The Nomi Song
Directed by Andrew Horn
With: Klaus Nomi, Ann Magnuson, Gabriele Le Fari. David MacDermot,
Page Wood, Tony Frere, Man Parrish, Kristian Hoffman, Ron Johnsen,
Kenny Scharf, Anthony Scibelli, Alan Platt, David Bowie.
Runtime:
96 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Color: color and back and white
Country: Germany
Language: English/ German
Year: 2004
Synopsis:
Looks like an alien, sings like a diva - Klaus Nomi was one of the 1980s' most profoundly bizarre characters: a counter tenor who sang pop music like opera and brought opera to club audiences and made them like it. A story of fame, death, friendship, betrayal, performance, and the greatest New Wave rock star that never was!
Comments:
The man-on-the-street has probably never heard of Klaus Nomi, and possibly never will. Nonetheless he provoked a minor riot at an arts festival in Bordeaux and caused a sensation in Paris, accompanied David Bowie on American network television, and was himself accompanied by a full symphony orchestra on German TV. He was featured in an ad campaign for Jaegermeister liqueur and was the subject of a contemporary chamber opera by Eberhardt Schoener. His fans include such diverse personalities as Catherine Deneuve, Morrissey and counter tenor opera star Joachim Kowalski. It’s been said that as a child, Sean Ono Lennon used play Klaus’ records to torture his little pals, while today Rush Limbaugh, America’s notorious right wing radio commentator, uses Klaus’ music as the theme for his monthly Anti-Gay report.
He was a cult figure in the New Wave Underground scene of the 80s, a genuine counter tenor who sang pop music like opera and brought opera to club audiences and made them like it. He was a performer with a "look" so strong, that his first audiences went wild before he even opened his mouth. Klaus presented himself as "the perfect video star" yet his star burned out just before the mass explosion of MTV. On the verge of international fame as a singer, he became instead one of the first gay artists to die of AIDS. In the end, his recorded output consists of re-reissues, in various forms, of only two LP's and a live album. For those who do know him, the reaction he provoked was so strong, that he is still unforgettable, even 20 years after his death. Even now a quick check of the Internet reveals Klaus Nomi as an active presence on the web. It also tells us that all his records are still being sold.
If you are already familiar with Klaus Nomi, you might be thinking that making a film about him now is an idea whose time has come. If, like most people, you have absolutely no idea what this is about, all I can say is, this film is for you. That having been said, the film can not promise to convert the world to Klaus Nomi-mania. What it can do is deliver a great story told by some fascinating characters, play some cool music, and offer, not only a glimpse of a really unique performer, but deal with some universal questions about fame, friendship, youth, craziness, creativity, betrayal, death, and hope.
In a sense it is hard to limit this film to being called a documentary. It is rather a “non-fiction film”, or maybe even an oral history. It’s not just the tale, it’s the telling. But it is also visual, partly because Klaus himself was so visual, someone who’s main concern was putting forth an image of himself in everything he did - literally illustrated by the photos, films, videos and artworks that go with it . However, there are also the images that the stories conjure up, images that no actual picture could capture, that emerge out of impressions, memories and even exaggerations, fermenting in somebody’s brain for twenty years. It’s like a novel with a whole cast of characters and supporting players - revealing themselves as much as (and sometimes more than) they do Klaus - with subplots, background stories, flashbacks and contradictions.
Needless to say, most of this material was literally pulled out of closets, storage lockers, barns and out from under beds, and has in most cases been lying untouched for the last 15 years. In the case of the films and videos, they are almost primitive compared to today’s even amateur technology. Instead of being a problem, this low-fi, low tech, imagery evokes its own aesthetic of rawness and improvisation that is very much identified with the time.
The interviews were made in the studio with backgrounds that play off of various images or graphic elements that are easily identified with Klaus, utilizing cardboard and paper constructions to be simple and emblematic, making a distinctive visual statement without taking attention away from the people they are supporting. The settings reflect not only the various aspects of the image that Klaus projected for himself but also the various influences that inspired it. The film is very graphic in the way Klaus himself was and, I’d like to think, very much true to his style and aesthetic as well as the aesthetic of the time. At the same time, the film is very much modern in the way we take advantage of digital technique, making a sort of visual component to the sampling, looping and layering which is so much a part of contemporary music.
The film is broken up into short segments which have their own individual style or treatment and don’t always have a direct connection to what precedes or follows. The story is told as much by a process of accumulation as by direct narrative line. As much as possible, these segments are tied to pieces of music, either displaying Klaus’ performances, or using music for dramatic or thematic effect, as if in a narrative film or a series of shorts. While not specifically a film about music, it is very much a music film featuring 11 Klaus Nomi performances as well as music from the time such as Wire, The Marbles, The Bongos, Pylon, The Mumps, and David Bowie, as well as classical pieces.
What unifies the various elements of interviews, performance and various visual elements is Klaus himself, not only the all pervasive image he put out, but, more importantly, his effect on others. It’s a story that grows out of a group of people who influenced him, loved him, idolized him, felt pity for him and felt guilty because of him; people who felt used, cheated yet, over all, inspired by him. It’s a story of love of music and love of performing and a time when it seemed as though everyone was struck by a sense of urgency to make something - or anything - and the feeling that “somewhere in the great cosmic plan we all knew that we only had a finite amount of time together and we had to make the most of it.”
Nomi is, of course, a manufactured personality. But by all accounts the character he created for himself was clearly more significant, more “real” than the man behind it. If he was a mystery, he was completely open about it. He constructed his own myth out of elements so completely “wrong”, yet so deliberate, that it all seemed oddly possible. He was as much a genuine talent as he was - however naively - the engine of his own destruction. He was an alien amongst the outcasts and an obviously tortured soul who, at the same time, radiated optimism at a time when optimism was “officially” out of fashion. His appeal is not easy to explain in words. He has to be seen - and heard - to be believed. Whether you knew him personally, saw him perform, discovered his music or even just saw his picture, one has to admit, he is pretty unbelievable.
taken from the official The Nomi song website
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Kristian Hoffman - composer and musical director
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| I was pushing for original material from the very beginning. I just thought like, here was this face and this voice, and he needed to make a statement that was his own. I knew that the cover versions were our link to an audience, because they like something familiar, but I also thought, if Klaus is going to continue, and he wants to have a voice, then he has to have his own songs. And he immediately said, “well, why don’t you write them?” So it wasn’t like he came to me and said “this is what I want to say”, I would just see him occasionally and gather what I could. And then, I superimposed on it that it was this Bowie-esque, Ziggy Stardust kind of vehicle that we could make as huge as we wanted to. |  |