»Who ever said that music is ‘just’ music? To me, it is anything but that: an urge to understand and explain it all. A piece of jewelry I wear every single day. A joy that can, at times, run deep. An ever-changing imprint of millions of stitches in my heart. A longing to disappear.«
Henrik Marstal is a musician, author, and music researcher. He holds a PhD in musicology, is a senior lecturer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, and frequently appears in the media as an expert source on music. His areas of interest include contemporary music, such as electronic music. This winter, he will release both a new album with the pop group ibens and a book about Else Marie Pade, published by the British publishing house Bloomsbury.
Future Identity Crisis
Who will we be in the future? It is the rather obscure question the Aarhus-Copenhagen theater group I DER has chosen to pose in their sound-only play presented at the Institut for X in Aarhus. The set is minimal, each spectator/listener sitting alone in a cubicle, surrounded, yet isolated, from the others. Earphones are distributed to each of us, and we are sitting, facing the wall or another spectator. The story unfolds, supported by atmospheric music: Synthesizers, Rhodes-piano, computer sounds. Three characters – hence, voices – reach our ears: the »producer« of the sound »document«, a woman without a name or an identity, an A.I. which feeds on the information transmitted by the female character as she discovers the successive Earths, each reborn after a disaster.
The story is straightforward science-fiction, with an existential twist: can an A.I. become »someone« using another's experience and memories? Can man and machine live together in the future, without one replacing the other? Although slightly limited by its format – the sound effects are quite basic, and maybe more experimental effects could have enhanced the story even more – the experience is pleasant and mind-teasing, reformulating the classic Descartes sentence, »I think, therefore I am« into »I think, therefore I could be.«
»For me, music is at its best when it appeals to both the head and the heart. I love music that plays with language and understands how words create images, while also possessing its own unique sonic quality and mood. It’s an added bonus if the music energizes me during a run, makes me dance in the kitchen, or makes me laugh. Or cry. Music can be like a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat with a surprise inside.«
Lone Hørslev is an author of poetry, novels, and song lyrics, as well as the TV series Den gode stemning. Together with Mads Mouritz, she forms one half of the Mouritz/Hørslev Project, and she recently wrote lyrics for the musical theatre production STOLT in collaboration with Katrine Muff. The songs can be found on the album Jeg ønsker mig.