Sounding Heritage, connecting people
Weblog
Rudi van Straten started working at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) in 1993. During his 28 years working here, Rudi significantly contributed to the field of what he coined as Klinkend Erfgoed or Sounding Heritage, both in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2016, he was even awarded the Order of Orange-Nassau, for his outstanding contributions to society! In September, Rudi retired from the RCE. So we decided to interview him to learn more about his work, and about the opportunities sounding heritage can offer to communities and for international cooperation.
First things first, what is sounding heritage?
Sounding heritage refers to historical objects that produce sound, such as pipe organs, carillons, ringing bells and tower clocks. These can be used to play and make music, and to mark the time.
You started working at the RCE as a specialist in historical organs. How did this develop into the field of sounding heritage?
The idea of "old sound" was still quite new when I took office at the then National Monument Conservation Agency (or Rijksdienst Monumentenzorg). Traditionally, restorations were aimed at reconstructing a perceived historical authenticity. It was soon clear to me that recovering "old sound" through such interventions corresponded to an interpretation of that alleged original sound, which is very subjective. The result was in many cases shocking. The old sound beauty, a history of centuries, was damaged as a discoloured layer of varnish, giving way to something new. Fortunately, my views gradually developed and the path was increasingly taken towards conservation instead of reconstruction.
How did the RCE contribute to the development of this field in the Netherlands?
Various church organisations had their own organ platform where organists were trained as advisors. Often, these were enthusiasts who managed church boards and organ makers on the basis of their experience. At that time, there was no training as an organ expert. What was available was an accumulation of experiences. Research was hardly done and good reports were the exception, not the rule. When I started working at the RCE, I began investing in study days for advisors and organ makers to discuss this, to exchange experiences and to see how we could improve our work. This eventually led to the establishment of the Board of Organ Advisors in the Netherlands (or College van Orgeladviseurs Nederland), to professionalise this field with a corresponding programme. After several years, this training trajectory was eventually completed with the establishment of the National Training for Organ Advisor (LOTO).
You have since also worked in several different countries with local professionals. How did this international work start?
My first international organ advice contacts arose before I joined the RCE. Through the concerts I gave, I regularly came into contact with other organists with whom I could have discussions about sound. During that time, I organised international conferences in the Netherlands with organ makers and advisors from all over Europe to discuss diverse matters regarding restoration work. Outside Europe, I have done research in Brazil and the United States. When I joined the RCE, some of those contacts were intensified and I was also assigned to projects in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Suriname.
Sounding heritage is an important topic within the International Heritage Cooperation programme of the RCE (previously Shared Cultural Heritage programme). Could you tell us more about this?
The assignments in Indonesia and Suriname arose from questions from both countries. In Indonesia, it started with a question from the Dutch Embassy about the maintenance of the historic Bätz organ (1846, Utrecht) in the most important church of Jakarta. Because that instrument had a considerable maintenance backlog, the RCE was asked in 1998 to draw up a multi-year maintenance plan. I recently became involved with that organ again, because the church is under restoration and the organ had to be partially dismantled. Due to the COVID pandemic, I am now coaching remotely and I am training a young organist who became supervisor of the project. He works together with a small organ-making company in Jakarta. Regarding Suriname, the RCE was asked in 2014 to draw up an inventory and a policy plan for sounding heritage in collaboration with the Surinamese Foundation for Built Heritage (or Stichting Gebouwd Erfgoed Suriname). A large number of policy recommendations stemmed from this research, and the restoration of instruments could start.
Through publications about these projects, interest has grown for the sounding heritage in these countries amongst professionals and also local communities. It is striking that young people in particular feel strongly connected to these instruments. By bringing professionals together to exchange knowledge and expertise and by closely involving local communities in this process, our work has been having significant societal impact.
Within these projects, did you come across specific challenges that stemmed from different ways of doing or thinking about heritage?
An important step that had to be taken was to make people aware that the restoration of the old instruments should not correspond to an act of renewal, but rather an act of conservation whenever possible. Many people, including in the Netherlands, still believe that "new" is better. If you can increase awareness for the quality of the "old", important steps can be taken. But restoring the old is often more costly and time-consuming than replacing it with something new. Economic limitations can thus constitute a challenge in countries such as Suriname and Indonesia. With this in mind, my aim has always been to transfer knowledge as much as possible to local professionals. From my experience, by working both on the promotion of expertise among craftsmen and on knowledge development among musicians, interest gradually grows for sounding heritage. By involving all parties in the conservation and restoration, but also in sustainable use and maintenance, awareness for the values of these instruments can also increase. The fact that people can still make music with these instruments has also been contributed to increasing awareness of and interest in sounding heritage.
What has been the impact of working internationally for you and your work?
I started to look at my work from a completely different perspective. Here in the Netherlands we are privileged to have sufficient financial means to carry out beautiful projects and to have a professional working environment for restorers, consultants and users. Through my international work, I came to realise how much more important and sustainable it is to invest in the people involved in the projects, including local communities, instead of investing in a project and then quickly moving on to the next.
And what do you think has been the impact of international cooperation on sounding heritage?
International cooperation has increasingly lead to the spread and exchange of knowledge and skills amongst professionals in different contexts. There is, however, still a long way to go. In my work, I always provide sufficient documentation, such as standard inventories, research reports and publications about restored objects. The International Heritage Cooperation programme of the RCE and its network of heritage professionals also plays an important role in this. Without this programme, these kinds of projects would have never gotten off the ground. In this respect, this programme is quite unique for promoting sustainable connections and knowledge exchange on a worldwide scale. Sounding heritage, in turn, has also helped strengthen these connections.
Where do you think the main challenges and opportunities lie for the future of sounding heritage, both in the Netherlands and other countries?
Sounding heritage has come under a lot of pressure in the Netherlands due to a large number of churches closing down. What we can learn from our experience working with our partners in Indonesia and Suriname is that we need to focus more on generating local support, for maintaining and keeping open a building, and for preserving and using the sounding heritage it contains. By making people enthusiastic about the preservation and use of their historical environment, you can generate support and interest for this heritage, and thus prevent it from being lost. This process also has the potential to help bring people within a community or amongst communities (closer) together.
Are you planning to continue your work within sounding heritage after retiring?
In consultation with the RCE, we have agreed that I will continue to represent my current projects as a volunteer. The trust built up gradually and the special relationships with local stakeholders that have been established as a result are not so easy to transfer. For Suriname, this means, among other things, that we are looking forward to the moment when the large organ of the cathedral in Paramaribo will sound again!
To read more about Sounding Heritage:
- Article “Good practice: Giving the past a future by involving younger generations. A sound collaboration between Suriname and the Netherlands" (2020)
- Article “New sound for unique heritage in Suriname” in the publication "Shared past - New perspectives. Shared Cultural Heritage programme 2017-2020" (2021)