Early this I would not believe to be where I stand now. It’s also my first year that I have kept my new year resolution: Just do what makes you happy. It sounds a bit cheesy but this mindset slowly become an open door to possibilities. I face my own problems physically and mentally. I said goodbye to all that doesn’t please my anymore and embraced where my soul takes me. My soul brought me to old friends and new places. Redefined love, friendship and embraced the flow of the sun and moon.
No I do not dance naked under the full moon or go Stonehenge during midsummer soliste. I’m more of classic philosophy and give in to listen to ravings in my head. So sometimes I write again and started to make pictures. And even start experimenting with covers just to work on my confidence and I’m surprised that I still upload an weekly cover. So now time to try to write some music of my own and experiment with finding my own sound.
For next year? Well I wrote on my Facebook page next you my goals is to build bridges. From this year rediscover myself to next year build bridges and find myself as an artist to create art again in whatever the form will be crochet, photography, poetry or even music…..
Without even crossing the border back home (however borders only exist in our minds) and with the magic of the Veljanov’s concert still in my head. It’s head in the books and EarPods in the ears and last minute studying of The Armed Man of Jenkins while the silver train brings me home. However home is where the heart is so maybe I should have stayed in Berlin. But back to reality it’s a week of working, rest, working, photo editing, working, rehearsals, working, photo editing, working, rehearsals, preform, preform.
The Armed Man
When I got the news early this year that we would sing The Armed Man it was exited however one side it’s a little bit to filmish bombastic piece the more and more I dig in to it the more I loved it. We did it with the vision of 80 years of liberty of the south of the Netherlands. When I grew up sometimes my grandfather told me stories of the WOII how he had to work in Germany. He was one of those Dutch gentleman who did not hate Germans but he only hated Nazis. My dad always served the Dutch military and has been to Afghanistan for two times. So I grew up always aware that he’s a lot away and worked a lot Germany. Mabe that where my rebellion to learning German as a child came from or it’s just it’s because it to similar to Dutch. I personally love the German culture specially around Christmas, so as Dutch as I am yes I do that in Germany. So here I’m back where I stared this blog: Borders only exist in our minds. Just like enemies grow out of fear of what we do not know. Sometimes we need to face our past first to start something new.
Not only singing The Armed Man but the whole last two weeks where a personal journey of reflection and grow. As a photographer a singer and as a person.
Now I can call myself a opera singer Well I’m just a hobby singer in a local opera choir but it’s fun and helps. It also helps me with my tinnitus and hyperacusis. The last weeks I learned I have a neurologic tinnitus /hyperacusis so if I’m relax and my tinnitus/hyperacusis relax to. But they say after two years you can say I’m a opera singer. And the last two years my life started to flip back 180degrees back to my true love, music. Last year we celebrated 90 years of Osse Opera it was a nice mash up of opera an theatre and after that we went of a spring concert. So I learned a lot and specially for this last opera I learned several techniques that really makes my jaw stronger. I don’t have big plans I still love to be at the local opera and learn from Hans Lamers and the choir member and experiment at home. So singing is my therapy and love.
And now off to work 21 December we have a concert in a church in Reek. With some Jenkis, Orff, Verdi and Mozart. So a nice mesh up again and a lot to learn in a few weeks.
So after two weeks it’s take some rest, recharge and restart it all again and see what the future will bring.
The Armed Man – A mass for Piece Written by: Karl Jenkins Executive conductor: Sef Pijpers Jr. Osse opera conductor: Hans Lamers Bosche Opera conductor: Wim Reijnders Solo: Lucie van Ree & Zaid Tayem Location: Jheronimus Bosch Art Centre in ’s-Hertogenbosch Date: 16 & 17 November 2024 (sold out)
Harmonie Wilhelmina den Dungen, Vereniging Bosche Opera Osse Opera Vereniging And guest choir singers and artist
Well I guess I can say this is part two of my nostalgic blog (here is part one). After making pictures at Deine Lakaien in Planetarium Bochum it was now time to go back to concert venue’s again. The lighting will be completely different just like the crowd. So like the old days let’s go in the photopit!
It’s almost strange to think that it was over a decade that I have been in the photopit. But maybe it was the magic of Bochum still in my head or the nostalgic theme of the Veljanov tour that made that time hasn’t past. There where a lot of trusted faces that also makes it more comfortable to make pictures. Like Marcus Testory was also 2008 when I have had him in front of my camera for a report “a day with Chamber.”
While the concert in Oberhausen felt like just old school with the type of hall and the dancing people. Berlin felt really special to me. Being there thinking of the cd presentation of Porta Macedonia 16 years ago. The interview with Alexander at Summer Darkness festival in Utrecht 15 years. Celebrating 25 years Secrets of the Silver Tongue and this all on the day that 35 years ago the Berlin wall fell.
