Written by Deimantė Tamutytė, translated by Barbara Maliukaitė
While sitting on the lawn in Liepkalnis, Maksimas starts talking about how one does not necessarily need to earn quite a lot to own a good sound equipment, about how architects perceive sound in a different way and about the fact that even a musician can go to a gig without taking any of the instruments.
But who is he?
The first time I saw and heard Maksimas was about a year ago in media festival “Enter” in Lithuania, where he appeared with the band “Bernurits”. I recall that not only his long dreadlocks and colorful clothes, but also the unusually strange ambient music, performed with the aid of even stranger items, instantly captured my attention and my heart. On the “performance” mat plethora of weird, possibly home-made instruments were arranged: sizzling mills, “improved” chordophones and many other bewildering, nonetheless charming devices tangled in a jungle of wires. Not to forget the performers, especially Maksimas, immersed in the sound production world of his like in a trance.
Bernurits photo.
After encountering and experiencing Bernurits music, the band has been appearing in my memory from time to time. And one day when I have decided to participate in a sound workshop, I have suddenly met Maksimas as a workshop tutor. By the way, that time he was in a different but not less interesting specialization — as a phonographer.
Then I knew I couldn’t really lose an opportunity to ask him about all the things that amazed me during the performance.
And indeed, perhaps it was worth carrying memories for such a long time, as the conversation with Maksimas was special. It was about the music and things way much deeper… But it is probably better to let him speak.
As he mentions himself, when creating he is trying to minimize the impact on the environment and interfere as little as possible. So it turned out that my camera has focused not on Maksimas, but on the environment. Some might think of it as a bit unprofessional, but it is symbolic.
With emergence of photography many have argued and even now still might be arguing about whether or not it is art. The same concern is probably employable while discussing the issue of people who record sound. With advance in technology and fall in prices the number of them might also increase. The truth is probably just that in order to produce an interesting audio recording, a special empathy — silence — both physical and internal is required. We are accustomed to measure everything in the world through our eyes, however sound is a more subtle matter.
A few field recordings by Maxim can be found here.
If you dear