Sound poems

Qarin Wikström - voice and electronics

This solo project explores speech as a musical medium: its flexibility, texture, and expressive potential within abstract and improvised contexts. Focusing on the sonic qualities of language, it draws inspiration from the rhythm, tone, and articulation of letters and words as they are shaped in the mouth and voice.

Using text as a score, the work centers on creating compositions where the sound of spoken language is the source material, manipulated by hard ware electronics. Meaning is secondary; instead, emphasis is placed on the musicality of speech itself, inviting the listener into an experience that can be both unexpected and emotionally resonant.

At its core, Sound Poems seeks to reveal the inherent music within everyday and/or surrealistic language, expanding the listener’s perception of what speech can be.

Rooted in traditions of vocal experimentation, concrete poetry, Dada, free improvisation, and electronic practices, the project positions itself as a contemporary continuation of these exploratory lineages.

Qarin Wikström

Improviser, composer, singer, performer, lyricist, with touring in Scandinavia, Europe, Asia and US

Collaborations with a.m.o Nina de Heney, Herman Müntzing, Christian Wallumrød, Maria Faust, Anna Petrini, Mattias Peterson

Over 20 relases as composer or co-creator, on various medias (tape, vinyl, CD, match box, headband, note book etc.). 

Member of the faculty at Rhythmic Music Conservatory, teaching Artistic Development

Multiple times nominee and receiver of Danish Music Awards Jazz