Jørgen Leth's Blog, page 2

The good and the bad in cycling

In today's newspaper Jørgen Leth reflects on the current doping scandal in cycling.

'You can't escape the fact that the credibility of cycling is bleeding these days. Friends of the sport moans. I moan. But not more than that. I think cycling is an image of life itself, or as I called it in my film 'The stars and the water carriers' (1974): A theater of life. It is an event that moves geographically and is populated with heroes as well as villains. It is a game of ambition and revenge. Of challenge in classic terrain. As in other parts of life, the lie plays an essential role. Nothing sensational about that.'

- Excerpt from the feature article. For a full review please visit Politiken

Leth performs in Copenhagen Jazzhouse

It was great fun and an exciting challenge for me to perform with Jakob Bro and his group of super talented musicians in Copenhagen Jazzhouse on Saturday, September 22. Jakob is one of the most gifted young jazz musicians in Europe. I met him first time in New York a few years ago in the legendary Avatar Studio where he recorded some of his wonderful ballads with jazz giants Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Ben Street. I was proud to be asked to write the cover notes for that album, titled 'Balladeering'.

Then we performed as a duo at the literature festival 'Vild Med Ord' (Crazy about words) in Aarhus on September the 7th. I read poems, Jakob played on his guitar. Next came the event in Jazzhouse with his selected group Maria Laurette Friis, Jesper Zeuthen, Jakob Kullberg, Nicolai Munch-Hansen. I read poems from 'Collected Poems 1962-2012', the musicians improvised brilliant patterns, we listened to each other's ideas and had an inspired feeling of coherence and imagination. The audience seemed to enjoy it.

Photo credit: Svend Withfelt