Maarten Visser
Maya and the Holk (2024)
multichannel sound composition for voice, double bass, Tibetan bowl.

Recording and composition, Tibetan bowls: Maarten Visser
Voice: Maya Krishna Rao
Electric double bass: Holger Jetter

A fairytale about the monstrosity of humanity, Maya and the Holk is told in a tongue that emerges from the space between breathing, screaming, and tenderness. Maya—mighty in an instance, mouse in the next—shifts shape without ever leaving the stage, elongates the measure of voice to the ends of sound. Like a bow drawn along a string, the Holk plays then pounces, growls and howls, tends toward a place from where speech may have come. The teller of the tale makes a whole lot of noise, recording scenes full of time, drawing lines out to dimensions larger than life.