Stoom / Steam consists of three cycles of poetry and music, deeply rooted — not only through the Low German language — in East Frisia, the remote northwestern corner of Germany. Serving as an overarching theme or motto for all three cycles is a quote from the photorealistic painter Heiner Altmeppen: "My motifs… are the memories containing an entire life-plan and are evoked by the sensual presence of sections of the world that were once charged with unutterable meaning."

The gaze wanders over a fictitious polder, over a land imagined to have been reclaimed, the origin and former meaning of which can only be remembered by the wind. As in a photorealistic painting, the everyday life between Sunday inertia and hectic activity on a Monday is depicted, and shows the ubiquitous modern change to the mundane. A lost soul whimpers in the darkness of a settlement and vomits under the dome of the midnight blue cosmos. On the horizon stands an illuminated factory, like a temple.

This cycle of poems describes the land behind the dike in a wide time span. Beginning with the grey tones of late autumn, it extends over the dark time of midwinter to the first lighter signs of nature’s awakening in the last days of winter. Distant red navigation marks shimmer on the horizon, solid land becomes hazy in the twilight. The calling of wild geese sounds a chilling reminder of past floods. Dark anticipation of new calamities creep over the souls and they seek consolation from the gods they have invented. Then a glimmer of hope. And finally there it is: the first, bright day.

This cycle tells of an imaginary modern East Frisian village: of fenced-in meadow, of the rich smell of slurry, clean and tidy settlements and plastic windows in retro design. It is a finely-detailed, photorealistic picture, as sharp as the mirror smooth surface of a canal, which in a moment can ruffle into an unrecognisable distortion. In the cemetery, on the other hand, any rigorous sense of order and beauty fades. Here everything remains in the silence of the past. On a piece of wasteland, plants and animals have, in the absence of people, returned to fill the air with sounds and scents.

Born in 1938 in East Frisia, Gerd Constapel was an industrial manager at home and abroad before retiring, and now lives in Leer, East Frisia. He writes modern poetry in the local language and has won several prizes for literature, including the Freudenthal Prize twice. In addition he translates works from the unique language of Groningen and from Dutch. In 2010 his book of poems entitled „Olldagsland“ was published. His poems transform the reader into a viewer of photorealistic paintings, which depict all that is beautiful, ugly, tragic and trivial in detail and unembellished in immediate and vibrant language.

Herbert Bartmann, born in Norden, Germany in 1958, began teaching himself various instruments during childhood. He went on to study European musical traditions, particularly those of the bagpipes, while also earning recognition for his Low German songs. Early in his career, he challenged genre boundaries and traditional instrumental roles, forging his own unique modes of expression. More recently, his work has been influenced increasingly by improvisation and contemporary classical music. He resides in Oldenburg as a freelance musician, performs with various ensembles and as a soloist, and offers lessons and workshops.

Mixing and mastering: Vlatko Kučan
Portrait photos: Andrey Gradetchliev, private
Landscape photos: Gerd Constapel
Booklet design: Matthias Ramsch
English translation: Derek Bissenden