Maja Osojnik made a name for herself in different musical fields, such as early music, contemporary, experimental, jazz, free improvisation, sound art and heavier music. She composed music for theater, dance, animation movies, film, silent film and diverse ensembles and wrote Lyrics/Texts for different Projects such as Maja Osojnik Band , Broken.Heart.Collector and Rdeča Raketa. She has recorded many music productions and is giving concerts in renowned festivals and clubs all over Europe as a co-founder of different Formations, among them Broken.Heart.Collector, Rdeča Raketa, Maja Osojnik Band , frufru, Ensemble MIKADO, Low Frequency Orchestra, Subshrubs, Watschen Institut…
Facts
1: apparently since birth, most of the time too loud
2: life is a plan b
3: kevin wants to be punished, lisa has nowhere to go…
Questions
1.What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
i think, it’s just about everything, that is happening around me. i feel like a sponge, sucking it all in, trying to understand the world, human nature, myself. all the strange things we do, imagine and think. the absurdities in everyday life, politics. the crazy brain-melt-dialogues. how things interact, interfere and influence each other. everything that moves, transforms, morphs into something else. conditions. mechanics, biochemical processes and all the things in-between. and of course books, music and movies… really simple and trivial stuff can be very inspiring too. i reflect “experience” in my work i guess.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
hm! i always loved it, i guess… i started my first early-music band with 12. i remember rehearsing renaissance music friday nights and after that going for a beer or to rock concerts together when we were 15, 16. at that age i started to write songs with my neighbour, who played guitar. i wonder what happened to our home made cassettes after the “dramatic” band break up. falling in love and having a band can be tricky when you’re 15. maybe it’s good, that the evidence got destroyed, ha ; ). in 1995 i came to vienna in order to study music. and slowly, year by year, i started to realise, making music, my own music, is what i want to do in my life.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
not possible. i don’t think in “top xy” categories. i don’t know if i ever had an idol. there are many amazing records out there. i guess it would be best to say: different times, different moods, different needs and i listen to so much different music. so where do i start? i was thinking over this question for the past few hours and decided to name you 5 records from my collection, that i listened to in past 6 months and really like a lot:
bulbul – album #6
györgy ligeti – clear or cloudy (complete recordings on deutsche grammophon)
anthony pateras – errors of the human body
godsspeed you black emperor – lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven
opcion – monos und (i cooperated on this record with opcion for one piece)
oh and i went through some old records from my youth again, nirvana, soundgarden, helmet, fugazi, was fun….
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
punk, pop-up stores, krumme lanke, hamburger bahnhof, good and cheap food! 1.5.2012 in berlin / loved it! Otto Piene’s last exhibition opening left a big impression on me, also because of his death at the opening. i would choose this way of leaving the earth, i guess. to achieve a good age, finish something really big and important to me and then heart attack in the taxi. Schneidersladen with all the gadgets that i would love to have… spending good times with my boyfriend and his family who lives in berlin…
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
being at home and having nothing to do, almost never happens…
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
invent music
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
this one is easy: anthony pateras (errors of the human body – editions mego). i bought it in substance store along with shellac (dude incredible), portishead (machine gun), chra (empty airport) and innode (gridshifter)
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
i am really happy with my band s and projects. i work with really great artists. however, i am a curious person and open to all different new encounters. it’s always beautiful when i meet new people and the chemistry happens working together, both on stage and behind the scenes.
9. What was your best gig(as performer or spectator)?
hm! again impossible for me to answer. i believe the best gigs happen, when there’s a sudden collective feeling that we all were a part of something bigger in this experience. when things fall into a right place at the right time. when everything kind of feels right.
10.How important is technology to your creative process?
it is of course inspiring. all the new possibilities, but i am not a hyper – up to date – latest stuff – apps & fashions – junkie. i am slow with these things. i need to admit to have a fable for my old, trashed-up maschines, cassette recorders, and thrown away lo-fi stuff. i need to hold things in my hand , move knobs. i am a very haptic person. at the end, it’s all about the sound and narration. and my work does always bring me back to a piece of paper and a pencil.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career?
my parents never had much interest in art, but raised us in a sense that we can do whatever we want, wish, dream for. so my older sister studied painting and illustrated many books before she became mom herself and stopped (for whatever reason) and my twinsister is choreographer and dancer and we love to work together.
Condition IV
