30 January 2009 - Text spoken by Oomen as the opening speech of E@rport Amsterdam. 1600 words.
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
For Earport Amsterdam, Oomen brought together a hundred-fifty musicians from Amsterdam to encounter each other and resound the musical essence of our present-day society.
In this speech he explores and evaluates his musical-philosophical standpoints that form the basis of this project. Oomen addresses his own cultural background, the relation of the composer to the multitude of musical cultures that surround him and his proposition to consider 'the encounter' as the core of composing rather than traditional values of craftsmanship. The composer as host, inspirator and initiator.
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MAIN TEXT
'In the encounter between heaven and earth, the manifold of things reveals’
- I Ching
With EARPORT AMSTERDAM I want to share my personal search for my musical background with you. As a boy, I grew up in Amsterdam Oud-West, surrounded by a broad variety of cultural influences. Unprejudiced in relation to ‘the other’, I included everything available in my personal culture - a unique composition that finally also characterises my musical works.
The greatest musical inspiration I remember from my youth, are the many records with Hungarian folk- and gypsy music my mother was always listening to and also played, on her violin. She traveled to Hungary in 1980 to pick grapes in the countryside for three months. She stayed in Budapest, where she fell in love with an architect and had to leave the country after a few months for political reasons. She returned to the Netherlands with a love for the music she heard so much in this country. As a child, I was very aware and sensitive to the cavalcade of feelings this music opened in my mother. When in 2001 I visited Hungary for the first time myself, I immediately re-found a feeling for this country, a feeling familiar from my youth, through my mother. In 2006, I moved to Budapest, where I now live with my Hungarian wife and daughter, a stone’s throw away from the Danube.
I tell you this story, because it is a personal element that shows the impossibility of cultural interpretation. There is no direct relation between my existence and the history of Hungary, yet, Hungarian music is a vital part of my personal roots, probably even more so than of most Hungarians’ of my age. Am I a composer who is inspired by foreign cultures ? or can I count these influences from afar, that happened cross my path and become part of my life, as my own cultural heritage?
I’m no longer a child; the complexity of our society has become clear to me. It seems to me I have lost much of the originality in finding and picking up music, due to a multitude of questions and considerations that came along with thinking about the subject. Instead of the spontaneity of encountering something ‘other’, I have become aware of a growing doubt when it comes to my position in relation to my surrounding. I challenge myself to answer these questions ever more thoroughly, because the abundance of sounds and inspirations is so overwhelming and complex, and because I refuse the abundance to lead to a growing cynicism or indifference regarding the contents of these sounds. This is an ever-present danger, and can unfortunately be heard only too often in many cross-over experiments and post-modern referential compositions.
Thus I realised, I must re-experience how the actual sounds of Amsterdam correlate with each other and how they can be understood from the viewpoint of many musicians and traditions, be it through intensive study and research. I delved into the question of how I can clarify my cultural origins. How can the plenitudes of influences characteristic of my native city Amsterdam make it into a coherent entity? What does a folk music of 21st century Amsterdam sound like?
To penetrate this question, I invited one hundred musicians from Amsterdam to put the musical essence of today’s society into music during this meeting. Most significantly, it became clear that we should rather speak of diversity of musical personalities, instead of diversity of musical cultures. The master of North-African popular music in the Netherlands originally comes from the city of Groningen while the woman stimulating Zimbabwean Mbira culture is a German living in Amsterdam.
With EARPORT AMSTERDAM I would like these personalities to encounter beyond the many, and sometimes contrary, influences the musicians have sown into their own musical practice. Whether virtuoso soloist or young amateur starting out, I admire all musicians present today, for the sincerity with which they have positioned themselves between the here and the there, the then and the now, the continuous and temporary. In this meeting of musical personalities that is about to take place, many unusual and unfamiliar connections will reveal themselves, in sounds, rhythms and musical associations.
As the host of these musicians, as the person to inspire and initiate these meetings, I raise the question which position the composer is required to take in this musical quest. Obviously the old-fashioned notion of a composer’s masterpiece delivered on the musicians’ lectern does not fly in this context.
Actually, writing music has become an interactive process between myself, the musicians and the traditions and musical convictions the musicians brought with them. It is no longer truly relevant, how and whether a musical idea was described in detail on paper. In some of the encounters, my sheet music played a central role, during others I let go of my original composition with complete devotion to make space for a more honest or simpler form for the encounter. In most cases, it was necessary to communicate ideas in an entirely different manner. Not on paper, but in song, by signs or a gaze while making music.
The final sheet music of the pieces created during EARPORT AMSTERDAM can therefore only be made after the performance has taken place. Only after this musical marathon will we know more about this musical material – about what has come to life and what has not. Where does it lead us to, when one theme is cited after the other, one this way, then the other like that! Only in interaction with the source of the sounds, with the musicians who are carriers of the meaning of sound, it suddenly becomes clear what is and is not possible with a melody. It is essential to give this meaning a central role in a new composition, instead of using the sounds and melodies without any notion of their origins of creation, or without understanding of the atmosphere and feeling that has allowed this material to come to life.
