*By Kari Pernu, 2023
In October 2023, I went to De Krook library just to play the piano. Although I do own a piano, I like the keyboard feel of baby grand which is why I visit the library whenever I can. As I approached the instrument, I met Çiğdem with two pianists. Quite spontaneously I found myself in their conversation about the Bookperformance event, which was coming up in some weeks. When Çiğdem asked if I would like to join as a pianist, I did not hesitate to agree. Since I have recently started to compose my own pieces for the piano, I thought this would give a motivational boost to create and play my own music. Furthermore, I liked Çiğdem’s idea of co-creation. Anything related to the exploration of collective cultural intelligence gets thumbs up from me.
What I liked about the process was the feeling of inclusiveness. The communication between all four pianists and Çiğdem was always warm and genuine. Creating an open and welcoming space is what I would describe in my personal hierarchy as social magic or utilizing collective ethical goals. It is a wonderful phenomenon, when people come to work for a common goal, with no other expectation of a reward than sharing the joy of life in a creative way.
Our performance took on the last Sunday in November during the Science Day event. We were all a little nervous as the day of the event was closing by, but everything was going smoothly. Before the event, the two pages were placed for the painter right in front of the wide staircase where the public was sitting. And the baby grand was on the left side. After an introduction about synesthesia and a transparency reading in English and Dutch from MyFace Book, we saw another transparency event which was a movie in which a poem in Dutch was beautifully recited.
After the transparency presentations,the pianists started play as they felt and Çiğdem started to paint what she saw or felt. There were cameras filming from different angles and projecting images onto the wall and to the screen in front. While waiting for the right moment to play, I felt slight excitement and sweaty fingers, but kept my cool by breathing calmly and meditating. When I felt ready, I stepped down to the piano after another pianist, and shortly introduced myself and started to play. The next two minutes I was filling the space with the changing soundwaves of the piece I had created in the past few weeks. I do not have the hand and finger coordination of a professional pianist, but I felt I was hitting the right keys, keeping the right tempo, holding on to the right dynamic. Most importantly I was feeling that I was part of a creative process with all the others filling the room. Within a couple of minutes, it was all over, stood up and received a joyful applause. I was a little proud and 98 percent happy of what a little 2-minute piece I could offer to this vast universe of so many great composers.
In the end, I found it a stroke of good luck to be able to participate in the Bookperfomance event. In fact, on that October evening we first met, I was supposed to go to evening school to study European wines but ended up going to the library instead. Eventually I missed the rest of the course but have absolutely no regret. What I found instead felt closer to my personal goals in this life. I have a great respect towards people who can set their goals to a distant future, but for me it has always felt more natural to live day by day and follow the intuition. On the evening I met Çiğdem and the other pianists, I got rewarded by keeping my friendly eye open and following my instincts. I could not have anticipated any better coincidence. On the way I made a couple friends as well.
When I started following Çiğdem on instagram, I discovered that she did a Bookperformance in Helsinki, in my language: Finnish. Listening to “Rise Through Silence” poem in Finnish, I felt the very similar feelings when I heard it in Dutch. Then I listened to the same poem in Turkish and in English entirely. I guess I felt why it is all transparency but not translation. Such a gift in languages! We almost see through the sound of the words in different languages. There is an astonishing consistency in all we feel in different languges of this poem. Later, I got Çiğdem’s MyFace Book to know what exactly I was part of. The book made me smile all the way while turning its pages, while turning with the pages. I was reading a child’s love for writing and co-creating, which I got involved by pure coincidence. It is a beautiful story! It is a proof that life has its own music for those who want to hear it.