Maja Ratkje

身兼前卫演唱家、即兴演奏家、实验电子乐手及作曲家于一身的Maja Ratkje（全名，Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje），于挪威厂牌Rune Grammofon出版、德国ECM发行的专辑“Voice”获2003年奥地利Prix Ars Electronica大奖。多年来其创作的作品被奥斯陆室内乐团、挪威电台交响乐团，先锋女子四重奏SPUNK，爵士三重奏POING等多组挪威著名乐团演绎。除了SPUNK，Maja同时担任着多个创作计划的主要成员：SPUNK的分支、电声女子二重奏Fe-Mail，与风琴手Frode Haltli的二重奏，以及在Jazzkammer协助下的人声/电声独奏计划等等。
1973年出生于挪威中部城市特隆赫姆，祖父是交响乐团的小提琴手，Maja从4、5岁时已开始接受小提琴，钢琴和唱歌等训练。1995年，入读奥斯陆挪威音乐学院，师从Olav Anton Thommessen、Lasse Thoresen等挪威新一代作曲家及教授，1999年加入IRCAM科技音乐空间的夏季学院，受德国先锋作曲家Karlheinz Stockhausen感染，开始进入当代音乐的创作，并由此启发日后将采样与电声加入其创作与演奏当中。在音乐学院，Maja与Hild Sofie Tafjord等其余三名女同学组成了SPUNK，致力原声乐器的即兴演奏。在此之前，Maja自言总是找不到传统作曲技巧和即兴音乐之间的边界，甚至总有被限制写作的感觉。SPUNK，便俨然成了Maja逃离传统作曲思维的避难所，身处其中，她更懂得何谓“瞬间的创作”。
现时的Maja既出入于庄严肃静的古典音乐殿堂，演奏受着日本文化影响而创作的新古典获奖曲目《Waves IIb》、《Gagakuvariations》等，也用她的二重奏Fe-Mail实践噪音和实验电声之间的接轨。而在大众的眼中，先锋即兴四重奏SPUNK才是Maja最值得自豪的据点，因为这展示的不独是她个人的创作力，而是团队的。在SPUNK里，她的创作力有了一个更固定的位置，而从SPUNK她也延伸出更多不同的领域，有别于传统作曲与即兴创作之间更广阔的空间。“无论作任何的音乐尝试，背后都有我个人的审美观所在”，Maja如是说。
2003年秋天，奥斯陆Ultima音乐节上演奏的作品《No title performance and sparkling water》便是一例。在那届音乐节上，SPUNK同时扮演着演奏家、演员、歌手、影象艺术家等多个角色，带来的是一部多媒体的音乐戏剧作品。至于她首张独奏专辑“Voice”又是另外一个例子，“当我在制作‘Voice’期间，我收集了不少即兴的声音作为素材，在这基础上进行作曲，编曲，和加入自己的人声作为音源。我把这张专辑里的每一首作品都当作是一部单一的乐章，它们反映的是我的声音在不同的情况下的反应。”
Maja把声音根据她喜欢的风格和形式混合重组，结合传统作曲、即兴噪音，和即时的想法最终做出计划里的音乐。在“Voice”里出现的声音远远超过我们所能听到的，连被拨弄的录音器材发出的滴答声也被收录当中，成为声音的一部份，它就好比一本声音日记。Maja坦言从来不介意被固定行程，挑战只在于如何开辟一条新的道路。
作为挪威当代最重要的作曲家、音乐家之一，Maja多年来一直活跃在包括音乐创作、艺术活动策划、讲座、研讨会等众多领域。其所获得的奖项包括两度荣获挪威Edvard大奖，即年度最佳作品奖；2001年Arne Nordheim大奖（Arne Nordheim是近三十年里挪威最伟大的作曲家之一），她是首位挪威音乐家获得此殊荣；2001年她为萨克斯风和电声创作的作品《Sinus Seduction (moods two)》在以意大利未来主义者Luigi Russolo命名的大赛中获第二名；......。
多年来，Maja与众多国际级实验乐手均有合作，风格横跨当代古典、自由爵士、实验电音、噪音、剧场舞蹈、诗歌、电影配乐，他们包括：奥斯陆Industrial Ensemble、Evan Parker、Paal Nilssen-Love、Merzbow、Zbigniew Karkowski、松原幸子等，及为冰岛导演Hjalmar Ragnarsson的电影担任配乐并献声。而她与Jazzkammer成员Lasse Marhaug带来的三张精彩的概念性专辑“Music for faking”“Music for loving”“Music for shopping”亦相当值得留意。
现时Maja创作和演奏的作品可见于ECM、Rune Grammofon、Albedo、Aurora、Important等唱片公司的出版。而Maja亦一直周游列国式地在多个国家作巡回演出。
Composer of orchestral works, composer of electro-acoustic works, opera performer, free improviser, and experimental electronica artist: Maja Ratkje was able to claim all these titles before her 30th birthday. The Norwegian singer has been active on many fronts since the mid-'90s, winning composition prizes in her home country before starting to build an international reputation, first as part of the all-female free improv quartet Spunk, then as a solo artist. Her first solo album, simply titled Voice, came out in late 2002. Her experimental singing has been compared to Jaap Blonk and Phil Minton, although her use of electronics and theremin in her performances set her apart. Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (born December 29, 1973) studied composition at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in the early to mid-'90s. She also had lessons with Louis Andriessen, Sofia Gubaildulina, and Richard Barrett, among others. She began her professional career as a composer of modern vocal and orchestral works. Active in local young composers' circles, she dipped her toes in a graduate-level teaching career. She has won international prizes, including second prize at the 2001 Luigi Russolo electro-acoustic music competition for a piece for saxophone and electronics ("Sinus Seduction"), and the Arne Nordheim Prize (also in 2001). Her orchestral works have been performed and recorded by the Oslo Sinfonietta and Frode Haltli, among others. Meanwhile, Ratkje developed a parallel career in free improv. In 1995, she formed the quartet Spunk with a few schoolmates. The group's playful approach to improvisation attracted attention and in 1999 the label, Rune Grammofon, soon became one of Scandinavia's leading experimental imprints, releasing Spunk's first album Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger. It garnered favorable reviews from the specialized press and soon the group began to attract a small international fan base. Ratkje spent the summer of 1999 at the IRCAM electronic studios in Paris. Back home she began to integrate real-time sampling and electronics into her performances and to work with computer processing in the studio. At a workshop by Otomo Yoshihide, she met the noise duo Jazzkammer and they struck up a friendship. Ratkje contributed to a Jazzkammer remix project (Rolex) and started a duo project with Lasse Marhaug. In turn, the duo co-produced her first solo CD, Voice. The latter came out in 2002, a few months after Spunk's critically acclaimed second album Den Øverste Toppen På en Blåmalt Flaggstang. The group remains her primary performing project, but she also tours with Frode Haltli and has recorded with experimental vocalist Jaap Blonk. Fe-Mail is a noise spin-off project with Spunk's Hild Sofie Tafjord; their first album, Syklubb Fra Haelvete, came out in late 2002.