BEA1991 SCREAKER! (2024)
When the stilt-walking posse “Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul” embarked on their—financially moderately successful—tour across Quebec, Canada, in 1980, few could have suspected what would follow: nothing less than the genesis of the largest and most renown contemporary circus producer in the world. In the following years, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, two of the street performers involved in Les Échassiers, launched various ventures to recover the money they lost with “Les Échassiers”, one of them being “Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil”. The show that was funded by the government of Quebec with a $1.6 million grant was part of Quebec’s 450th anniversary celebration of the explorer Jacques Cartier's arrival in North America—and it was a success. Although the circus company that was founded in the run-up of “Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil” in 1984 experienced ups and downs in the years to follow, it eventually became the C$850-million-revenue enterprise with 4000 employees it is today. Being one of those employees—especially one of the 1300 artists—is the dream of many a kid around the world. One of them used to be Beatriz de Rijke aka Bea1991. In an interview with music magazine zweikommasieben, Bea, who became an acclaimed underground pop musician instead, said: “I was obsessed with the circus as a kid. As soon as I was old enough, I went to classes for it, and it became quite a serious plan at some point. From my seventh until my fourteenth birthday, I studied acrobatics, mostly aerial, full time.” It was her mates in high school who convinced her to become a singer. Fast forward to 2024 and Beatriz has various albums, EPs and singles under her belt, the latest outing being “SCREAKER!”. The grand 80s-inspired song features the Dutch-British artist singing and talking over a weirdo synthpoppy instrumental, and it is yet another great example why we all should be grateful that Bea didn’t become a circus artist after all.
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