(Ny version av min rapport... --AE)
The Quest for Blago Bung...
First Attempt - 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 (a Finland-Swede writing in Swedish), but perhaps it
was the multi-talented Mare Kandre (1962-2005,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Kandre http://www.marekandre.se) who paved
the way.
I didn't know Ms Kandre, but my friend, publisher and poet Jonas Ellerström
did, and Saturday the 19th he presented 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 God, The Woman and Dr
Dreuf and Bestiarium. She published a total of twelve books (if we include 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 before even this, she
studied in art schools in both Britain and Sweden and began drawing comics. She
didn't create much comics but we find them in the new book Punkserier ("Punk
Comics", publisher Kartago, 2016) accompanied by a CD with 12 songs from her
band Kramp. They never did any records - Global Infantilists made two records,
in 1982 and 1983, see "This Music" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpQFJq0LioU ;
and "An Inch of Nothing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x395O4WFUU - 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...)
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, scenes from the punk scene in the late
70's London or how the band Kramp was formed. They had one acoustic 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 during their short career 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 Genius"
(see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMdLDwfSh8A ;). Her comic book released
that day has three comics with a punk attitude and a surprising graphic talent.
Ellerström's 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", somewhat "raw" music with synths but often with very melodic (bud sad)
harmonies. It so happens that I heard Blago Bung already on a concert in 1983
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 too 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.
Second Attempt - Dada Is All and Nothing for A Hundred 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"). The main point of the lecture is that the dadaism art movement
really originated in Eastern Europe, not the least by Romanian emigrants
Romania and with inspiration from Eastern European Jewish culture.
As the First World War started a lot of artists, authors and intellectuals
found a sanctuary in Zurich, Switzerland. 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. Among 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, as the founders often claimed.
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 absurd 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 provoke "normality".
Sandqvist found one of its roots in the Yiddish theatre tradition from
Eastern Europe ( 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. They would say that the thought process emanates from the
mouth.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 given whistles and instructions to make noise, whistle, to 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",
which was one of the pieces performed:
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.
As the band Blago Bung sang in "Wittgenstein", which echos of dadaism:
Language is all and nothing
There's no way around it
No way to where I want to go
--Ahrvid Engholm
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