In aanloop naar U staat hier. De kunst, de stad en de toekomst delen we graag mooie projecten die aan het thema raken, van studenten, alumni en docenten van ArtEZ. Marten Berger studeerde dit jaar af bij MediaMusic.
Smells like Van Spirit
Hi I’m Marten Berger, I just finished my bachelor study of MediaMusic in Enschede. Two years ago I had an idea which I couldn’t turn off since then. I was always wondering what might be the right place for me to live and work as a music producer. Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, staying in Enschede and start a business with friends or even London? Well, I didn’t know, and how should I? I know I wanted to see more of the world before I’m going to get settled. I want to travel!
So, with the decision made I stepped into another struggle: I’m really passionate about my work – producing and recording music. So, somehow my work had to come with me. So I thought: in terms of field recording music John A. Lomax showed us already more than 80 years ago that this was possible. Let’s just buy an old van and build a music studio inside!
At the same time I met a person I will never forget. There was this old, long bearded man singing in the streets of Groningen with only his guitar and his voice in front of almost no audience. But what I heard was so authentic and so pure, I was caught immediately. I knew I had to record this man and share his music with the world. And so I did. I contacted him and after a while we together recorded his first studio album and released it on our own. No, we hadn’t that big success. But it was so good to see how happy I could make that man and how many people really cared about handmade and authentic music from the streets. This was the begin of a very special friendship.
Later I realised that his music wouldn’t be the only secret beauty hidden in the streets of our cities. So I got myself a mission for 2017: I want to travel European cities, and record the best street musicians I can find on the way and record an album with them.
