Music is my true love and beyond (a) belief : my harp is my heart, my companion / i liberate her sound and she gives voice, makes sense and directs my life. Remarkable people - teachers from then and now, heartfelt music and (outspoken) poetry, visual art, awesome nature and daily (seemingly innocent) impressions are my main inspiration .. creating something new in my own beautiful world is the ultimate freedom and greatest joy to express myself. In surrender to the enchanted dance with the strings i can feel my harp/body and soul resonating, my breathing is my metronome and guide. I live a (day) dream during improvisation and (instant) composition, i go with the flow, i have such a strong connection with my instrument .. there are these precious, delicious, clear moments that i am in allignment ; i feel one with the music as if i am really awake / i am sensitive and focused at the same time while unraveling the riddle, capturing the perfect. Listening through one's harp and soul transformation and expansion can take place; every home should indeed have healing strings to play and have fun with. ― It touches me to the core when my harp and soul are known by other creatives .. i am moved and thankful that my music is given wings .. she is taking flight ! For now : i feel like a sculptor in an atelier. I am a (music) maker, an artistic director, a co-creator / i know my way .. life is good ..
harPoetry : music = poetry And Poetry is Music - a language that evokes the landscape of the universal and imaginary, therefore music unites ; we all are music as it were. Music and Poetry are existential. A concept of life. Utmost profound and everywhere. Music is everything and everything is music / to be touched by the unsaid and infinity of, for example, the majestic whispering oak tree, wondrous bird talk, and the silence of an amazing landscape, it all makes absolutely sense - how wonderful ! My passion, desire, restlessness, insecurity, despair (life is really felt in absence) are filtered in the serenity of my harp talk. Heart/soul, time, space and silence are essential (without silence no music !), so one can escape into the music - into another reality / an alternative (dream) world - and might have fun whilst reveiling the mystery of life or finding fudge ;) Transcendent formulation, heartfelt, and effective interpunction, weigh in mind, that express introspection or come from intuition, define poetry. ― Even without understanding the foreign tongue / powerful diction merged with a soulful vocal timbre is felt very deeply \ the sound of the voice (= music) is what matters to appreciate spoken word. I have a strong inner knowing about harPoetry : (vocalized) poems fused with harp and soul - sounds alter the reality of the original music and text in such a natural way that a vulnerable moving synergy has arisen between the consonants of the poet & the singing harp ; the sound of my strings has become one with the human voice that speaks enigmatic words, yet a recognizable language that touches the essence within the listener / harPoetry is a voice beyond words, that's why i am with the poet .
Landscape Music : nature = music
And Music is Nature. When we were trees. Today, I, Oak, am a Bird !
Between nature and music there is a mysterious, irreplaceable and eternal mystical connection. Besides conducting a symphony of sounds, nature gives, just like music, a source of inspiration and a place to be oneself / i am a creative harpist in a landscape on a mission, exploring, and feeling at home in my soul's frequency. ― Like a sculptor i shape sounds into cinematic imagery with the intent to move the listener. My creations, be it auditive or visual, are meditative explorations of the fantasy, the artificial and the natural. I believe in the power of landscape music ; stilled music that evokes and reflects nature, internal landscapes (psyche/soul), external landscapes (natural/artificial) and (virtual) places (topographic/philosophical), we are moving in. ― I translate my thoughts and feelings into a minimal and poetical note-score, that comes from my joie de vivre and strong desire to make connection / to make myself seen, heard and named in this beautiful world. May my constellations inspire that self awareness, self knowledge and self love are essential to take care of each other and our amazing planet, our fragile future !
[VISUAL] LANGUAGE
There is a fantastic opportunity for artiists to use [visual] language to make a stand. Visuals that have symbolism, context and connotation, could send a strong message. The words, the narrative one chooses are the temperature of the social climate and very much of influence of one's life experience and well being. The tone of voice is clearly essential, therefore artists should take the lead to make wave and create a movement that attracts so many other voices that change is inevitable. / I make myself known in photography and installations. ― Sharing my music (audio art) through video art - real sound sculptures - is a work in progress and a perpetual experiment.
harp and soul scapes
Next to making (motion)pictures in my studio i like to visualize my harp in an actual landscape. My harp and soul / every now and then in perfect harmony with our wonderful world \ another realm / a dreamscape \ are captured in film and photography to complement and strengthen the landscape music. In the moving pictures i decipher landscapes and bring back the textures, patterns, colors of a scenery to an (emotional) abstract. / It is about unveiling the narrative of a landscape .. translating it into actual words or vice versa. I wonder as i wander through poetry films about creating new ways of looking & listening to oneself in relation to our environment.
TACTILES
Besides creating in .wav, .mp4, .png & .pdf formats, the harp and soul - fabrik produces also tangible art works such as (music) books and CDs. My tactiles must be spot on when it comes to inventing new harp sounds and creating audio-visuals. A specific concept / a striking tactile \ is continuously under development @ the HARPlab.
the HARPlab. is a transdisciplinairy [art] space for exploration, a new conceptual dimension and platform beyond (live) performance and (offline) experience. The aim is to shape reality - that may lead to transformation - by creating ARTfusion in a variety of settings / from online, app, event, rtv and 'in a room', to the (multi-media) production itself \ with the focus on allignment, inspired action and sonic imagination.
