Where is the music born?
I'm working on the soundtrack for the movie Miki. It's a feature film by Jakub Króner. Jakub is a very clever young man. I admire that he takes on big projects and manages to finish them. He was there to see my live performance for Punk is a hneD and Janosik. He used a few of my songs on his famous Lokal TV as well. I have been working on the film Miki since March last year. I have been preparing various music sketches for the script. I got the film only last week. In three days and three nights, I did a complete new music for the entire film. It wasn't the final music, it was a sketch... But Jakub liked the sketches from last year better. So I'm redoing the whole film from scratch. I was very frustrated. I was asking myself all kinds of questions about whether I was up to it, whether I could do it. With a film, you have to listen to the director's vision. Talk to him as much as you can, listen to music that he likes and translate his vision into the language of music. On the way home from Bratislava I was very sad. I wondered where music is actually born in a person. Is there a room inside that, when I open the door, I still find something there. But what if I open it one day and it's empty? There will be nothing there... What then?
Am I going to copy someone else's music note for note to make it fit the film? I started to worry that I'd burn out... I'm 40 years old. At that age, it's cost a lot of musicians. Yet there's still something in it. I'm afraid to open the whole door to this room and look around. I just peek through the keyhole and don't turn on the light...
How to make music for a film to make the director happy and still be me? It's challenging. I work 3-4 hours in the morning, take a break and then 3-4 hours in the evening. Sometimes even more, but I try not to overwork myself. I'm glad I was able to record Behind the frozen Window last year and almost finish the new album The Calls. Sometimes I record something for Bernhard Wostheinrich from Berlin.
I was on the phone with Arve Henriksen when I was coming home from Bratislava. Arve always calms me down. He told me to take it as an education. I had to compose new music within the constraints the director gave me. It's his film and he has a clear vision. I have to make as many sounds as possible myself. I'm gonna hit the tin shed in the backyard and record this sound. Trying to run it through different effects on the computer. Make loops and rhythms on guitars and all sorts of things. It was a nice phone call. We agreed that a large number of directors don't have a clue about music. They won't even take advice from a musician on what the dynamics of a film should look like. They make a beautiful film and they put in ordinary music that everyone expects in a film and everyone does...
But this is "only" the view of us musicians.
Where is music actually born in man? From what? Tones, rhythm, frequencies... Where is it all stored? Why does it ask itself out? Our understanding of music is conditioned by our experience...
When I got up the next morning, I had four new sketches in my email from Arve, which he had sent me for the film. He's an incredible dude. He's inspiring in every circumstance. With him, I'm always aware that I have to listen to my inner voice and be as honest as possible when I'm creating. To give it 100% and to gently step out of my comfort zone.
As Arve said to me, "Keep the fire in you David!"