Berlin was a evening not just being nostalgic but also one of breaking my own walls that I build up. Walls that I build up to hide my grief and lost vision on where the heart takes you. It was like a coming home again. I guess just to pet my ego maybe I felt the “Anton Corbijn” of the evening and Alexander Veljanov is for me like what’s Bono for Anton Corbijn. That one person in front of you camera that somehow works like magic and always let’s you be on your best.
As a child I was always singing and dancing. As my mother always tells me that’s the moment when I’m always shining. So my love for music sparked my interest in tour documentaries and photographers like Anton Corbijn. This because I never see myself as a good singer or dancer. But the magic of music always got my attention. Also the art of fantasy movies and puppeteers. So I decided to study Multimedia Design to become a director.
During my study’s I had a teacher who had lived the rockstar life in the times of Top of the pops. So he was a big inspiration for me (even I’m not that wild). During my study I found out that I could express myself better with photography. All the freedom and I could work on my own. With a friend from the graphic design study we started Noize Magazine an E-zine (which was revolutionary at that time) with our passion for music, art, fashion and all gothic lifestyle. After we stopped Noize Magazine in the end of 2011. After that I was still studying Documentary Photography at the Art Academy of Sint Joost (NL). And my boyfriend (now husband) had his music promotion company so I still made pictures. But in 2014 after I lost my daughter I stopped making art and (documentary) photography.
Deine Lakaien In 2007 when we were preparing for Noize Magazine I was that Deine Lakaien would come to the Netherlands. Even it was there 20 years tour I just discovered them during a visit to Berlin where I ended up at their concert with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt. I got a photopass and against the note “no backstage access” I ended up meeting them backstage. For four years I have made pictures at several Deine Lakaien and Vejlanov concert and it was always a magical moment and almost a coming home. But as I stopped in 2014 I pushed away everything I loved. But corona times in 2020 brought nostalgic on the table and with endless scrolling time on social media they popped up. So slowly I started to follow them again. And with a warm welcome in Osnabruck 2021 (with all corona measurements) and a welcome home in Koln 2022. It was like all those years gone never existed. In 2024 I started to sort out my old photography work. And the thought of making pictures again at the Veljanov concert just like “the old days”. So last Saturday I ended up making pictures at the Seiss Planetarium Bochum. After 14 years I was making pictures again. It was like it was 2007 again small venue a magical venue and a perfect balance of listing and capturing the moment. But now with a upgrade set and it was like my break of photography was never there.
But now still making a tour documentary I again on my bucket list. Well mabe one day? I will see what will come on my path. And now I’m thinking I’m slightly doing that with at the Osse Opera where I’m singing.
I’m writing this blog in a nostalgic mood. This year I decided to live by the concept “Only do what makes you happy”! So here I’m in my mid-thirties sounding like some much older. When I was a student I loved the hunt for success and the trill of deadlines. But now after a rush up the last ten years it feels like my brain aged twenty years. But isn’t that the whole thing. When we are in the calm and solid waters of our life we start on our inner work.
Look at myself I have a decent job where I’m not even allowed to rush! Yes this sound against all logics of a creative person. But two years ago I started to work in healthcare where I do creative activities with special needs people. So I do only fun things the whole day I make art, music, go on walk. That’s a 180 life change after years of working with tight deadlines and later my own company which gave a lot of stress (specially during corona years). So after a year to settle in the changes I found out that I have free time!! Something I felt like I never had that much. So what to do with it?
Well just find out what makes you happy? For my it was a Mari Kondo like way of letting things go. Because what does give you a spark in life?
I stared to drop things and let go some contacts (sorry) and picked up contact with some old friends. I stared to build this website to sort out my old work, and it made me feel nostalgic. I made me realise that I miss the thrill of making pictures and work with music. So I decided to stay at the opera develop myself as a singer just for fun. Because it makes me happy. Now I have a chance to make pictures again, lets see if it makes me just as happy as the old days. And crochet??…. Well only when I’m in the mood and makes me happy.
So still being in my nostalgic mood and overthinking my life I write this blog. On Gothcommunity.eu fb group some started a post of their goth look thru the years. In 2002 I went for the first time to a gothic shop it was in Den Bosch a small store filled with witchy and fantasy stuff with the smell of incense filled the room. The lady in the store wore a big dress with a corset like a dark princess. Mesmerized by the magic in the store I felt in love with this dark but feminine style. But there was I standing a brave insecure 14 year old girl who dressed up more as a tomboy.
Later that year I went to my first fantasy festival an bought my first “gothic” shirt and proudly wore it he next day to school. So there it was from now I was the gothic of the glass. Every penny is start to spent in dark princess like cloths and mixed and matched them. But still deep inside I was still that insecure girl that just looked like a princess of darkness exploring the world.
