Earlier this month, composer Matthijs Kieboom recorded his new score for ‘De Piraten van Hiernaast’ (‘Pirates Down the Street’), a family feature film based on the popular Dutch children’s book ‘De Piraten van Hiernaast’.

Directed by Pim van Hoeve, the movie tells the story of the ordinary coastal town of Sandsborough which gets turned upside down with the arrival of the Blunderbuss pirate family.

12-year old Michael becomes friends with the new boy next door, 13-year old pirate Billy. However, Michael might lose his new best friend when the Blunderbusses’ archenemy Crooked Cornelius suddenly turns up, determined to lure the pirates back to sea. Together with Elizabeth, a girl from the neighbourhood, Michael and Billy go into battle.

MATTHIJS KIEBOOM, ©KINGA KARPATI & DANIEL ZAREWICZ PRESTIGE PORTRAIT

Pim van Hoeve asked his long-time collaborator, Dutch composer Matthijs Kieboom, to lend his musical craftsmanship and pen the film’s score.

With a few awards and nominations under his belt, including the Young Talent Award (Krakow Film Music Festival, 2013), Filmmusic Award (BUMA Awards, 2013), and Film & Television Music Award (ASCAP, 2012), to name a few, Matthijs Kieboom is one of the most sought-after composers in the Netherlands.

A versatile composer, Kieboom has written music for numerous TV series, feature films, shorts, and documentaries, and has tackled genres ranging from drama, crime and thriller, all the way to fantasy, comedy and romance.

DIEGO NAVARRO, PIM VAN HOEVE, MATTHIJS KIEBOOM AT SMECKY MUSIC STUDIOS. PHOTO BY MAGDALENA MISKA-JACKOWSKA

Matthijs Kieboom, on his collaboration with Pim van Hoeve: ‘This is the 6th time I’m working with Pim and it’s always a pleasure. Pim is a director who is very musical and always knows how to push me a little further. Our discussions are rarely about music, they are almost always about storytelling, we would talk about what the role of the music should be in the storytelling and what emotions we should reinforce. There is a big mutual trust towards each other and that makes working together a very pleasant and productive experience. And because of the trust, I am always trying to push myself harder because I want to surpass his expectations.

Pim and myself talked a little bit upfront about what the music should do, but not too much. It was clear that it had to be a real pirate score, that in certain moments should be big and epic, and in other moments small and comedic (it’s still a kid’s movie). I wrote one of the songs that the pirates are singing in the movie before they started to shoot and this was a blueprint of my melodic/thematic structure. Once I received the first cut of the movie I started composing my themes, so by the time the movie was “locked” I knew exactly what to do and had themes that were already approved by Pim.’

JAMES FITZPATRICK, JAN HOLZNER, THOMAS BRYLA, MATTHIJS KIEBOOM, DIEGO NAVARRO, PIM VAN HOEVE. PHOTO BY MAGDALENA MISKA-JACKOWSKA

Matthijs Kieboom, on his team and regular collaborators: ‘The team is very dear to me and they are not only great professionals, but also dear friends that I have known and worked with for a long time. Apart from being a close personal family friend, I have known Diego [Navarro] since 2013 when I met him at the Krakow Film Music Festival. Since 2013 we have worked on many different projects in many different roles. I have been orchestrating for him and his festival (Fimucité), composing additional music and producing some of his scores. This was the first time Diego conducted my music because I often conduct it myself. But on this massive production I wanted him and his big experience to guide the musicians.

At the same time of meeting Diego, I met Thomas [Bryla], who also turned out to become a dear friend and frequent collaborator. In the last 3 years Thomas worked as an orchestrator on about 9 projects of my projects. I consider him as my extra ears and eyes during my scoring process.’

THOMAS BRYLA AND MATTHIJS KIEBOOM. PHOTO BY MAGDALENA MISKA-JACKOWSKA

Matthijs continued: ‘This was the 7th time I worked with James [Fitzpatrick] and the wonderful musicians of “The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra”. James is a real titan when it comes to film music, thanks to him there were so many legendary recordings. It is always a pleasure to work with him.

I love recording in Prague because of its friendly atmosphere, amazing musicians and the great sounding acoustics of the Smecky Music Studios. What is also an important element of it, it is Jan Holzner’s Grammy-awarded work as a recording engineer. His contribution is very valuable for me and his calm personality makes me feel at ease while so much is happening that can stress you out.

The studio itself is located in the heart of Prague, the beautiful city that has been extremely important for music. Apart from recording film music for over 75 years, Prague was the city where Mozart premiered “Don Giovanni” in 1787! I do think about this a lot.

But the most special member during the recordings was… Milo! Milo was the dog of the principal trumpet player, sitting under his chair for 6 hours, not making any sound. It was only after the session we realised she was there!’

DIEGO NAVARRO CONDUCTING THE CITY OF PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA. PHOTO BY MAGDALENA MISKA-JACKOWSKA

Scoring Info:

Recorded between 8-9 March, 2020, at the Smecky Music Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Composer: Matthijs Kieboom

Conductor: Diego Navarro

Orchestrations: Thomas Bryla & Matthijs Kieboom

Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Contractor: James Fitzpatrick

Recording engineer: Jan Holzner

Mixing: Sven Lens

Score Consultant: Magdalena Miska-Jackowska

Present at the sessions: Pim van Hoeve (director), Ingmar Menning (producer), Diego Navarro, Thomas Bryla, Jan Holzner, James Fitzpatrick, Magdalena Miska-Jackowska, Daan Moerkens (assistant) & Matthijs Kieboom.

 

Film Info:

95 minutes / colour

Genre: Children’s | Family

Original title: De Piraten Van Hiernaast

Director: Pim van Hoeve

Producers: Johan Nijenhuis & Co – Ingmar Menning, Johan Nijenhuis

Screenplay: Sander de Regt

D.O.P.: Guido van Gennep

Completed: April 2020

Language: Dutch