Guest
Kate Bush's “Army Dreamers“ was blacklisted on the BBC. Here is Norwegian singer/songwriter Moddi's reinterpretation of the 1980 classic. * * * ABOUT THE SONG: SOME CALLED IT THE “VIDEO GAME WAR”. The Gulf War of 1991 saw 34 nations join forces to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein. Western viewers could follow the warfare live on TV, with daily videos brought to their living rooms from cameras aboard US bombers. At the same time, criticism against the war was muffled. 67 songs that were removed from the BBC because they were considered “inappropriate for airplay” during the combats in the Gulf. One of these songs was Kate Bush’s Army Dreamers, a story about a grieving mother who laments the loss of her fallen son. “What should he do? Could have been a rock star, but he didn’t have the money for a guitar. Could have been a politician, but he never had a proper education. Could have been a father, but he never even made it to his twenties.” The individual human suffering of Western warfare is often downplayed. Rather, we are fed with a public narrative about the necessity and urgency of our military involvement. Songs like “Army Dreamers“ that highlight the consequences of war, are seldom played on the radio or given public attention. More than a hundred thousand people lost their lives as a consequence of the Gulf War. “Army Dreamers“ was blacklisted for talking about one. * * * PRODUCTION TEAM Director: Maren Skolem Producer: Marte Hansen Cinematographer: Annicken Aasheim Production manager: Pål Moddi Knutsen Production designer: Catrine Gormsen Editor: Matilde Fridlund 1st AD: Marte Hansen 2nd AD: Line Herud Focus puller: Magga Vala 1nd AC: Sondre Hemstad Gaffer: Anton Østerlund Best boy: Alexander Ophaug SFX Make-up: Ingvild Håheim Colorist: Lasse Sevli / Uhørt - - - ACTORS Dad: Roy-Allan Larsen Children: Vetle Bråthen Heidi Kaafjeld Berge Grundstad Linn Sollien Vestad. Teenagers: Mats Røysom Henriette Rinde Marius Jonassen Hege Etnestad Soldiers: Sigve Bakken Torstein Reistad Mikkel Horsberg Beate Haugsdal. - - - TUSEN TAKK Krypton Christian Berrum Location-service Filmbin Fiksern Kapp Kirke Vestoppland Bussveteran Julie Tollefsrud Foss Ramirent Remi Antonsen Pål Røed Anders Fristad Rudolph Produced with support from Mediefabrikken (v/Remi Antonsen) and Viken Ung (v/Anders Fristad Rudolph) * * * Army Dreamers is taken from the album Unsongs, released by Propeller Recordings in 2016. Producer: Hasse Rocbach Musicians: Pål Moddi Knutsen Hasse Rosbach Peder Kjellsby Katrine Schiøtt Trondheimsolistene Mixed by: Mike Hartung at Propeller Music Division Mastered by: Morgan Nicolaysen at Propeller Mastering * * * Disclaimer: In Moddi's original interpretation of “Army Dreamers“, the line “I've a bunch of purple flowers to decorate a mommy's hero“ had been replaced with “daddy's“ to reflect the position of the singer, but had to be changed back again in this version due to copyright issues. * * * Videoen er støttet av Fond for lyd og bilde.
