Liesbeth Esselink

During the course of the summer of 2008, Bart van Poppel and Elisabeth Esselink trekked the numerous rivers, lakes and waterways covering the twelve provinces of the Netherlands by an old motor boat. In each province a different cast of musicians were invited to climb aboard and purely a l'improviste, create a homage to the Dutch landscape. On returning to her home base in Amsterdam, Esselink took the resulting material full of noises, moods, voices and rhythms back to her studio where she set about processing the recordings into twelve separate sound-image com­positions, one for each province. Solex Ahoy, or better still, The Sound Map of the Netherlands is a reflection of the perilous route. A homage to the Dutch waterways. DIARY: Zeeland The province Zeeland has the best light for photography, the nicest dikes and the finest 'bolussen' (a very sweet traditional delight). Someone who lives in Zeeland is called a Zeeuw. In Brouwershaven Michiel Romeyn came aboard. In The Netherlands he's best known for his parts in the absurd Dutch television series Jiskefet. He's got his roots in Zeeland and he recited a few of his poems like a genuine Zeeuw. When he found out there was a build-in megaphone on board that has a range of at least a mile, he scared half the harbour to death. "That lady of 'Happy' please keep starboard... I'm only going to ask you once....and that bold gentleman....yes you...moor immediately...and geez! look out for that docker..." We all ducked an hide when we saw those people looking around with astonished faces. The next stop in Zeeland was in Burghsluis. The first musician was Geert de Heer, or as a Zeeuw would pronounce it: Heert de Geer. He brought us some nice fresh bolussen and salted butter. What a treat! After he had played his lapsteel, he picked up his mandolin and dobro. Geert is a man of many crafts and he's good at it as well! Lisa van Viegen (trumpet) and Budy Mokoginta (guitar) were the last to board in Zeeland. Budy plays as much guitar as he plays effect pedals. Just about the entire floor was filled with pedals. Rock on Zeeland! Lisa is a tough cookie, she single handed imports African percussion instruments to The Netherlands and Belgium. You go girl! After a fair bit of pulling and lugging she managed to get the trumpet tuned and boy oh boy, that old horn had a great sound!