......in Ooststellingwerf
In 1998 Georgina Starr was commissioned to make a site-specific outdoor project for Ooststellingwerf, a remote region of Friesland in The Netherlands.
Georgina Starr was one of eight artists invited for the In Verbelinge; Art Based on Stories in Stellingwerfs’ event in 1999. Ooststellingwerf is a thinly populated area in South-West Friesland. The landscape there is determined by old peat moors, sand drifts and the basins of the rivers Kuunder (Tjonger) and Linde. The area has an interesting history and its own, unique language. The siege by the Stellingwervers of the Bishop of Utrecht’s castle at Vollenhove in 1309 and, later, the social struggle led by Domela Nieuwenhuis in Appelscha are part of local history.The language, Stellingwerfs, is a variant of Low Saxon and is recognised by the European Unionas a dialect. The invited artists were asked to seek inspiration in the region and its typicalcharacteristics and to add their own stories to the already existing ones. For In Verbelinge Georgina Starr created 'Popping Up in Ooststellingwerf', an outdoor one night rock concert staged in the natural sand dunes of an Ooststellingwerf forest. The local bands were selected by Starr and all contributed a specially recorded track to the CD she produced to coincide with the performance. Starr also designed the three-tier stage (with built-in video screens), produced pop videos and artwork for each band, and joined one of the bands on stage as lead vocalist during the performance. The concert attracted thousands of Ooststellingwerfers who came to the sand dunes from miles around.
Starr's description of the 'Popping Up' project concept and the local music scene: "Coming to Ooststellingwerf the thing I became most conscious of as I recycled around alone for two weeks in July 1998 was the silence. When confronted with such over powering 'peace and quiet' my reaction is that it either has to be broken or twisted in some way. I found it disturbing and felt it was hiding something; merely a front for something beyond it which was much more strange. Cycling around I had the fantasy that I would be going through a quiet, deserted forest and then suddenly a whole lot of action would pop up in the landscape, or that I would come across a vibrating barn in the middle of a field of cows and open the door to find it full of people making music and singing and dancing. With these thoughts in mind I was directed to Sjouke Nauta at Friesland Pop in Leeuwarden who helped me to discover that there was in actual fact quite a big noise going on beyond the silence. During my next visit 8 months later I found myself in that barn in a field of cows listening to the songs of Chocolate Moose a three piece band from Oosterwolde who introduced me to their music, which they loosely describe as "Blues, jazzy, rock, reggae, pop, ballads, everything !" and even allowed me to sing along to a number I especially took a liking to. When I asked what music meant to them though they seemed to have a pretty clear idea. "If you listen to our songs," said Eric the bass player, "You'll know what's going on in my life, we play with the feeling of that day and my mic is like a sort of shrink - a really cheap one !" Eric, Wander and Kor of Chocolate Moose meet once a week in the barn in Haulerwjk which they recently converted into a mini studio where them and other bands can record demos. Unfortunately there's not much opportunity to play gigs in Ooststellingwerf and I was told that only a few bars can have live bands. The music in the area is diverse, and although everyone is intent on doing what they 'like', with most people there is no real style or agenda going on. "When we play together we suddenly speak the same language," said Ben, the drummer from Project X " It's in the spirit - it's not about fame and money, it's more than that." Some are more ambitious about their music nd are looking outside to the bigger cities like Groningen and Rotterdam to take it further, some see what they do as an escape or plainly just a hobby, and others just want to have some fun. Through the CM Boys I went along to the 'Pop Workshop', which is not actually in Ooststellingwerf but just outside, and which was initiated by local guy Bas Ruitenbeek and set up 11 years ago (with the help of Friesland Pop) to give young people a chance to get out of their bedrooms and play music with other aspiring musicians. As Bas said "It's for people who love music and want to play what they hear on the radio and for people without bands who have an instrument and just want to get a chance to learn more and play with others" The workshops have enabled people to meet and given them confidence to play and many of the bands from Ooststellingwerf initially met each other there. At the end of the workshops, which last 16 weeks and are taught by Stefan Mooibroek, the groups get to play live for an evening. It was during this evening in a packed pub in Bakkeveen that I was lucky to meet, amidist the singing and dancing, the only two girls in the 'Popping Up' project Anette and Annemarie of Bas Ruitenbeeks' band Zie Maar. The atmosphere at this concert was fantastic and it was after seeing the enthusiasm and energy of the people there that my own confidence in the project I was proposing got an extra injection of energy. Alongside the bands I've already mentioned there's also Haunch of Venison who have written a song especially for the project called "Stellingwerf", Jacob Meinardi who was born in the region and remembers times when bands played 'psychedelic rock' in the hall of the hotel De Zon in Oosterwolde and has written a piece of music which was played for the project on the church organ in Oosterwolde by Arend Doorenheim, Netwurk a band initiated by Ger Bijzitter with a song he has written and sings in Frisian, local poet Fred Hoekstra who has written three new poems inspired by the area which are set to ambient music composed by Phil Mills, Kor Slofstra has written a song together with fellow member of the band Dandruff Bas S. about a local guy in Ooststellingwerf entitled "Arnolds House", and finally Killerbunny have made a techno track which is performed by Draaiorgel de Noorderkroon (below) a traditional Dutch street organ.
Draaiorgel de Noorderkroon The CD and concert 'Popping Up in Ooststellingwerf' is what eventually came out of my time hanging out in the area and is by no means a survey of all the music from bands and songwriters in the region but is just a taste of what's going on behind the quiet peaceful facade that confronts the outsider who enters Ooststellingwerf. By choosing the Zandvlakte for the venue of the concert I think I may be trying to fulfil my own initial fantasy of discovering something unexpected, loud and strange going on in a quiet place beyond the woods, but hopefully this taster of the local musical talent will propel someone somewhere to set up a venue for them to play the music they so strongly believe in. 'Popping Up in Ooststellingwerf' was made possible by the energy and talent of Phil Mills who recorded and mixed all the tracks in his studio (Cryptic Recording) in Leeuwarden. Myself and all the bands are indebted to him." Georgina Starr, Ooststellingwerf, 1999 The Popping Up concert was held on an evening in September 1999 in the natural sand dunes of the Zandvlakte in Ooststellingwerf. Twelve local bands played on the three-tier stage. Around a 2,000 people attended the concert. The song chosen to be the new Ooststelling werf anthem was Kor Slofstra's 'Arnolds House'.
Starr on stage with Ooststellingwerf band Chocolate Moose.
Short documentary of Popping Up in Ooststellingwerf (1999)
|
