My two-year-old band The Pub Forties would like to fully embrace the sheer joy of collaboration by welcoming outside musicians to jam, foreigners included.
Thus, it was a blessing we met Swedish national Jeanette Kamphuis who plays the violin and does paintings when she’s not. She had played Violina (how she fondly calls her favorite violin) in two of our soon-to-be-released recordings, titled “Stop The World” and “Nung Tayo Pa.”
A classical violinist, Jeanette was a joy to watch recording her delightful contribution for a couple of pop rock Filipino compositions which I wrote.
“My favorite saying is, ‘Where the word ends the music starts,’” said Jeanette after playing in front of students who attended the EU-PH Beat event last Feb. 15 at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila.
The occasion was put up by the centuries-old university and European Union, carrying the theme “Harmonising Notes and Rhythm.” She was involved both as performer and speaker, along with flamenco guitarist Alejandro Alcaraz of Spain and percussionist Jean Paul Zialcita of the Philippines.
Now quite-familiar with her playing, I witnessed Jeanette perform live, calmly letting the musical strains of her instrument speak softly through the air. It’s hard not to describe it in sincere poetic terms as it is the kind of experience I hear and see when she plays.
She stood alongside her equally-talented brother Stefan Randehed who also plays the violin and who intoned that Albert Einstein used to bring out a violin to “problem-solve.”
“I am a visual artist and that’s how I make my bread and butter on the table,” she reminded everyone, “But sometimes I can stop painting and take out my violin.”
The gracious lady encouraged everyone to just try playing and see how it goes. She noted, “You may say you are not a composer but you don’t know that until you try. Never ever give up your music.”
That Friday’s gig was a European Union Cultural Symposium captioned Hemispheres, intended to merge east and west thinking and performing through music. Fun was way up in the air when both Alejandro and Jean Paul jammed and asked the audience to bring out their percussion instruments and summoned their dancing shoes.
Eager to join the party, the Swedish beauty herself pulled out her violin and blended in naturally. It was a moment worth-catching for public-sharing, yet being there in person sure gave me more room to feel upbeat and emotional. That I happened to be in the premises of my alma mater (after quite a while) provided extra drama within.
Last Jan. 26, an exhibition of Jeanette’s paintings dubbed “Art In The City” opened at The Office (Cowork+Life) located at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City. Her artworks have been recognized by many collectors and art critics both in Sweden and Philippines where she has been officially residing the past few years.
The music she plays serves as perfect score to her drawn images that well speak thousands of words.