| RAYMOND DIJKSTRA (NL, 1968) | | | ||||
| All my work is highly autobiographical, highly subjective and highly emotional. In this sense my work is the complete opposite of that from most musicmakers out of the experimental corner who's work is mostly without any emotion. The reason for me making music is to strenghten my connection with life. For me my music is not experimental, simply because it was Never made to experiment. There is a bit of a problem with most experimental musicians, who are mostly only touching the surface of a subject after which they go beyond to find another experiment. I feel more connected to painters and sculptors who delve deep into the subject and explore it thoroughly, going into every possible direction, to really connect with their world. Even more interesting I find it when one connects with ones own genuine personal world. Just to come home to his self, instead of going out for a journey, what experimenting often is. I don't like digital music which is plastic compared to acoustic music or even to analogue electronic music. There's not much else what can make me so furious like contemporary art... For me contemporary art has lost all it's right of existence... Contemporary art has become less and less interesting since somewhere in the seventies of last century, or perhaps even since the forties, and has since become more and more an empty shell containing only worthless and senseless art. I'm only interested in artists who follow their own internal voice, independent from fashions... (The contemporary art fashions...) Or person's who have been making art in order to survive personally.... mainly people who are not making art as a profession. In the past artists (and musicians) had something to tell to the public... these days most artists and musicians are listeners and watchers themselves, only repeating what is the major consensus... The gestures are being defined by emotions, not by reason. The form becomes wild, like an emotional storm. |  | The musical output anno 2010 can be devided in two main directions. "There is my expressionistic music, consisting of just a few, entirely acoustic elements; Harmonium and scraped household objects. I insist on using objects, -which are usually not seen as musical instruments- as musical instruments. For instance the scraping of whineglasses on a glass antique table." "My playing of the objects reflects specific human behaviour. It gives associations with certain human emotions, at the same time it has an element of estrangement. The 'instruments' itself have a strong connection with surrealism." "My music is made in an abstract proces of self-detachment. While detaching myself from myself, I connect with my Self. There are not much traditional musical elements involved, except of course the Harmonium. But, I'm pointing here especially on the way of Making the music. My expressionistic music should be regarded more as a physical act, more than music. It's a constant training in opening up my mind, removing obstacles with violence, and seeing a different reality through the debris." "The final result is a pile of fragments, but I guess something of the initial light still shimmers through." The entirely acoustic music is made without any use of audio effects, and without any editing. "The publication is simply a registration of a physical event, and should be left untouched. Any changing of the initial energy is a weakening." Sometimes large moments of silence, between the 'musical' actions is included in the registration as a consequence. It gives an extra quality of humanity to the work. The music in 2010 is the result of a slow evolutionary proces (although made in many steps). It originally started with the release of 'Affen-theater', which was still more musical. Affen-theater had all the elements which are being used in the music in 2010, but it evolved during a 5 years span to the stripped down carcass it is now. In 'Affen-theater' there was still some minimal use of audio effects involved, making it more musical. Slowly this element was erased from the music, returning to it's initial raw state. (references: 'De schroef' (LP, Le souffleur, 2009), De cirkel (LP, Le souffleur, 2009), etc.) The other musical direction is more musical, and made with an entirely different approach. "Whereas my expressionistic music is more an inescapable result of a physical act, my impressionistic music is a result of relaxation. I connect with the music instead of disconnecting myself from it." "It's result is a soft painting of an atmosphere." The music is made with acoustic instruments only, and an elaborate use of effects in some pieces. The musical direction is captured under the series title 'De voordelen van schizofrenie' ( The Advantages of Schizophrenia ). (references: 'L'opus ch' (LP, Le souffleur, 2009), L'opus L'H (LP, Dekorder, 2010), etc.) | ||||