Gerarda Monster grew up in the hamlet of Mookhoek in a liberal Christian family of 12 children. A dominant, cigar-smoking mother and a father whose fervent nudism did not go down well in the small Mookhoek community, not to mention his tendency to sometimes disguise himself as a woman. Mother had a clothing repair service in Strijen, father worked at the office of Piet Klerkx in Waalwijk. In his spare time he supported refugee work in the Netherlands and was conductor of the choir ‘De Zevende Hemel’ (a project of Humanitas for mildly handicapped children). Gerarda went to study law in Leiden where she met her future husband, Gert Evenbeen at the law firm where she did an internship. Gert played an important role in her decision to hang up her robe and devote herself to creating avant-garde compositions for a very select audience, acting as a kind of manager and generating some interest in her work, despite the fact that Gerarda was self-taught and was driven more by an inner urge than by a desire to show her work to an audience.

After her divorce she barely left her house in the north of Rotterdam, but continued to write & record music until her premature death of malnutrition in 2017.

Gerarda made the mixture of a collage and electronic composition ‘The Voices Are Burning’ not long before she died, it could have been the last big piece she was working on. It was made on her only electronic device, an Arp 2600, recorded and overdubbed on 4 old Uher taperecorders, using all available tapes about voice related subjects that she collected through the years. It has never been released or broadcasted before.

This is part of an ongoing project called SHADOWSIDE OF SOUND, dedicated to works by Rotterdam composers, known and unknown, who have fallen into oblivion. Progressive or conservative. Fairly or unfairly; that will determine history. As you know, there are various points of view regarding whether or not acceptance is there. In general, it can be assumed that the circuit must have the power to handle the work. The other view is a chimera of the one who gives himself a stunning victory before playing time is up.

Composition; Gerarda Evenbeen

Production; Worm Radio/Dr Klangendum in collaboration with Coolhaven

Photo by Ben Aalders, Worm Studio, Rotterdam, 2016