhe Graf, guitar; Aurora Foster - choire; Mouchette van Helsdingen: choire; Peter Mills, narration. Dance performed by Anastasiya Lisevich (refugee from ukraine). Choreography by Gerard Mosterd. Dance filmed at the Umsjatka Studio 08, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Directing camera: Martijn van Beenen. Music recorded at Marzi Recording Studio, Riccione, Italy - 2021. Engineer Dani L. Marzi. Additional recordings at The van Mobile Studio, Bunschoten-Spakenburg, The Netherlands, engineer: Paul Schuurman and at the Lil’ Heaven studio, Arnhem, engineer: Alain Kalender, Lars Florijn. Recording, mixing, mastering at the Farmsound Studio, Heelsum, The Netherlands. Engineer: Wil Hesen. Illustrations and portraits: Peter Gentur; Aditional Artwork: Ramses van Veldhuisen, Henny Schueler, Heidi Goes, Peter Mills, Rita Rinci. Video Editing and Animation: Rene van Helsdingen. Production: © Helsdingen Music 2022, Amsterdam.

Metamorphosis, A Day In Amsterdam

Life goes on. This music video was inspired by the buzzing city of Amsterdam. Song title: Metamorphosis. Music composed by Rene van Helsdingen. A poem by Mark Edward Fuller. Music performed by the Helsdingen trio featuring: Rene van Helsdingen, piano; Ivan Gambini, drums; Giacomo Dominici, bass. Luluk Purwanto, violin/ voice; Teije ter Maat, saxophone; Walter Lampe, narration. Directing camera: Hans Arends. Photography: Ramses van Veldhuisen. Production assistant: Huub Theunissen. Helsdingen trio was recorded at the Marzi Recording Studio, Riccione, Italy - 2022. Engineer Dani L. Marzi. Teije ter Maat was recorded at Studio Theemsweg, Amsterdam, engineer: Efraim Trujillo. Luluk Purwanto was recorded at Luluk Home studio, Munich, Germany. Final Recording, mixing and mastering at the Farmsound Studio, Heelsum, The Netherlands. Engineer: Wil Hesen. Video Editing and Animation: Rene van Helsdingen. Production: © Helsdingen Music 2022, Amsterdam.

Orbs

They are said to be balls of light that show up in photographs and are believed to be guardian angels watching over us. A digital animation of 22 flash photography images taken by Ramses van Veldhuisen.

Lyrics by Mark Edward Fuller. Vocals performed by Lain Barbier and Jane Proove. Music performed by the Helsdingen trio featuring: Rene van Helsdingen, piano; Ivan Gambini, drums; Giacomo Dominici, bass lines. Luluk Purwanto, violin/ voice; Teije ter Maat, saxophones; Mark Alban Lotz, flute. Helsdingen trio was recorded on November 21, 2021 at the Marzi Recording Studio, Riccione, Italy. Engineer Dani L. Marzi. Lain Barbier was recorded on June 3, 2022 at Studio Lain's place, Arnhem, the Netherlands. Teije ter Maat and Jane Proove were recorded respectively on June 1, 2022 and May 27, 2022 at Studio Theemsweg, Amsterdam, engineer: Efraim Trujillo. Luluk Purwanto was recorded in December 2022 at Luluk home studio, Munich, Germany. Mark Alban Lotz was recorded on May 28, 2022 at Mark's home studio, Zeist, The Netherlands. Final mixing and mastering at the Marzi Recording Studio, Riccione, Italy. Engineer: Dani L. Marzi. Video Editing and Animation: Rene van Helsdingen. Production: © Helsdingen Music 2023, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. An 'Orb' is an optical phenomenon resulting in typically circular artifacts on an image, due to the camera's flash being reflected from unfocused motes of dust, water droplets, or other particles in the air or water. Ramses perfected shooting in low-light scenes when the camera's flash is used.

The Nasty Side of Life

If that doesn’t get you then this will!

