Period: 9th – 23rd July 2009
Place: Various locations in Ohrid, Macedonia
Coaches: Gerard van Wolferen, Hans Timmermans, Marcel Wierckx, Slobodan Bajić and Katerina Pejoska
This project is completed!
And with great results! Everyone worked very hard on their common aim; to express themselves, their feelings and their experiences in a musical collaboration. Although the young Macedonian people did not know the young Dutch people, the group become very close in only a few days.
On the 14 days informal congregation of 20 young talented musicians in Ohrid, Macedonia, organizers tried to squeeze the very best of talents and present it to international audience. The Dutch youngsters are used to use their technology, their hardware and software as an instrument for making musical compositions and playing with sounds. For them, music does not necessarily exists of notes, chords and ‘rules of musical theory’ and they are also used to working fast and result based. The Macedonian youngsters on the other hand are all used to playing classical and/or local instruments. They play mostly from sheets and are brought up with a sense playing ‘the right notes’. But all the Macedonian youngsters feel like the process of playing and the experience of getting to the result is just as important, if not more, as the actual end product. Both groups (music technology and instrumentalists) together have been exposed to the real challenges, obstacles which they had to solve together. The result this collaboratian: a unique, experimental mix of acoustic and electronic music!
A quote from Nino (a participant from Macedonia):
“I have opinions about different things and in the circles where I live I really cannot discuss about things like that. Because everybody is like “okay we know that.” And no matter what you say, they have big egos and stuff like that. So this is like the first time that I could speak with a group that will understand what I am trying to say. And maybe to help me to change some view I have on music or on life, or whatever the discussion is. So that was very helpful and I loved it. The talking sessions were great.”
Of course these youngsters learned a lot from each other. Not only did they all experience a different way of working with music as a composer and as a performer, but they also learned a lot about each others culture and traditional ways of behavior. The knowledge that they obtained during these intense meetings has no price. That is why Zoey Foundation for Arts and Culture is planning a return visit! When all goes well, the Macedonian youngsters will be visiting The Netherlands in the first week of May, so they can work on their compositions, present the fruit of their collaboration to the Dutch audience and discover the Dutch environment and culture!
A quote from Nolan (a participant from The Netherlands):
“Before coming to Macedonia I didn’t expect to much about what to find here, I thought that way I couldn’t feel disappointed about being here. Now I think I could have expected everything and still the time here is much better than I could ever suspect. I really had so much fun working together in my group, but not only my group. Everybody participating in this project are beautiful persons and I have an amazing time here.”
The Technology Penetrates Tradition concept
The traditional ways v.s. the advantages of technology, Technology Penetrates Tradition – NL/MK is the first of a series of projects that will offer a platform for young people to promote and propagate their culture, learn about other cultures in Europe, propagate cultural diversity and create a network of intercultural dialogue.
The youngsters will explore the differences in each others culture, the different way of life, different perceptions of the cultures surrounding them, embrace those differences and communicate with each other by creating and playing music.
Multinational music group, supervised by high professionals, will experiment, compose and perform in front of international audience in the period 9th – 23th July on various locations in Ohrid. This very casual way of interacting and learning is seen as the most productive way when it comes to expression and creativity, especially when putting together two very distinctive groups of young musicians who do not know each other and have different cultural backgrounds. The musicians are stimulated to communicate among themselves throughout their most common language – Music.
As the project evolves on open locations, the daily work will be open to the audience throughout concerts/try-outs every evening. The pieces created as a result of this experimental project will be presented in the evening session to the international audience in Ohrid and beyond.
Coordinators: Katerina Pejoska & Aleksandar Velinovski
Laurens Joannes van der Wee
Martijn Jasper Duiven
Wesley Wai Win Wong
Sjoerd van den Sanden
Rutger Muller
Mark Ijzerman
Joost Spanjerberg
Robin Koek
Nolan Wessel Smeets
Augusto Meijer
Nikola Vaskov
Goran Petrovski
Irena Petrovska
Xhezire Aliti
Shkëlzen Pajaziti
Aleksandar Spasovski
Branislav Gerazov
Vladimir Krstevski
Ilija Volkan
PROJECT BY: ZOEY FONDATION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE www.zfac.org and PUBLIC ROOM www.publicroom.org
PROJECT PARTNERS: OHRID SUMMER FESTIVAL www.ohridsummer.com.mk and COMPOSERS ASSOCIATION MACEDONIA www.socom.com.mk
SUPPORTED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAM www.youthinaction.nl