When a composer does not work with set sheet music, but rather trusts his musicians’ considerations, that does not equal to a composer without a clear vision of the music he wishes to bring to life. In ‘serious’ music, there is still a strong distrust in relation to letting go of the values and craftsmanship of the traditional composer. Make no mistake: it is exactly in the kind of musical cooperation, where the composer is deprived of his knowledge and expertise, that his most elementary musical qualities surface. Working with the musicians present during EARPORT AMSTERDAM has demanded the utmost of my musical abilities. It is my best musical work to date and I want to thank the musicians for just that. I am touched by their commitment to and enthusiasm for this musical quest and confident that the story I try to tell is alive in the consciousness of many musicians and listeners. With EARPORT AMSTERDAM, I hope to show you that innovative and exciting elements in music implicitly lie in finding a the most original and simple form of encounter.
The question, in how far the encounters you will soon come to hear are my compositions, can therefore not be answered. It is irrelevant. I have made every effort, together with the musicians, to present the encounters as honestly as possible. This also means that, at times, the limitations that arise during encounter are emphasised above all. Some of the encounters will have to take place with the utmost caution and with appropriate distance between the musicians. However, there are other encounters, where you will be entwined in an amorous embrace of sounds.
Now, with the realisation of EARPORT AMSTERDAM the complexity of our society seems larger and more disturbing than ever before. As I had perhaps ideally hoped for, the gathering of these musicians did not show me one well-defined thread, but rather an enormous tangle of threads between musicians and sounds. At the same time I realise this is the only hopeful outcome of this quest. We will have to surrender to the madness. If we are able to approach the multitude of things with a childlike spontaneity and optimism, then we can belong to one culture one day, and to another the next. EARPORT AMSTERDAM is a celebration above all. We celebrate the richesse of music and the incredibility of the diversity of life.
Finally, I wish to thank the Conservatory of Amsterdam for having opened their new building especially for this occasion. It requires courage and effort from such an institute, to allow the outside world so suddenly and cheekily into this citadel, where the musician’s autonomy as well as musical content is so safely preserved, and where the intrusion of marketing plans, critics and financial lobbies into the artistic process could still be avoided. Yet, I hope that the Conservatory of Amsterdam in her marvellous new building, with its magnificent new concert halls will be challenged by this project, just like me and the musicians, and that it will be an impetus to change and renewal of the institute. I hope EARPORT AMSTERDAM can be a crowbar, to open the doors of the Conservatory more often and more widely in the future to musicians and audiences in Amsterdam.
With these words, my work for EARPORT AMSTERDAM is done. From now on, I once again belong to you, the listeners and immerse myself into the musical madness awaiting us full of curiosity and anticipation. I hereby declare the marathon open!
Paul Oomen 2009 English translation by Sara Zorandy
The greatest musical inspiration I remember from my youth, are the many records with Hungarian folk- and gypsy music my mother was always listening to and also played, on her violin. She traveled to Hungary in 1980 to pick grapes in the countryside for three months. She stayed in Budapest, where she fell in love with an architect and had to leave the country after a few months for political reasons. She returned to the Netherlands with a love for the music she heard so much in this country. As a child, I was very aware and sensitive to the cavalcade of feelings this music opened in my mother. When in 2001 I visited Hungary for the first time myself, I immediately re-found a feeling for this country, a feeling familiar from my youth, through my mother. In 2006, I moved to Budapest, where I now live with my Hungarian wife and daughter, a stone’s throw away from the Danube.
I tell you this story, because it is a personal element that shows the impossibility of cultural interpretation. There is no direct relation between my existence and the history of Hungary, yet, Hungarian music is a vital part of my personal roots, probably even more so than of most Hungarians’ of my age. Am I a composer who is inspired by foreign cultures ? or can I count these influences from afar, that happened cross my path and become part of my life, as my own cultural heritage?
I’m no longer a child; the complexity of our society has become clear to me. It seems to me I have lost much of the originality in finding and picking up music, due to a multitude of questions and considerations that came along with thinking about the subject. Instead of the spontaneity of encountering something ‘other’, I have become aware of a growing doubt when it comes to my position in relation to my surrounding. I challenge myself to answer these questions ever more thoroughly, because the abundance of sounds and inspirations is so overwhelming and complex, and because I refuse the abundance to lead to a growing cynicism or indifference regarding the contents of these sounds. This is an ever-present danger, and can unfortunately be heard only too often in many cross-over experiments and post-modern referential compositions.
Thus I realised, I must re-experience how the actual sounds of Amsterdam correlate with each other and how they can be understood from the viewpoint of many musicians and traditions, be it through intensive study and research. I delved into the question of how I can clarify my cultural origins. How can the plenitudes of influences characteristic of my native city Amsterdam make it into a coherent entity? What does a folk music of 21st century Amsterdam sound like?