I started to study multimedia and set up a gothic e-zine with a friend. Going to concerts, festivals and even gothic gala’s. Exploring styles and watch trends. So working with models and having amazing creative artist in frond of my camera I always felt underdressed. I never considered myself create with make up and hair, and yes I learned some tricks true time. But still I felt like a reporter that just went for her goals and for the rest a shy wallflower like a Lady Whistledown.
2024 Helene with Sabine Lutzenberger (Helium Vola / Per-Sonat)
But time has passed got married in steampunk style and just like the goth scene in the Netherlands I disappeared to. Went up in the mass and started a family. But still there was something missing in my life. Did I let to much go in the darkest day’s In my life? Yes there was a time where the beauty of life and the most darkest part where a tin line. So corona that time when we were almost forced to confront ourselves in where we stand in life. I started to redefine my passions and with all the scrolling on the socials I found old contacts. On the rare moments in 2021 we could travel again we could meet old friends and a small spark lighted my gothic heart. In 2022 I lost my store well I got a job opportunity that changed my life. I could be creative and free again and room for travel and self-development came in my life. More and more I got drawn to the old days where I felt happy and free.
So yes I’m gothic on my own way. Not one with big hair and big eyeliner. But my own elegant me! And now I can even say I’m an elderly goth and don’t care if I’m not the next topmodel. But I love to inspire new generations on my own way to even make the shy wallflower feel seen.
And still I don’t know where my path takes me but even the coolest goth has the brightest spark inside there heart. And mine shines brighter than ever!
So yes I say I’m a gothic queen!!
2014 Oriental Tea time2012 London2011 Elfia Arcen20072011 Elfia de Haar 2015 Imaginarium202420232007 with Deine Lakaien (Tilburg NL)
Welcome to my hearing … well it’s better to say my head. Yes I have tinnitus! And even more annoying hyperacusis. No I did not get it from festivals and party’s but thanks to a bike accident when I was 11 years old.
So the bike incident I got was just like a stupid accident with my race bike. Well I wasn’t racing but it was during a slow drive to the start of a triathlon competition (yes I did triathlon). My bag got in the wheel and smacked me on the face, lucky was wearing a helmet that one broke, just like my front teeth.
When I was almost 21 in 2008 I could finally get two teeth implants. But with that came an bone transplantation from the back of my jaw. This is not a big surgery but a nasty one because the unlock your jaw. Which now in 2024 I still have problems of and in 2008 jaw therapy wasn’t very know. But as reward my dad took me for a 26hours trip to Berlin to do my report of Veljanov’s Porta Macedonia cd presentation. Which I was invited to do a report for Noize Magazine, I still don’t know how I managed to makes the pictures with all the pain killers a few days after the surgery.
In 2022 I stopped my yarn store that I had for 5 years. With corona period survived as a company. And during corona period when we where all living online I started to get in touch and long back to the period of Noize Magazine. But a new job got a my path so I could stop the store and get free time. What me time with no pressure? Something that was not in my Dictionary. And an old friend who challenged me with music. The whole positive change gave a stress reaction on my hearing. In 2023 I did what I never dare but always wanted to do and joined the local opera. I takes the average ages of the choirs down with 30 years but I didn’t care I wanted to learn to sing opera. I always loved symphonic metal and want to learn to read sheet music. Somehow I past the test and was allowed to stay even with the comment that I have a delay to pick up tunes. After trying a few thing to reduces stress I finally get the hearing test I needed. The result: Tinnitus and hyperacusis with a to big hearing range for my age.
The sound I hear the whole day. Allright on a good moment it’s gone for a moment.
Tinnitus
It’s annoying and exhausting form time to time. Looking back I know I have it thanks to the bike incident. It’s not always there and most of the sounds block it. I mostly hear it before I go to sleep or when I’m extreme stressed or tired. It’s mostly a background noise and on a bad day something similar like the noise of the video. The annoying thing when you get the label tinnitus it’s know to give a big reaction and you will focus on it. So for almost a year I slowly find my way to manage and understand it. It’s just my personal jam.
Hyperacusis
This is the nasty one. Sounds are to loud for me and it causes a “processing” delay. With my big hearing range I still hear things like to beepers to scare cat’s of the yard.
Directed sounds work fine to me. That’s why I’m able to go to a concert (yes with in ears but you need them anyway) and sing in the opera. But undirected sounds like a bar are exhausting for me because I lose focus. So I love to go to small concerts but I do not stay long for the after party. At home I try to avoid the morning chaos and hope that my husband and the kids set up the table (but still this goes with a lot of chaos) because it can set the hearing stress level for me for the rest of the day.
Also the jaw can have a major effect on how loud you hear sounds. If it’s locked you can hear sounds louder. I went to therapy for it and to keep it in shape and make it stronger I need sing.
