About Sonic Bazar

In 2014, the paths of poet and visual artist Ria Roerdink and musician Jan Hoenselaar crossed. Two creative souls who found each other in their curiosity for words and sounds. Ria’s poetry is unforced, constructed from loose thoughts and associations, without fixed structures. The timbre of her words flows effortlessly into the rhythm of the sound. The supple, free sounds of Jan’s guitar create a fascinating interplay between language and sound. This unique interaction soon led to a special collaboration under the name Poetry Songs.

With Poetry Songs, Ria and Jan performed at festivals and exhibitions in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Over the years the music continued to evolve: what began as a fusion of guitar and voice grew into a idiosyncratic sonic universe in which anything can become music. From this search for adventure and unbound sounds, Sonic Bazar was born.

The (mostly English) lyrics of Sonic Bazar are layered and evoke images that can be both unsettling and comforting. They are pure, abstract, and born out of the unexpected. Using objects and space, Ria and Jan create new sounds, with each sound acquiring its own meaning. The result is organised chaos full of contrasts. The music is best described as mysterious soundscapes indie, in first or second gear. It breathes the adventurous sense of freedom found in jazz, the avant-garde individuality of improvisation and the poetic expressiveness of spoken word. Not easy listening, but a delicious treat for lovers of serious alternative sounds.

Or as René Megens, former pop journalist for De Gelderlander and OOR, put it:

“Sonic Bazar is a perfect name for the collaboration between Ria Roerdink and Jan Hoenselaar. The Nijmegen-based duo roams an imaginary marketplace of sounds with an open mind, picking them out of the air at will and starts improvising.”

After years of writing, playing and experimenting, their first album was released in 2025: Walk barefoot over rocks and broken glass (produced in collaboration with Anton Houtappels). An intense, sensory experience in which poetry, improvisation and soundscape merge. During live performances, images, projections and film are also given space. Nothing is what it seems, and that is exactly the intention!