Flat Earth Society . Peter Vermeersch

'Answer Songs' returns to a 1930s and 40s American tradition of writing lyrics in response to recently recorded songs. This also happened, to a lesser degree, in hip-hop music in the 1980s and 1990s. The main musical inspiration was the original song and sometimes it was just a case of pure parody. The best 'answer songs' were, however, totally original. A few examples speak for themselves: 'Waltzing Matilda' by Banjo Paterson - 'And the band played Waltzing Matilda' by Eric Bogle or 'Street Fighting Man' by The Rolling Stones - 'Revolution' by The Beatles. FES is putting together a full programme with newly composed songs in response to classic songs by Schubert, Mozart and Brecht, pop, rock and jazz songs plus songs from all over the world - from Fado to Inuit. They also have their finger on the pulse with responses to songs from the very recent collective memory. The composers are Jef Neve, Tom Pintens, Vincent D'Hondt, Peter Vandenberghe and, of course, Peter Vermeersch.