Chris Watson is one of the world's best sound recordists. In the early 70s he founded and played in the experimental band Cabaret Voltaire from Sheffield. But after a few years he left the music industry to follow his passion: making field recordings of wildlife, nature and ambiences from around the world. He has worked for TV, film and radio and is what you might call a “purveyor” of soundtracks to the BBC and David Attenborough's natural science documentaries.

At Museum Night Fever, in the magnificent, Flemish Neo-Renaissance-style ticket hall of the recently unveiled Train World (formerly Schaarbeek station) he presents his work El Tren Fantasma.
El Tren Fantasma is Watson's 4th album, released on the British Touch label in 2011. It is an audio report/“musique concrète” composition based on a train journey across Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, between Los Mochis and Veracruz. Watson spent a month travelling the tracks of the “Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México” with the very last passengers before they abandoned the line. El Tren Fantasma recreates this “ghost train” journey and evokes memories of a not-so-distant past, the sound track to which features the ambiences, rhythms, people and animal noises along the tracks of one of Mexico's greatest engineering feats.

The performance will involve an 8-channel surround sound system which gives the listener the impression of being right in the middle of the action.
At Chris Watson's request, Belgian sound artist Els Viaene will be the “station announcer” on the evening.

Museum Night Fever: once again Brussels is readying itself for the greatest museum festival of the year! On Saturday 5 March we celebrate the 9th edition of Museum Night Fever (or Brussels museum night). Between 7 pm and 1 am the museums of Brussels throw themselves open for a creative cross-pollination of exhibition, dance, performance, music, workshops, video and installations. And what's the challenge? To offer an alternative to the traditional museum visit, by lowering the threshold to the general public and presenting the collections in a contemporary way.

www.museumnightfever.be