Something is shining in the north thanks to Explore The North

In the first version of Explore The North's new website, the builders had forgotten to mention in which city the festival would take place. This has since been remedied with a beautiful 'about us' page, so that even non-Leeuwaars know where to go. The production house cum festival is in the Basic Cultural Infrastructure from the next edition. This means that the special mix of poetry and music that Explore The North prides itself on will become more widely known. 

Is the north worth exploring? Since Friesland became the cultural capital of Europe as a province with much ado and some wonderful performances and fountains, things got a little quiet. The multiplier effect of the buzz that being the cultural capital promised didn't materialise. Until now, then, when Explore The North is bringing something of the je-ne-sais-quoi back to the city that so desperately needs it. And that is possible because they have Joost Oomen there, and support from unexpected quarters, because De Buren. 

Viewed, but not seen

Brussels-based cultural Dutch-Flemish exchange house De Buren appears to have been collaborating with Explore for some time. That already resulted in two special performances the Sunday I was there. Flemish actor Sander Deckx is the first wheelchair performer to graduate from the Flemish Conservatoire's famous theatre course. He surprised the Leeuwarden audience with a deeply personal programme in which he talked about how bizarre it is to be seen as a person, when everyone looks at what makes you different. In this case, his wheelchair, but the fact is of course applicable to anyone who deviates from the average street scene. 

His disarming and penetrating presence makes me all the more curious about a Hamlet starring Sander Deckx. It cannot help but be fascinating. 

Also from Flanders came Oerhert, a trio of women with magical presence. The poems of Astrid Haerens, after whose debut collection the concert is named, are concrete in an elusive way. Her presence on stage adds even more. Synthesiser muse Mariske Broeckmeyer and cellist Jasmijn Lootens make the trio a nice combo of arranging goddesses and Shakespearean magic globes. Their music swings nicely back and forth from rarefied silence to rousing beats. 

Four endings

Such beats are also in Joost Oomen's programme. At pop venue De Neushoorn, the poet whose star is rising fast gave a preview of the show Liefde in tijden van hopjesvla, which will officially see the light of day at De Kleine Komedie in late January 2025. Already, we could secretly enjoy ensemble Kruidkoek's upbeat jazz-rock and at least four ways Oomen made us think it was done, only to come back stronger. There's another director coming, in the coming weeks, so we're going to see something very different from this merry gang of absurdities in January with which Joost Oomen amplifies a fine northern sound. A sound reminiscent of André Manuel's Krang. 

The Poetry Boys from The Hague rounded off the evening with an upbeat revue in which the poets of the day did their thing again lightly. There was a bit more beer behind the teeth, but also some good beats in the mix. A fine ending to a fine day, we say. Afterwards, I spoke to a few poets from the region, who had been yearning for a festival like this. Finally a stage for which they didn't have to sit on the train for hours.

Resistance heroine

Does that make Explore the North an asset to Friesland? There is every appearance of it. With the 'Stadskas' under the leaning Oldehove, a different atmosphere comes to the city. There was also a remarkably young crowd walking around, especially for a city that has no art school or university. As in a city like Amersfoort, there are mostly school kids who usually spend their Saturday evenings partly in a coma. You see other people wandering around there now on City Expedition, chatting about that Iranian singer who was so beautifully accompanied on traditional drums, or that statue of that resistance heroine we've only dared to talk about for a few years. And whose statue it is not even.

That different vibe that begins to wash around a city, even if only for a few weeks a year, is the beginning of a new, more artistic and open future. Leeuwarden is worth exploring.