If you follow us on Facebook you have probably seen the videos I have put up of Saul Williams. He’s a poet and a musician along with a handful of other things but regardless of what he’s doing he always delivers stellar performances. The video above is another LABLOGOTHEQUE production where their team of cameras follow around musicians through unique locations in order to capture beautiful performances in interesting situations. Saul Williams asked the LABLOGOTHEQUE team to follow him through the Catacombs in Paris which lead to the amazing story below and the dope film above…
The Translation is pretty rough on their site but you’ll have to forgive them:
Much you put in condition. Close some windows on your desktop, disable notifications, start loading the video. You can even dim the lights. Then switch to full screen, put a good helmet, and immerse yourself for 30 minutes.
No doubt then, can you feel the force of experience. These eight hours underground along with Saul Williams. We left.
It was Saul who came to us with a clear idea in mind: he wanted to make a film in the catacombs of Paris . The “real” ones that are accessed easily and illegally, those without a guide or stacks of skulls to show off. He hoped that we would be crazy enough to follow him down there. We were crazy enough.
Francis enlisted a friend cataphiles, we started buying the equipment needed, Francis and Colin went to a half day of preparation and tracking, think about how the equipment would survive … We were ready to take Saul and his musicians with us.
They are inhospitable these galleries. It’s cold, they are moist as possible. Most are flooded, others are just large enough to crawl through. You have to climb, stoop, bend, walk for hours without seeing anything in front of you, get water to the thighs, a single lamp for lighting. We need to move the equipment into an opening before you crawl through, fight against cramps, being in the dark, and when one falls into a larger room, breathe … and play.
In this dark world, claustrophobic at will, the middle part, the presence, the voice of Saul Williams are only reinforced. Her screams ring out, his eyes are more piercing than ever, raised his voice when he launches into an improvisation, has the power of the sermon.Lorsqu’épuisés and in the light of a multitude of candles chick, the team embarks on the peaceful conclusion of the trip, in a quiet song, posed, power is still there, diffuse. Saul requires rest.
Well, it’s over. 30 minutes. The release. They had been there for eight hours.
