"TABERNAKEL"
SONGS OF SELF PRAISE
By Ellen Mandell
CIRCUS RAVES ARTICLES - JUNE 1974
It
was an unusually damp and chilly day, even for the northern farmlands of Akkrum,
Holland. But as Jan Akkerman, the Dutch guitar-master of Focus, toiled over a
new composition, he was far too engrossed to remember to put on a sweater. In
his arms he held his own special source of warmth - his cherished lute. On the
sturdy table in front of him was an equally prized possession, a tablet of
fingering exercises for the ancient instrument. He tenderly stroked the strings
of the treasured lute, growing lost in its lush, lulling sound as it etched his
musical thoughts. It must have been at least a quarterhour before Jan became
aware of a frenzied rapping on the front door.
His unexpected visitor was a
ruddy Yde de Jong, the hearty tour
manager of Focus. Yde, (pronounced E-dah) had driven all the
way from Rotterdam, and could
hardly restrain himself from blurting out the news he had come to
personally convey. "You've been
voted number one in the Melody
Maker poll!" he exploded in his native Dutch, anxiously waiting for
his newly-crowned friend's reaction. But Jan merely nodded his
head in confirmation, as if he'd
known all along. "Oh, really" he replied in a less-than-enthusiastic
monotone, and then set back to
work.
The travel-weary manager was
flabergasted by Jan's response - or
rather, by his lack of one. But what
Yde couldn't possibly have understood was that the award wag no
surprise for the quiet yet cocksure
Jan. The virtuoso guitarist had no
doubt ever that he was the best in
the world; the Melody Maker poll
merely acknowledged that fact.
Moreover, the poll recognized only a
single aspect of his great talent -
rock. From that moment on, Jan
worked ever more furiously to
achieve new musical heights. Interweaving classical and contemporary music, and exploring the
magic of the lute that had become
his forte, Jan felt that he was one
notch closer to his artistic goal. On
'Tabernakel' his solo album on Atlantic Records, Jan proves it.
"I see a solo album as an artistic
act which you cannot get rid of in
the group itself," Jan revealed to
Circus as he relaxed on his farm the
day beforejoining Focus in England
to record their next LP. 'You have
to do a solo album just to relieve
your mind."
Rock vs. class:
Only several
months earlier Jan had insisted
vehemently, "Focus is nothing
more than a rock band. If we were
classical musicians we'd go on stage
with violins." But although Jan was
reared on the street blues of Amsterdam and achieved Dutch supers-
tardom with the rock band Brainbox, it was his years of classical
study on scholarship at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum that struck
the strongest note in his early influences. His solo endeavors have
been the only place he could express
his classical inclinations without
imposing on the other members of
the band. In that respect,
'Tabernakel' has been the fulfillment
of a secret dream.
The ruggedly handsome Jan explained, "I was always interested in
the history of music. When I first
went to England in about 1966 or
'67, I heard the original music from
thd Elizabethan times played by
Julian Bream. It was then that I
first became interested in the lute."
By the time Focus's first yodel was
heard this side of the Atlantic, Jan
was like a man obsessed as he
sought information about luteplaying technique and the
instrument's history, devouring all
that crossed his path.
Lute, flute, shmoote: The lute,
for those, not up on their music history, is and always has been a bitch
to learn to play; it is quite obsolete.
for precisely that reason. Its taut
twenty-three strings are made of
tough animal sinew, take 3/4 of an
hour to tune, and stay in tune for
only ten or fifteenn minutes. But the
sound is as mellow as an afternoon
in the English countryside, and
worth the endless hours of practice
the ancient instrument demands.
Jan's own lute is a perfect facsimile of one that might have been
played in the court of Henry VIII. It
was the last piece built by Amon
Meinel, a 65-year old rheumatic
East German world-reknowned for
his excellent reconstructions of
classical instruments. Headstrong
Jan had to outbid the Museum of
Copenhagen to get hold of it.
