In the Luistersalon, you find yourself and each other

Music line

‘By listening to each other’s music, you get to know people in a completely different way. You immediately connect on a deeper level.’ This is what one of the visitors says on this Tuesday evening before the Luistersalon. Our Verre Binding experience shows exactly that: music helps bring people together in a special way.

This is also the underlying idea behind our Verre Binding ‘Music Line’, within which we organise various programmes. Such as the Luistersalon with Reinier Göritzlehner at different locations throughout the city. The Open Stage Sessions at Café Bosch together with Connect and Buddy to Buddy. And the Story & Sound Night at Luxor Live. In this way, Arnhemmers from near and far can take part through music. Whether by listening quietly or by standing on the city’s main pop stage themselves.

The Luistersalon

Back to this Luistersalon evening. At Café Bosch, all kinds of people start arriving. One of them is Ola from Ukraine. She enthusiastically chats with Maartje. They quickly discover a shared love for animals. Maartje talks about her horse, and Ola explains how animals and their behaviour give her energy.

‘Thank you for wanting to talk to me and for being interested,’ Ola says. Maartje looks surprised. ‘What? I really enjoy talking to you. And I think it’s great that you are interested in me too.’ Ola responds: ‘Oh, um, how do I say that… this is super nice.’

Life energy

Reinier invites everyone to join him at the listening area. He tells them about the origins of the Luistersalon. While travelling in Japan, he experienced a listening bar for the first time: a unique experience. A café setting where everyone quietly listens to each other’s music. He wanted to create something similar back home: ‘strangers’ listening to music together and sharing the personal stories behind their choices.

As if it was meant to be, he inherited an amazing set of speakers. Then Reinier gets personal: ‘During a difficult period in my life, when I found out I had cancer, I wanted nothing more than to surround myself with good friends. My dear wife organised the first Luistersalon for me together with them. And it gave me so much life energy. That’s how it started.’

Few words

The theme of this evening is friendship. In the listening space, all kinds of people are gathered, from young to old and from all corners of the world. People on their own, couples, a mother and daughter, friends, and companions. One of them, Marcel, is happy to kick things off with a vinyl record by Aphex Twin. He talks (in English, so everyone can follow) about his first meeting with his best friend Daan and how, in the nineties, they used to play this music together as DJs at parties.

‘I’m talking about Daan now as if he is no longer here, but fortunately he still is. He does have Parkinson’s, though. It means he only wants to do what truly matters and lets go of all the unnecessary things in life.’ After the song, Marcel adds how beautiful he finds it that he and Daan, even though there were periods when they saw each other less often, never needed many words to pick up where they left off.

Comforting

A boy who speaks neither Dutch nor English would like to share an Arabic song. He is Syrian, and someone else translates for him. He says he does not have a story to tell, but mainly wants to share the song. Simply because it is so beautiful. As it plays, a tear rolls down the cheek of a girl sitting a few chairs away. Reinier is also deeply moved. Another boy is encouraged by this and dares to stand up as well. He tells the group that his uncle passed away a year ago and that it felt as if he had lost his father.

‘It is a song from the Emirates; we used to sing it together often. It is about how much you can miss someone.’ The girl who was already a little moved moments earlier keeps wiping away her tears during this song. Afterwards, Reinier says: ‘What an impressive voice. And,’ with his hand on his heart, ‘I am so sorry for your loss.’ The boy visibly feels comforted.

‘Music comes from the heart, it is life!’

During the break, people seek each other out to talk about the music, share moments of recognition, or look for new songs they would like to share. A woman who appears to be Italian laughs when she is asked where she comes from.

‘I have lived in so many places, including Italy. But I was born in Thailand. I don’t belong to one country, I belong to the world. We all do. Music makes that clear. It is important, it comes from the heart, it is life.’

She herself is a big fan of Sahara blues. But she is unsure whether others would like to hear it, so she does not choose a song. ‘Maybe next time,’ she says with a mysterious smile.

Soul connection

After the break, there are almost too many requests; people have really caught the spirit. The final song comes from a man who, in 2009, accompanied a group of African musicians—performing under the band name Gurrumul—through France as their driver. He wants to share the song to honour that special time and their beautiful culture.

The song is called Baywara and is about the power that comes from a thunderstorm. ‘It is so special to experience other cultures; it is an enormous enrichment of your life. At the same time, they showed me my own culture through their eyes. That is also very special. We do not have much “real” contact anymore. But I feel a very clear connection in spirit.’

As Baywara fills the room, there is once again emotion in the audience. You can feel, exactly as the woman said at the beginning of the evening, that everyone has arrived at another level. A place where everyone is human, where the language of the heart speaks, and where music allows strangers to become connected in an instant.