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: Solex Ahoy - province Limburg / THE ’BOK’ VERSUS THE ’GEIT’ Close to Thorn, in a little town called Grathum we moored for two recording sessions with three musicians from Limburg. The first one is already a legendary one. It was a 'battle' between a 'Bok' (a billy goat) and a 'Geit' (a goat). Who grows up in Thorn has to choose between the 'Bokken' or the 'Geiten', two brass bands who are each others' worst enemies and competitors for more than a century. Once, there was just one brass band in the village, but after a conflict between the sexton and the priest the band split in two. If you're a 'Geit' you'll never buy your bread from a Bokken-bakery. A real 'Geit' will only order a beer at a 'Geiten'-cafe. Same story goes for the Bokken. Guus Dohmen is a 'Bok' and improvised on trumpet and a bügel. Jack Manders is a 'Geit' and played his alto sax. What a great couple...very very good! The second session was done by Mark Deckers (Red Zone Cuba). His guitar in one hand and a 'vlaai' in the other. Vlaai is a special kind of pie typical for the province Limburg. The vlaai was sweet and his guitar was trashy. Way to go!