Den Sorte Skole - Roskilde Festival 40th Anniversary (2010) [HD video]
In January 2010 Roskilde Festival challenged the Danish Dj collective Den Sorte Skole to create an anniversary concert celebrating the festivals 40-year history from 1971 to 2010. The trio undertook the task with great awe and humility and spent months digging through Roskilde's vast musical catalogue. The result was a massive 2 hour celebration with 30.000 people that was hailed in the leading Danish daily Politiken as "a demonstration of the historic superiority of the Roskilde Festival containing both legends and the diversity of shifts in musical expression through the years past".
The making and execution of the anniversary concert was followed by the Danish filmmaker Simon Weyhe and his crew. The 5 episodes below present a unique insight into the work of Den Sorte Skole - a journey through the ups and downs, the selection and the technical aspects of bringing together genres as diverse as Heavy Metal, Folk, New Wave, World and Dubstep into a 2 hour late night concert. The episodes lead up to the full concert film captured on 10 cameras July 2nd 2010 from 2–4 a.m. at Roskilde Fesitval, Arena Stage.
Episode #1 - The Beginning
The first episode begins in the french city Nancy and sets the scene of the Roskilde Festivals 40 years anniversarry concert by the Danish Dj collective Den Sorte Skole with a view of the task given as seen by the artists.
The episode moreover gives an honest account of how the collective overcame some of their reservations about embracing all of the festival history and accepting that the celebration was larger than themselves.
Episode #2 - The Selection
The Second episode focus on the concrete selection and the grand puzzle of putting together 40 years of musical history together in to a meaningful narrative within the given time of 2 hours.
The episode also dwells on how Den Sorte Skole had to make some painful killing of darlings due to the late concert hours from 2 – 4 a.m. and how to bring in one of the pillars of the Roskilde Festival: Hard Rock.
Episode #3 - The Technique
This episode concerns the technical aspects of preparing the show. Den Sorte Skole has been know by their dogme of using strictly vinyl records to conduct their storytelling on six turntables.
In order to retreive, catalogisize and conduct they had to get around the fact that a lot of music can not be found on their favorite vinyl media and they therefore had to come up with a digital solution.
Episode #4 - The Flip Side of the Medal
The fourth episode touches on the pros and cons behind taking on a task of the magnitude as a 40 year anniversary for one of the biggest musical institutions in Northern Europe.
The episode also touches on the glue that keeps Den Skole together and describes the key element of their collaboration as something far from drinking Cristal champagne and comparing who has got the fliest chain; namely geekiness.
Episode #5 - The Final Countdown
The Final episode focus on the last crucial cuts to strike the right combination of beauty vs. doom and a hectic view into the nervy final rehersal before the Roskilde Festival 40 year anniversary concert.
Hours before the show the staff of the Arena stage informed Den Sorte Skole that the stage was not fit for turntables and the artists had to wait until a few minutes before show start before the problem was solved.
The Full Roskilde Festival 40th Anniversary Concert
On July 2nd 2010 from 2 – 4 a.m. Den Sorte Skole performed a two hour concert on six turntables to mark the 40th anniversary of the Roskilde Festival.
More than 30.000 people took part in the celebration of the infectious spirit of enthusiasm and community that has been the hallmark of the Festival since 1971. The journey through the musical history was caught on 10 cameras and edited by Goodwind Production.
Thanks to: Peter Hvalkof, Jan Sneum, Lasse Ellegaard, Simon Vinzent, Victor Malecki, Mikkel Sharff, Kristian Skjøth Madsen, Kristobal, Mads Libergreen, Kjeld Tolstrup, Martin Skovbjerg, Peter Sommer, Anders Brixen Kristiansen, Benny Lefix, Anders Dixen, Nick Bitchslap, Adam Højland, Rasmus Peemann, Jesper Spiegelberg, Luke Hørsving
