René van Peer

About me:

I am a music journalist, interested in "eccentric" music (that is, away from the "mainstream", the farther the better). I am curious by nature. I like to find out things on the way, to discover sounds and subjects that are new to me. And then investigate them and report on them. As long as they are to do with music, or culture in general.

Since October 2009 I write for Dutch national broadsheet newspaper NRC Handelsblad. For them I cover world music in reviews and articles. Apart from that I am also working for newspapers in the south of the Netherlands, for Dutch world music magazine New Folk Sounds, and occasionally for Musicworks from Canada (devoted to exploratory music and sound work). I published articles in Leonardo Music Journal. Het Apollohuis (now defunct venue for innovative art and music in Eindhoven) published my book Interviews With Sound Artists.

For Dutch broadcasting organisation VPRO I made radio programs for their weekly world music series about a variety of topics (Georgian singing, numbers, the voice, spoken word, the organ). For VPRO's audio art/radiophonic series Cafe Sonore I co-produced with Armeno Alberts features on 'Wind', 'Bird Song' and 'Metal' (the latter four hours without interruption). A similar broadcast about numbers in music was considered, but never realized because Dutch radio thinks the attention span of their audience is only longer than two minutes when sports are involved.

I also do public presentations and readings, for instance on the work of Robert Ashley and on the aesthetic of nature sounds.