https://www.discogs.com/release/1712651-Studio-Laren-Muziek-Uit-De-Middeleeuwen-En-Renaissance
Before 2000 there was a radio show about early music in Dutch radio. It was presented by Marijke Ferguson, and I liked it. She had a passion for music and was able to explain why. In listening to the show I discovered many new artists.
When I started with my studies, the show was discontinued, and I tried to find her back for a long time. I knew she organised this ensemble called Studio Laren, but it is so obscure that I never found it. Then I found this record. I bought it without a moment’s thought.
Studio Laren used what I still consider real authentic musical instruments, and they were never the same. Performances were different each time, almost leading to an atmosphere of constant improvisation. On the wiki page I read that they didn’t score high results with the press because of that: there was no consistent quality in anything they did. But the passion was always noticeable.
In later years I was able to visit another project of Ferguson: a group of storytellers, inviting people to just listen to stories in a cellar in Amsterdam. I have never found something similar: storytelling is considered to be meant for children. I never understood why, at least in the West, people stop telling stories as entertainment.
I hope this can serve as a small monument to a woman that I consider to be a hero.