During the summers of 2014 and 2015, a 38m long ship called Tenace went on an expedition through Belgium. The goal was to discover and capture the undercurrent of this exceptional land and produce a musical travelogue of the journey.
For this purpose, an enthusiastic crew renovated the old riverboat: a bar was installed to serve as a contact and information point, a kitchen to feed the hungry and of course recording facilities to capture the sounds.
This travelogue documents what connects the Belgium people and focuses on collaboration and solidarity. At each location we invited creative souls to leave something at the boat that could be inspiring for the artists at the next stop, this way we offered the possibility to continue on what preceded.
Along the way we have met many dedicated artists who –although operating outside the mainstream- create wonderful music that deserves to be heard. So now, from the material that has been collected, we will distil an album.
This album will be released on vinyl on independent record label Rotakt Records, may 2016. Because it is a special record, we want to present it in a special way: at the boat, and in 3 cities: Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi.
We will invite musicians who are on this record to collaborate for a unique release evening in every city.
Since a boat is high maintenance and this iron lady Tenace has travelled a lot the last two years there is some maintenance coming up. This maintenance is necessary if we want to keep our licence to sail through the country.
And this is where we ask for your support!
We have a lot of great experiences to offer in return: a personalised postcard, a handwritten letter from our captain Mme Belga, a record, a day of sailing along, a private concert at the boat, etc.
At the moment the entire project is run by volunteers. To cover the costs of the pressing the record has been on presale since the beginning of the journey.
The bar pays for the gasoline and the musicians, so -if al goes well- these expenses are covered.
What is all this going to cost?
The funds will be used for covering the costs of the materials we need to repair the ship:
– 1500€ rent for a boatyard, so we can take the ship out of the water to paint it
– 2000€ paint
– 1500€ steel + gas for welding
We are two non profit organisations who are working together to keep Tenace going: Convoi Exceptionnel and Rotakt Records. Both are based in Antwerpen, Belgium.
Convoi Exceptionnel takes care of the logistic part of the activities: navigation, maintenance of the ship, licenses and boat administration, decoration, etc
Rotakt Records is responsible for the bookings and everything involving the recordings.
The crew
Gerda Goris (Mme Belga) – reception, communication
Rose van de Leest – decoration, production
Saar van de Leest – bookings, graphics, production
Mark Dedecker – recording engineer, general technical engineer
Roos Janssens – administration, production
Also we’ve had a lot of help from friends and mucisians who are supporting this project, without them all this would not have been possible!
Here’s a video of the preparation of the ship for departure:
Links