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The father of the beat generation, William S. Burroughs, prefers to listen to the Master Musicians from JouJouka, the Berber tribe from Morocco. This centuries old ritual music can therefore be frequently heard in the fascinating documentary about Burroughs made by Klaus Maeck. It is not the first time that Maeck has put the famous author in front of the camera, because Burroughs appeared as an actor in the film 'Decoder', seen in 1984, which Maeck made together with director Musche. The author of 'Naked Lunch', recently filmed by David Cronenberg, has worked a lot on musical projects during the last few years. For example, he recorded a single with director and musician Gus van Sant, whilst Burroughs, together with producer Hal Willner, made the masterful cd 'Dead radio city' in which his sonorous voice is musically accompanied by Sonic Youth, John Cale and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In 'Commissioner of Sewers', Maeck couples sober interview fragments with pieces from a presentation given by Burroughs in Berlin in '86. These images have been artistically cut with archive footage (including Anthony Balch's 'Towers open fire') and Burroughs' paintings.
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Erik Quint
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