Even today, poems are given a musical form in classical music, cabaret or in a genre known as poetry pop. Maarten Duinker is a singer-songwriter, producer and storyteller who makes the words and lines of others sound as if he has just made them up himself. Sometimes so much so that you feel like singing along. Years ago, Maarten was invited to perform at the Crossing Border festival if he and his band ‘could do something with poetry...’. Of course! At a rapid pace, the friends wrapped a set of contemporary poems in tightly sounding pop songs. Because of this, the band found a new niche and worked with many poets. Unfortunately, the band broke up a few years later.
In 2021 Maarten decided to rework and refresh those previously successful songs once again. He also started on new liedjes, based on work by Nachoem Wijnberg, Alfred Schaffer and on his own lyrics, some of which are in English. He creates beautiful layered arrangements using a wide, often electronic, range of instruments. There is plenty of vocal harmony, a laughing woman, a bicycle with a child. A number of tracks have a sing-along character. Maarten's music can be listened to on Spotify and YouTube. Some liedjes need to simmer a little longer before they can be found there, Maarten feels.
I am glad to have discovered your subtle poemslied. How do you know that you can choose a certain poem to set to music?
‘I am considering whether the poem inspires me. And whether I can make the language my own and convey it well when I sing. Sometimes a poem seems very well suited to be set to music, and then I arrive at lines where I completely lose interest ... Well, that is the end of it then. Go Remco Campert has been set to music more often, but I felt like doing that too. It is probably so inviting for music because Campert wrote the poem after hearing a gospel choir in Harlem (NYC). I have set a few poems by Bert Schierbeek to music. He often writes in fairly short sentences, which is nice.
I have indeed changed something in some poems to make them fit. The poem Birds I adapted one by Erik Lindner slightly, for example. Intuitively, something clicked with the words and sentences, even though I could not quite grasp the poem itself. I wrote a dreamy ending, inspired by the word “waiting”. The lied has turned out to be seven minutes long. I often work from an additional thought. A dramaturgy that exists outside of the poem. With the Egidiuslied I have applied something similar as well.’
Do you remain open-minded when you set a well-known poem to music, or is there also a sense of awe, given the reputation of poets or of a particular poem?
‘Both. Egidius, where are you remained was of course actually a lied, the Egidiuslied. It is a lamentlied that was sung around 1400 and is known as the first Dutch lied to have been handed down. That is rather awe-inspiring, but I also thought it would be a lovely challenge to bring Egidius into the present day. I took the liberty of changing “geselle mien” to “geselle mijn”, otherwise you wouldn’t understand it. I chose to include the sound of a door opening and slamming shut on the recording. You can hear it very subtly. A door opening offers a sense of perspective – perhaps on love. Because I wanted to infuse the music with a sense of hope; I didn’t find simply singing of a farewell interesting enough. That’s, of course, a decision I had to think long and hard about, particularly in this case. You can also hear the door slamming shut firmly again.
As a producer, digitally I can pull out all the stops, so much more than when I go to play something on stage with just a few instruments. But I have so many decisions to make: do I add something, is that meaningful? How long do I keep tinkering and collecting? I can endlessly puzzle over details and get lost in them. Sometimes I have music in my head outside of the lyrics which I work out first, but how does everything come together then? Sometimes I start smoothly from the lyrics and after a few lines I don't know how to go on.’
I read that you are involved with spoken word and storytelling. Can you also use that for your music?
‘Yes indeed, and then I feel an enormous sense of freedom for lied. There's no straitjacket imposed by a metre or a structure. I can come up with my own story and write and combine both lyrics and music myself. Through storytelling, I learn to improve myself and my stories. Nowadays, I feel like I'd like to be back on stage again and have more to tell from my own perspective. But I also enjoy writing and producing for other musicians.’
Will we be hearing more of you on Spotify?
‘I am now releasing my lied one by one on streaming services like YouTube and Spotify. On 12 June, Breathless. Recently I Everything Remains reworked from a poem by Gerrit Komrij. That poem is 25 years old and can now be heard on the radio again. Because how do you ensure that a poem remains relevant? By setting it to music, for example! Everything Remains is the first track of an EP on Spotify by Maarten Duinker also Egidius, where have you gone and Breathless can be found here.
Listen to and follow Maarten:
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