The nasty side of life
Comes without warning
In the blink of an eye
Changing you prospects
From good to appalling

One minute you’r there
Laughing and drinking
agh – ha ha ha ha ha ha

One minute you’r there
Laughing and drinking
The soul of the party
The next flat on the floor
Blood pressure sinking

If you knew what was coming
would you go -- go on at all?
Given four weeks to live
On the first day of spring
Or a twin-tower fall

The nasty side of life
Comes without warning
In the blink of an eye
Changing you prospects
From good to appalling

When young and gullible
You blithely carry on
With careers and coupling
Restricting misfortune
To the unlucky one

But once you pass forty
Statistics tell the real story
With almost one in two
Nobbled by nastiness
Retirement plans end poorly

If you knew what was coming
would you go -- go on at all?
Given four weeks to live
On the first day of spring
Or a twin-tower fall

The nasty side of life
Comes without warning
In the blink of an eye
Changing you prospects
From good to appalling

Life is a bitch we say
Life’s too short for complaining
… for complaining
When the last ditch appears
Raise your glass and hope
For a happy ending

There is no great escape
You can fly to the moon
Buy a cryogenic crate
But the nasty side of life
Always comes too soon

If you knew what was coming
Would you go -- go on at all?
Given four weeks to live
On the first day of spring
Or a twin-tower fall

The nasty side of life
Comes without warning
In the blink of an eye
Changing you prospects
From good to appalling

Still you have believers,
Faith in Lord and master
Ducking the big question
What good will their God do
At life’s next disaster

If you knew what was coming
would you go -- go on at all?
Given four weeks to live
On the first day of spring
Or a twin-tower fall

There’s no escaping fate
Just a matter of waiting
Till procreation done

There’s no escaping fate
Just a matter of waiting
Till procreation done
Evolution moves on
To new bouts of mating

PAIN

the pressure of a lover’s lips
a playground full of laughter and shrieks
a forest’s checkered shadow and light
the release of rain on a hot summer’s night
tingling hands from a snowball fight

pain, pain, pain, pain
that illusive, invisible, silent,
odorless, thing we call pain
look at where we are now
in a paradise of chains
a blue planet turning color
the color of dust and flames
all you can do is wait
I don’t really know it’s purpose

I brace myself against the wind
roaring off the sea
carrying a whale’s song
an ocean’s elegy

life is easy
simple routines
yielding nuggets of pleasure
the purity of a snow drop
the oozing black of crude
the moon sheds silver tears
the sun sweats gold

nature is made of opposites
pleasure and pain are the proof
pain is an evolutionary ruse
a lost cause without remorse
a bet you keep placing on the wrong horse
an early warning system
“always too late”
Its role in diagnosis
Is more hocus pocus
the brave and the noble endure
the prospect of pain without cure

pain, pain, pain, pain, pain
that illusive, invisible, silent,
odorless, thing we call pain
look at where we are now
in a paradise of chains
a blue planet turning color
the color of dust and flames
all you can do is wait
I don’t really know it’s purpose

mesmerized by the sensory experience
there I stand like a movie star
struggling to find words to explain
my existence in this beautiful painful life

Metamorphosis

I will go on till I go
when and where, I don’t know

whatever life throws at me
I will take it on the chin

knocked down I will get up again
and smile albeit forced
and maybe laugh nervously
hoping my masquerade is taken seriously

but even if it isn’t
I will go on with what exists
with life and its unfathomable mix of beauty and pain

and with these words I go on again

Orbs

the harvest moon, a huge cheese
poppies moving with the wind
atoms hurtling through space
harlequins cart-wheeling across the grass
white dice tumbling onto the green baize
the lights flashing in a super computer
the lights firing in your brain
jewels around Cleopatra’s neck
an octopus blushing colour
surfers bursting into a crystal wave
it is sometimes good to be alive
tail lights in a traffic jam
a shiny red billiard ball
mist melting into droplets on an autumn morning
space: a hulking great nothingness