"I've only played the lute now for
1 1/2 years," the talented Dutchman admitted. "I finally had to
teach it to myself because nobody
can teach it to you."
Jan travelled all over Europe to
locate instructional materials and
squandered a small fortune photocopying archaic books in museum
libraries. In London he obtained, at
no bargain, a deteriorating but
priceless tablet printed in 1610 entitled 'Variety of Lute Lessons'. "If
you can play those 'lute lessons', I
think you're a pretty good
guitarist", touted Jan. The book became his constant companion on
tour.
"At first, they all thought I was
crazy", Jan smiled as he described
the other members of Focus's reaction to his new interest. "Nobody
thought I was serious. But on tour,
when I came in after the drive from
the airport or after the gig, all I did
was sit down and practice out of an
old book." When Jan's lute practicing began to take precedence over
rehearsing with the band, his Focus
friend's began to worry about their
guitarist's pasttime.
But the classical-rock star's intentions were only the best. He confessed, "The idea was to get young
people to like 15th Century lute
music without their knowing it. "As
for leaving Focus to accomplish that
end, nothing was farther from his
mind.
Solo Flight:
'Tabernakel' is Jan's
second solo album. His first, 'Profile',
was recorded at a time when his
enthusiasm, but not necessarily his
playing, was at its strongest. For
Jan, Profile has become a tremendous source of embarrassment, and
he told 'Circus' that he implored
Focus's American label not to release it (although eventually, they
did). It was not that he felt his playing on it was bad - just that it could
be far better. He decided to bring
out another, better album, and felt
that perhaps it might be wise to release it on a label other than Sire,
the label that Focus records for.
Unlike the yodeling mogel Thijs
van Leer, who negotiated a solo recording agreement on his own, Jan
Akkerman left the business
wheeler-dealings to Focus's manager, Hubert Terhanken, who also
happens to be the highly influential
director of the acclaimed Radio
Luxembourg. Terhanken discussed
Jan's concept for 'Tabernakel' with
many high-placed friends at
American record companies, and
finally signed an agreement with
Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records. George Flynn, a young music
professor at the prestigious Columbia University, and a specialist in
15th Century music, collaborated
with Jan on some authentic arrangements. Songs like "Britannia
by John Dowland" and "Javeh" are
mixtures of Baroque charm and
modern appeal. "Lammy" moves
through the moods that are Jan's
life - and death. And "House Of'
The King" rocks with an Arabian
flavor.
'Tabernakel' was recorded over a
period of two weeks in the midst of a
sweat-drenched New York summer. Jan led almost an ascetic exis-
tence during his stay in the glitter-scarred capitol of new-decadence.
"Don't get loose or don't go out even
one evening if you have an idea", he
advised. boasting that it's a piece of
wisdom he has lived up to. Each
morning he would rise to his only
meal of the day, scrambled eggs and
toast. Then he'd head for Atlantic
Studios, where he'd move from lute
to sitar to electric guitar to bass,
exhausting anyone who dared to
watch. At about 5 A.M. the next
morning, Jan would finally call it
quits, return to his room at the
Holiday Inn, and "go a little bit
dead for a couple of hours, "only to
be jarred out of bed soon afterwards
by a wake-up call to get him back to
the studio on time.
On Jan's very last day in New
York he began mixing 'Tabernakel'
at 7 A.M. after hardly an hours
sleep. By the time he was through it
was early evening. He returned to
the hotel for another stolen hour's
rest, then hopped aboard a jet bound
for Canada. Jan had a gig there
with Focus that very night!
He later confided, "You see,
Focus still has the priority. On the
solo album I was able to express
things that I could not with Focus.
But Focus still comes first."
Although Jan views 'Tabernakel'
primarily as an artistic relief, just
the same it is a brilliant piece of
work. 'Tabernakel' has made the
other members of Focus even more
proud that Jan is one of them - and
gives them even more reason to
work harder than ever to be better!
Text and pictures kindly sent by Chuck Cobb
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