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The tracks on this CD represents my personal experiences as a miner
during the period of 1975-1982. After all those years of working underground I wanted to create a musical piece to express
my feelings of working down a mine. The mines in Belgium are now closed down.
All of my respects now go out to those who continue to work in mines around the world,
to those who have been injured or have been killed or have died from disease related illnesses
caused by working in such an inhospitable environment deep in these unforgiving,
forboding places of work called mines.
1 Going Underground
This track represents the 'Bell-like' warning signals that were given by the personnel
who operated the main-shaft elevators that went to 720-800m deep. These signals
were used to help secure the 'floors' of the elevator during transportation of the miners.
2 Medit
The mine workers were transported to the coal-seam face in small underground trains.
The workers had time to take a nap or to meditate before they started work.
3 The Machine Inside
Upon arrival at the coal-seam face, the machines that tunnel and dig-out the rocks and coal
work continously and fill the empty wagons that wait.
4 Pre-Historic
This piece represents the feeling you experience when you're working in that environment.
Sometimes you find the fossilised remains among the rocks and on stones of plants and
animals that lived many millions of years ago.
5 Conveyor
An almost continous stream of rocks and extracted coal is transported over a great distance
to the surface. Sometimes the conveyor is used to transport the workers, however such a method is dangerous and the passage is
sometimes narrow.
6 Diggin'
This is at the heart of the 'mine' the coal-face. Where tons of rock and coal are extracted,
there is a lot of 'dust' and the working environment here is unhealthy and very dangerous.
7 Sleepy
A power failure shuts everything off. Air from the surface stops and it's gets warmer
the workers feel sleepy, and the risk of toxic gases building-up is greatly increased
in the inhospitable conditions of the mine.
8 Oxygene valve
The trained rescue workers are on a mission to help recover a man who has been trapped, here these workers are also experiencing problems too.
9 Going Home
The electrical engineers finally manage to restore the power once more, and the workers can commute back to the relative safety of the surface.
10 From a Distance
At night in the calm and tranquil air you can hear the upper-mine activities
in the heat of the summer, when you have your window open.
11 Terril
Terril is a large mountain of waste material that is deposited on the surface,
it is made-up of rocks and stones that have been seperated from the coal. Here we can see the remains of the mine buildings in the surrounding landscape.
'The Mine'
photos are taken by Godfried Stockmans on a grey day in
October 2004 and by Lothar Lubitz on a blue day in August 2005.
With the grey cover version Godfried wants to express his dark grey experiences as a miner
during the period of 1975-1982 and with the blue cover version Lothar wants to
express the cold blue steel of the machine, that will remain visible for
miles around in the landscape forever.
Godfried Stockmans
&
Lothar Lubitz,
SynGate, 2004/2005
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