READER: DIG IT!
01.08.2025
Aaron Holloway-Nahum: Dig It! (2024–25)
World Premiere
GBSR Duo
George Barton (Percussion)
Siwan Rhys (Piano)
Dejan Mrdja (Video)
Aaron Holloway-Nahum …
… on the digging part of “Dig it!”
I’ve thought a lot about the process of digging – not too literally, but it started with this huge book about architecture by Bjarne Mastenbroek. It’s about all kinds of architecture that is built downwards instead of upwards, as people normally do: just think of skyscrapers, Machu Picchu, the pyramids– people want to reach for the stars. But I really think that when you see a hole in the ground, when you see the Grand Canyon or certain wells in India that are built deep into the ground, that you can even go down into – that’s incredible! I also have three young sons. Digging, for example in sand, in the earth, moving the earth, perhaps excavating, is playful. And something I’ve really been trying to be more in my music in recent years is playful! Ready to be myself, to be a little surreal, to have fun … and to experience moments of reverie with such incredible musicians as George and Siwan!
… on bodies & physicality
In recent years, I have become very interested in the performers, in the bodies that play my music.
All my pieces now begin with interviews.
I send the performers who will be performing the piece, in this case George and Siwan, the same seven questions. You ask a question and get very, very different answers. People can also answer in their own language. So Siwan answered in Welsh, and I couldn’t find an online tool that could transcribe or translate Welsh. So I really have no idea what she said
What’s interesting is that when musicians talk about how it feels to play their instrument, they all talk about pain, about how painful it is. It’s a real strain on the body, a real athletic feat. Sometimes I feel very much the same way as a composer. It’s very difficult to put notes on paper; it feels very heavy and serious.
… on the compositional use of the interviews
Some of the interviews appear in small excerpts in the piece. I simply picked out words or sounds that I liked. I repeat words. When you hear them over and over again, they become music – they lose their meaning and become pitches. Many of the words appear again and again in different contexts. The interviews play with the impression of meaning, as opposed to meaning itself. They are not there to convey anything specific.
Music fascinates me in general with its physicality. I notice this time and again in my work as conductor of the Riot Ensemble. To get a sound out of a violin, the violinist has to be physically active – moving her fingers and the bow. In immersive audio, my interest is in the return of physicality to the space. It expands the possibilities of electronic instruments because you no longer use just one or two speakers, but the speaker system combined with the corresponding algorithms as an instrument in its own right. This opens up completely new creative possibilities when composing.
… on Dejan Mrdja’s video
I gave Dejan the book that inspired me to write this piece. He came to my workshops with George and Siwan and listened to the music. I also sent him the pieces that inspired some of the movements. But ultimately, we worked very separately from each other.
I didn’t watch the video when I composed the music, and he didn’t make the video to accompany anything in particular.
We were very suggestive in terms of meaning and were amazed when something random seemed intentional. I also asked George and Siwan to send me 20 videos each, just some from their iPhones. These reappear in the piece.
Listen to some statements by participant of the workshop SPATIAL SPHERES: 3D-AUDIO ART by Aaron Holloway-Nahum (and Natasha Barrett, Brigitta Muntendorf and Lukas Nowok):