ARTfusion (HARP)music fused with other art-forms fabriks another, a new
sound - motion - shape - color - vision - i use the trial/error method during improv., audio/visual experiments, spoken/written word (poetry) @ the HARPlab., where music becomes visible, tactile, moving or a speaking voice and visual art audible. Unusual yet obvious ARTfusions trigger innovation, when different worlds meet, exciting new ideas and cutting-edge formats might happen and appear to be of added value. These numerous try-outs inspire to learn and renew my work without artistic compromise, to remain the integrity of the productions. Even-though i take a step back regularly to review and reflect, i am on a constant sound-search - a life-long journey - to go further and forth.
INNOVATION : minimal harp as basis material @ UNPLUGGED MUSIC & SONIC ART
The audio i record and produce has an acoustic harp basis to secure an authentic sound for my harp speaks her own language. In other words : stilled music complements alternative art forms, especially created with 47strings = harp power ! The harp and the soul give a (multi media) concept an unique sound identity. A rich and impressive audio experience can be reached with a contemporary harp arrangement or sonic art. Minimal harp mixed with digital music, sounds of nature or spoken word are effective, modern and edgy and leave room for the essence of the project. The Dutch trade magazine for harpists qualifies therefore 'harp and soul' as an artistic inventive and innovative music label.
sound on sound
For the ultimate harp+ sound overdub is needed. An authentic narrative and clear texture are a strong basis for a heartfelt musical answer ; combining different music styles through the sound on sound recording method results in music recycling / remix (the same concept seen in a different light), has impact, is innovative and creates an avant garde sound in the classical music scene !
from ARCHITECTURE to SOUND SCULPTURE = stilled music = AUDIO ART = hq .WAV
My compositions have a structure based on patterns like squares, triangles, circles or //, instant music, textures, nature and poetry. A harp solo must stand on its own before it receives a musical answer in order to create music that matters. I like to see my music as sound-sculptures (three-dimensional), a scenery where one can walk around the notes as it were, with room to embrace the natural sound, movement, light, morphology, texture and poetry of the actual landscape or architecture, inevitably reality is altered by the subtle harp whispers. Stillness is fundamental to make music tangible. When the harp strings are seen as clay and the sound as a statuary, then the way i pull and push the string(s) and choose the clusters, will obviously be of influence to the shape of the material. How and when i mold my 47strings define the music. In other words: silence and the intention between one and the other note give the listener time and space to experience the music as a real sculpture. / Wondering and wandering between the notes is like the shadow that brings depth or contrast to the sounds already exposed. // The creation of a sound-sculpture is an organic and intuitive process ; coloring, grading, movement and texture happen simultaneously, light and shadow are inherent. \\ The architecture and sound-quality of a recording are crucial to make my compositions intimate and sensual, as it were a skin of sound that is emotionally and physically felt as the only truth. A (hq) headset is my favorite way of listening - in silence / in my own time and space \ to sonic art or a spoken word project. The experience is very personal and effective, the listener's heart and soul resonate immediately, due to the fact that the auditor is isolated, therefore more focused and in touch with the artist. This heightened state of consciousness has an enlightening consequence : time stands still / it feels like holding a breath .. meanwhile everything falls into place and at that precise moment one can really touch, see, hear, taste, smell the delightful clarity .. even if it were a lucid epiphany. The combination of earphones and sound art is a very immersive way during a transformative aural journey to understand the poetry thoroughly and to hear the music sensitively as possible.
Art for Art
The harp - the purest of all instruments - has an unique timbre that blends particularly well with the sounds of nature and spoken word. A minimalist note-score creates 'maximal music' in perfect harmony with visuals. My harp and soul productions are 'in a room', acknowledged / heard, seen and named in Film, Multi-Media, ART and Science.
As an independent musician i have artistic freedom / i am free to collab. with musicians of my own choice - creative and skilled artists who can give a touching musical answer to my harp monologues, in order to maintain the quality of my work. How do i know if i am on the right track? What makes art Art? When is art profound and outstanding? What i do know is that art is subjective and can be experienced in different styles and philosophies. To me art creates a state of wonder and stillness, expresses the unsaid and makes the abstract tangible, as i intent with my audio art & sound sculptures / future music is experienced beyond the conventional platforms. I'd like to advocate that current affairs shouldn't dictate art / Art should always be the starting point. Enfin : l'Art pour l'Art !
Earth without Art would be just eh.
Art is existential, autonomous, ambiguous, fierce, edgy, expressive, imaginative, impressive, empowering, amazing, fantastically weird. And Art evokes, rebels, moves, shakes, heals, reshapes, reviews, reveals, disturbs, comforts (eg). Above all : Art gives the earth color and a life breath .. with harp and soul .. with music &love.