At my work I work with people with people with special needs so most of the workspace is adjusted to them. And all right expect the hallway on the new location but it’s my secret personal signing boot for cool acoustics. But still it’s a job that require a lot of focus and concentration so I have to watch out in the evening and take enough rest. Because more tired I’m the louder the sounds feel. And it could almost look like I’m misophonic.
The delay
The delay is the most frustrating for me. I lose focus so with a meeting it takes more time to process. It can look like I forget a lot of things and walk back with a this or that questions. Or I have to check the assignment ten times or cut it in small staps so I won’t forget a things.
With music the delay is really a annoying thing but I learned once I know the piece it will be fine and slowly I learn to understand sheet music so I recognise more an more what to do and when. But one of the most important things is to trust on our director Hans Lamers.
Little helpers
So at the moment I use some little helpers. And I’m not sponsored but I will call the names of the brands I use but you just have to find what helps for you. I love my Loop earplugs and have two sets (now you can also choose for a switch version). I have one set for concerts to block the noise. The other set is for a restaurant of meeting or block some of the sounds so I can focus more. Yes they help me but the downside for me I can not use it to calm down because then I will focus on my tinnitus jam.
So when I’m on the streets or need to relax my ears at home I use mu Sennheiser IEpro100 in ears monitors. Yes there originally designed for stage monitoring and I love them. I always loved the Sennheiser sounds and uses It from I was like 14 years old if it are headphones of a mic yes I’m a Sennheiser just like I’m an Apple girl (but no earpods for me). The nice thing of in ear monitors there are designed to lock in you ears and block the “speaking” range of sounds. So it helps me to get in my own bubble and block most sounds. So for me this is the best help.
Mabe I will get more or a different helper because I’m waiting list for a special treatment to learn to deal with my tinnitus and hyperacusis.
Do I still bike? I’m Dutch so I bike everywhere, I don’t even have a driver’s license.
And with the singing? It became my therapy I train my jaw with it and I calm my brain (except when the soprano’s are on the loose). And I just decided to do what makes me happy. So we will see where my path will take me.
How my workshop is going from almost ready to work in again to a nightmare. So I just finished my workshop a few months ago. Started to sort out my old photography and re-edit them. Well that just got on a hold. Also my just stet up recording set is there. Why?
We have a major leak in the roof!! And it’s raining for half a year now in the Netherlands. So a few months ago we discovered damage on the ceiling. So they did a roof inspection and there is a leak, and we are waiting till it will be fixed. Last week when we tried to pick up some project an reorganise my company we found out it got on the point that it’s unhealthy to work.
We brought my old handmade art downstairs so my winter sorting out project become my summer project. And when I can photoshop again I have to see, I guess I have to do a edit marathon in the summer holiday in my living room.
And now? Well it’s a good time for me to focus on some writing. And test my new IPhone by making little video’s where I sing some covers. I guess I really never sit still!!
This is a fanart doll set of the band Deine Lakaien. In 2022 I made the first set and gave it to Ernst and Alexander. After more requests I wrote down the pattern. This pattern is free to download.
If you want to translate it please send me a copy so it can be shared.
Klick on image for pattern or go to Ravelry
So my love for Deine Lakaien started in 2007 when I was in Berlin. We saw there would be a concert so last minute we got tickets and it seemed to be 20 Years of electronic Avandgarde! Yes with orchestra so that’s where I felt in love with the music and the warm voice of Alexander. Later in 2007 they came to the Netherlands and I got my first photo pass and mange to sneak backstage and meet an greet. I have had several Interviews with Alexander (because of his solo work) and visit several concerts (pictures can by found at my photography page and publications at Noize Magazine page). Between 2014 and 2020 I didn’t follow them anymore. In 2021 I went to the acoustic concert and got sold like the old days. During corona I had my yarn store and work as a crochet designer. So 1+1=2 so why not made a small doll set for fun. In 2022 I had the first sample and give it to them at the concert in Köln. When I shared the set on social media I got request to share the pattern. But in 2022 I got a new you and had to give up my yarn store so I needed some time off crochet. But still now you can make you own set and hug them.
For me making some fanart it’s just a fun way to say thank you and to get in my own design rhythm again. I still have one crochet Deine Lakaien fanart in the making a large corner to corner blanket (which I blame my husband for that I’m making it).
Have fun in making this set and share pictures on socials.
To finish this set I made a shadowbox. Most 3d frames are only 5cm deep so I bought a 28x28cm frame (and found some fun lights at Action). Went to the hardware store to get 127mm wide wood and made it on the size. I used the back of the frame as back of the box and made a door out of the front. I used nails on the spots to keep the dolls in place (yes you can take them out). The backdrop is a nice paper and made the logo with my Cricut just like the silhouette on the side. Pity I didn’t have mini grand piano to make it really look like there on stage.
