(Nedan ett *utkast* till rapport från två möten senaste veckan. På engelska så
det kan köras på utländska listor också, och i mitt EAPA zine. Men jag är inte
nöjd med den, så se det som ett utkast. Särskilt det här om Dadaismen är ett
komplicerat ämne, svårt att fånga, jag tog många anteckningar och jag kommer
nog att redigera och lägga till i texten. Men för att roa publikum kan jag
alltid köra vad jag åstadklommit hittills. --AE)
The Double Secrets of Blago Bung...
Secret One - Mare Kandre: Writer, Musician, Artist
In later years we've seen a new wave of female, Swedish writers who have begun
to make a name for themselves. They include eg Karin Tidholm, Caroline L Jensen
and Maria Turtschaninoff, but perhaps it was the multi-talented Mare Kandre
(1962-2005, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Kandre http://www.marekandre.se)
who lead the way.
I can't say I knew Ms Kandre, but my friend, publisher and poet Jonas
Ellerström did, and Saturday the 19th he lead the release of a comic book (and
a music CD) with Kandre's forgotten comics. It was held in that magnificent
centre of culture of Stockholm, Rönnells, a grand second-hand bookshop which
also hosts cultural events, usually several times per week.
First of all, Kandre was known as a writer who often crossed the border into
the fantastic, with works like Bubin's Kid, The Devil and Gid, The Woman and Dr
Dreuf and Bestiarium. It's a total of twelve books (with this latest one)
translated into eight languages, but among them AFAIK not English. Before this,
however, she made a name for herself on the punk music scene, playing in the
groups Kramp and Global Infantilists. But even before this, she studied in art
schools in both Britain and Sweden and began drawing comics. This is the
subject of the new book, Punkserier ("Punk Comics", publisher Kartago, 2016)
which also includes a CD with 12 songs from her band Kramp. (They never did any
records, so this is from a privately recorded cassette, with the "sound
improved as much as possible...". Do you remember tape cassettes? They were
supposed to kill music long before the Pirate Bay... Global Infantilists made
two records, in 1982 and 1983.)
Jonas Ellerström introduced Åsa Oskarsson, who had played base in Kramp, and
both told anecdotes about Kandre, about how she showed great artistic talent
already in the lower grades of school, from the punk scene in the late 70's
London or how the band Kramp was formed. They had one acustic and one electric
guitar, that's all, and said "Let's form a band!" They found a drummer, who
happened to have access to a rehearsal locality, and the band was on. Oskarsson
took many pictures and they are now on exhibition in the Stockholm Culture
House (until mid April). Swedish Television will also air a documentary about
Kandre, titled "It is I Who is the Genious". The comic book released that day
has three comics with a punk attitude and a surprising artistic talent.
Ellerströms claim to fame is that his band Blago Bung was one of few who
played with Kandre and her band. So it was only appropriate that this band held
a concert during the second part of this book release day. The genre is "post
punk", a bit of "raw" music with synths but often very melodic (bud sad)
harmonies. It so happens that I heard Blago Bung already on a concert in 1983
(if I remember correctly) though their setting was a bit different then. The
thing is that one band member then was the well known sf fanzine publisher Jan
Fornell, and that was probably why I went. They also did a record, Kärleken och
döden ("Love and Death") which I have. the band now played some of the old
songs from this album, plus new material. You can find Blago Bung on Youtube -
Ellerström plays a mean base! - eg their fine track "Wittgenstein (live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK3fY06jYJU, a better version from the record: ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpS9aVlyNm4 ;).
Mare Kandre would probably have loved this event, but unfortunately she died
much to early in a prescription drug overdose in 2005. It's unclear if it was
suicide or an accident. But echoes of her work still lingers after more than a
decade.
Secret Two - Dada Is All and Nothing and 100 Years
Just a couple of days later, the equally magnificent cultural centre in the
form of the Romanian Culture Institute celebrated the 100th anniversary of the
birth of Dadaism. After the introduction by its boss Dan Shafran, the totally
packed hall heard a lecture with lots of interesting slides by art professor
Tom Sandqvist. He has earlier written a book about Dadaism (Dada öst, 2005,
"Dada East") and his main point is that the dadaism art movement really
originated in Eastern Europe, not the least in Romania and among Jews.
As the First World War started a lot of artists, authors and intellectuals
found a sanctuary in Zurich, Switzerland, and it was here that the art world
diaspora the 2nd of February 1916 found an announcement in the newspapers that
Cabaret Voltaire would open on Spiegelgasse the 5th of February. This became
the centre of gravity for this movement, known as dadaism. ASMong the founders
were Hugo Ball, Emmy Hemmings, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Jancu, Hans Arp and
several others - mostly from Eastern Europe.
Professor Sandqvist's lecture was full of interesting facts and episodes and
I can only cover a few points. The most difficult is perhaps to pin down what
dadaism "is". Dada is nothing and everything. Dada makes logic false. "Dada ist
da, bevor Dada da ist," in German. Dada rips normal concepts apart, and goes
back to basic elements, like the primitive sounds of language. Dada does it
with absurb performances with a lot of improvisation, humour, strange clothes
(check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_8Wg40F3yo ;) and wild ideas. Dadaists
would do anything to provoce "normality".
Sandqvist found one of its roots in the Yiddish theatre tradition from
Eastern Europe (se https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_theatre ;) with its mix
of music, comedy and satire. Another root is the Yiddish language, with its mix
from several languages and emphasis on the spoken world. Dadaism is best
experience live. The artists of Cabaret Voltaire would often parade the Zurich
streets in absurd clothes, making strange noises and reciting their sound
poetry.
Between sections of Sangqvist's lecture, we heard the Israeli performer Anat
Pick recite dadaism poetry. She read it very well, with varied voices and
intensity. The last poetry reading became a real dadaism event! The audience
were give whistles and instructions to make noise, whistle, shout "Rouge Bleu"
or "A-Bucharest" and so on, while she read the poem "L'amiral cherche une
maison à louer/The Admiral looks for a house to rent" in three languages.
The audience really went for it! A lot of noise was made, and one got a
feeling that you experience at least a little bit of the 1916 performances of
Cabaret Voltaire. To give an example, here's from Hugo Ball's poem "Karawane":
jolifanto bambla o falli bambla
großiga m'pfa habla horem
egiga goramen
higo bloiko russula huju
hollaka hollala
anlogo bung
blago bung blago bung
And suddenly it clicked: Blago bung! There's where they got the name from, this
post punk band! Different parts of the universe had now been connected, with a
thread from Zurich 100 years ago to unknown punk bands.
--Ahrvid
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