Story behind the record cover - Om de hoek (1978) - HARRY SACKSIONI
"Guitarist Harry Sacksioni is the only one without a guitar case on this cover. Even though he IS the guitarist. What is going on here? On the back cover is a quote from one S. Levenslang: "I always think I'm walking down the same street. Life just starts around the corner." Is this the answer to the question?
The story of Harry Sacksioni is a story of freedom and intuition. Harry Sacksioni is one of the best guitarists in the Netherlands, as witnessed by the fact that he has been voted Best Acoustic Guitarist in the Benelux for the eleventh year in a row. But especially at the beginning of his career, critics and other guitarists sometimes looked with amazement at Sacksioni's idiosyncratic technique. Jan Akkerman (Focus) even spoke scornfully about his colleague. "Oh well," says Sacksioni looking back, "I think I've received more than enough appreciation. I always had to laugh at people who could only be positive about music in their own style."
Sacksioni has never conformed to the conventions of the music scene and/or record companies. Composing music was his way of expressing himself and in his compositions he mainly followed his intuition. For his sophomore album, "Vensters" (Windows), he came up with the title track, a twenty-minute long composition for guitar and orchestra. That came as quite a shock to the record company, but Sacksioni stood his ground.
Still, beneath the surface, some doubt crept into Sacksioni. "Am I doing the right thing?", he sometimes asked himself, "or am I walking down the same street all the time, not realizing that life really starts around the corner". With that, the title and theme for his third solo album were born: "Om de hoek"(Around the corner).
Who is this S. Levenslang?" I asked Harry Sacksioni after a show at The Boerderij. His eyes started to twinkle: "That's me. It's my pseudonym, but not many people know about it. Of course there are moments of doubt in life. But in the end you have to follow your own path. As a result, I still enjoy life to the max."
Sacksioni came up with the cover himself. The picture on the cover shows his feelings of his doubt during said period. It seems like anyone can play guitar, except for Sackioni, because he's the only one without a guitar case. The photo was taken on a Sunday morning in the Drieharingenstraat in the heart of Utrecht, located in the center of the Netherlands. Sacksioni gathered some friends and acquaintances to pose for this picture. For example, you see on the left, behind Sacksioni, Bart van Mossel, the former director of the Leiden theater, a good friend of him at the time.
The photo shoot had to take place early in the morning, because neither cars nor unknown bystanders were allowed on camera. Local music store Staffhorst, located in the same street, saw something in the publicity stunt and supplied the guitar cases, provided their name was mentioned on the cover. Whether Staffhorst solely participated for commercial reasons or whether he just wanted to do Sacksioni a favor, never became clear to the musician. The photo session went pretty smoothly. It was a beautiful morning. Utrecht was still asleep. Everyone that took part enjoyed themselves. And so the picture was shot in no time.
It reminded me of a trip to Bruges, Belgium, that I took with my girlfriend. We went for a walk on Sunday morning, the city was still asleep. I love that particular moment. Suddenly we saw eighty naked people in a park. It turned out that US visual artist Spencer Tunick was working on a photo shoot in and around the Bruges theater. It's his specialty: producing works of art of large groups of naked people. But it can be a bit daunting on a Sunday morning. In a panic, we hid behind some trees, afraid that we also had to undress.
Harry Sacksioni still performs live, and with lots of passion. The show at the Boerderij with vocalist Edward Reekers on September 27 was a good example. He has been through a lot in his 50-year music career. In his book 'Dat kunnen ze allemaal wel zeggen....' (Well, they are entitled to their own opinion....), this is beautifully described; peak experiences, funny moments but also setbacks. He spent ten years writing down his own Sacksioni-method as a guitar tuition book. For a brief moment, he doubted whether he should publish this, because costs were much higher than anticipated. Nevertheless, he persevered and the Sacksioni-method became a great success. A good example of believing in your own abilities and maintaining a positive approach to life. As far as I'm concerned, Sacksioni is an example to us all. So forget about this 'around the corner' attitude; always believe in yourself and your own abilities."
By Gerrit-Jan Vrielink / Translation: Alex Driessen
Thanks to Harry Sacksioni.
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