QUIDAM

When we here in the Netherlands were still under the spell of Collage...suddenly iout of the blue there was this band called Quidam....or out of the blue......My cousins (with who I did a Prog radioshow for years) parants were a member of a folklore group for years. On one year they had an exchange with a group from Poland...cos the year before they went to Poland. So the idea was that they should harbor 2 people from that group. So there a couple was, ended up staying in his house. On one night he asked them..Hmm....Poland, right ! Have you ever heard of a band called Collage. Yes, sauid the woman...my son is recording a CD that is produced by one of their members. So he gave his adress and asked her to ask her son to contact him....that son appeared to be Maciek Meller .....Soon after that he sended the new cd to him and on a sunday when we had to record our weekly radioshow...he popped this cd in the cd player and told us....what I have now.....you must listen this....So there he was and Santuarium started.......I honestly tell you.....I heard alot of impressive prog...but I never was blown of my socks so hard as when I heard this album the first time..........If this album is the best album ever written by any Polish band, then Sanctuarium must be the best song ever written by any Polish band. And then that bridge in the middle with that violonsolo, that flute solo and then that guitarsolo.........my good heavens........Live however it was played slightly longer, usually containing the Firth Or Fifth solo or pieces from In The Court Of The Crimson king. Its truly one of the best albums of 1996, if not the best.......and even one of the best 90's cd's. So all in all a must buy for any serious Prog fan. If you like Camel....cos I think that the music comes the closest to that.......

Anyway....that was the beginning of a interesting friendship. Later on..they played in Zwolle, what was the first gig outside Poland...and they were hailed as heroes, and playing off any other band that was also playing that day in Hedon.......In fact they were the second last act....and they played out Jadis completely (Just as Collage did in 1994 in Tilburg with Shadowland for that matters)......The gig after that....they played in Uden where they played out Ritual completely....and everyone left while Ritual was playing....After the Zwolle gig..we invited them to come to our studio, to be our guest in our radioshow and they did....really really nice. We got to know all the bandmembers personally and were in Poland where they were mixing off the second album.....staying in Maciek Meller's house....doing some sightseeing around the place he lived....meet all his familymembers and had such a wonderfull time. The concerts after that of Quidam...I think we all attended them...including the 2 that they gave together with Colin Bass, which eventually ending up Colin Bass making our 200th broadcast together with us....playing Denpasar Moon live in the studio......choosing the songs and did several announcements. Such wonderfull people.......such delighted music.....