To penetrate this question, I invited one hundred musicians from Amsterdam to put the musical essence of today’s society into music during this meeting. Most significantly, it became clear that we should rather speak of diversity of musical personalities, instead of diversity of musical cultures. The master of North-African popular music in the Netherlands originally comes from the city of Groningen while the woman stimulating Zimbabwean Mbira culture is a German living in Amsterdam.
With EARPORT AMSTERDAM I would like these personalities to encounter beyond the many, and sometimes contrary, influences the musicians have sown into their own musical practice. Whether virtuoso soloist or young amateur starting out, I admire all musicians present today, for the sincerity with which they have positioned themselves between the here and the there, the then and the now, the continuous and temporary. In this meeting of musical personalities that is about to take place, many unusual and unfamiliar connections will reveal themselves, in sounds, rhythms and musical associations.
As the host of these musicians, as the person to inspire and initiate these meetings, I raise the question which position the composer is required to take in this musical quest. Obviously the old-fashioned notion of a composer’s masterpiece delivered on the musicians’ lectern does not fly in this context.
Actually, writing music has become an interactive process between myself, the musicians and the traditions and musical convictions the musicians brought with them. It is no longer truly relevant, how and whether a musical idea was described in detail on paper. In some of the encounters, my sheet music played a central role, during others I let go of my original composition with complete devotion to make space for a more honest or simpler form for the encounter. In most cases, it was necessary to communicate ideas in an entirely different manner. Not on paper, but in song, by signs or a gaze while making music.
The final sheet music of the pieces created during EARPORT AMSTERDAM can therefore only be made after the performance has taken place. Only after this musical marathon will we know more about this musical material – about what has come to life and what has not. Where does it lead us to, when one theme is cited after the other, one this way, then the other like that! Only in interaction with the source of the sounds, with the musicians who are carriers of the meaning of sound, it suddenly becomes clear what is and is not possible with a melody. It is essential to give this meaning a central role in a new composition, instead of using the sounds and melodies without any notion of their origins of creation, or without understanding of the atmosphere and feeling that has allowed this material to come to life.
When a composer does not work with set sheet music, but rather trusts his musicians’ considerations, that does not equal to a composer without a clear vision of the music he wishes to bring to life. In ‘serious’ music, there is still a strong distrust in relation to letting go of the values and craftsmanship of the traditional composer. Make no mistake: it is exactly in the kind of musical cooperation, where the composer is deprived of his knowledge and expertise, that his most elementary musical qualities surface. Working with the musicians present during EARPORT AMSTERDAM has demanded the utmost of my musical abilities. It is my best musical work to date and I want to thank the musicians for just that. I am touched by their commitment to and enthusiasm for this musical quest and confident that the story I try to tell is alive in the consciousness of many musicians and listeners. With EARPORT AMSTERDAM, I hope to show you that innovative and exciting elements in music implicitly lie in finding a the most original and simple form of encounter.
The question, in how far the encounters you will soon come to hear are my compositions, can therefore not be answered. It is irrelevant. I have made every effort, together with the musicians, to present the encounters as honestly as possible. This also means that, at times, the limitations that arise during encounter are emphasised above all. Some of the encounters will have to take place with the utmost caution and with appropriate distance between the musicians. However, there are other encounters, where you will be entwined in an amorous embrace of sounds.
Now, with the realisation of EARPORT AMSTERDAM the complexity of our society seems larger and more disturbing than ever before. As I had perhaps ideally hoped for, the gathering of these musicians did not show me one well-defined thread, but rather an enormous tangle of threads between musicians and sounds. At the same time I realise this is the only hopeful outcome of this quest. We will have to surrender to the madness. If we are able to approach the multitude of things with a childlike spontaneity and optimism, then we can belong to one culture one day, and to another the next. EARPORT AMSTERDAM is a celebration above all. We celebrate the richesse of music and the incredibility of the diversity of life.
Finally, I wish to thank the Conservatory of Amsterdam for having opened their new building especially for this occasion. It requires courage and effort from such an institute, to allow the outside world so suddenly and cheekily into this citadel, where the musician’s autonomy as well as musical content is so safely preserved, and where the intrusion of marketing plans, critics and financial lobbies into the artistic process could still be avoided. Yet, I hope that the Conservatory of Amsterdam in her marvellous new building, with its magnificent new concert halls will be challenged by this project, just like me and the musicians, and that it will be an impetus to change and renewal of the institute. I hope EARPORT AMSTERDAM can be a crowbar, to open the doors of the Conservatory more often and more widely in the future to musicians and audiences in Amsterdam.
With these words, my work for EARPORT AMSTERDAM is done. From now on, I once again belong to you, the listeners and immerse myself into the musical madness awaiting us full of curiosity and anticipation. I hereby declare the marathon open!
Paul Oomen 2009 English translation by Sara Zorandy
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