Swedish vocals
International relevance: */**
The conditions of progg changed rapidly
towards the end of the 1970's. The Gothenburg faction grew stronger
as their influence on the movement's periodical Musikens Makt (”the
power of music”) increased at the expense of the Stockholm section.
What the effects were depends on who you ask, but the way I see it,
co-founder Tommy Rander pushed the magazine further and further
towards a political pamphlet, setting the tone for the whole progg
scene. He allowed very little space for politically agnostic and
non-dogmatic artists, effectively draining the genereous versatily
that previously made progg a beautifully unwieldly and diverse music
scene. Rander increasingly became the overlord monitoring 'the
apostates' – those who didn't adapt to the his stubborn leftist
decrees were effectively ignored and discouraged. The fun in music
was crushed under the weight of cult-like policies. If the dreadful
term 'politically correct' has ever been appropriate, it was then. Thankfully, not everything released
after Rander's 'takeover' was bad. Serious perhaps, but not
necessarily inferior.
Göteborgs Visgrupp's lone album
appeared at the tail end of the decade but they had been active since
1974 and is – needless to say – a very political album. It has a
decidedly Latin American/Chilean influence which, thankfully, isn't
too overbearing. It's a largely lowkey effort with a couple of good
songs, most notably the title track ”Riv alla stängsel” and the
mournful ”Santa Barbara”. However, the entire album suffers a bit
from the vocal style typical to many acoustic and political
records of the era. That said, I've heard worse, and if you're not as
sensitive to such mannerisms as I am, then ”Riv alla stängsel”
is worthy of a couple of spins. Especially since it's still fairly
easy to find relatively cheap.
Three members of Göteborgs Visgrupp
(singers Kicki Eldh, Britt Ling and Liliane Håkansson) went on to
form Göteborgs BrechtEnsemble. Their only album was released in 1979
by Avanti who had already put out ”Riv alla stängsel”. The
material is, as suggested by the band name, exclusively Bertolt
Brecht numbers, but the album is very far removed from what you'd
expect if Lotte Lenya or Gisela May are names that first leap to mind
when Brecht is mentioned. Featuring members of Nynningen, ”Låt er
inte förföras” is pretty heavy in parts, sometimes even
displaying a contemporay jazz influence thanks to the use of
saxophone, electric piano and fretless bass. It's a very different
beast to ”Riv alla stängsel”, and despite a couple of lesser
tracks it's also the better of the two. The vocals are a bit
histrionic at times but nowhere near as complacent as on ”Riv alla
stängsel”.
A previous incarnation of Göteborgs
Brechtensemble can be heard on ”Internationalen och andra
revolutionära arbetarsånger” by
Knutna Nävar. Göteborgs Visgrupp is also on V/A: "Samlade krafter" (1978).
Singer Liliane Håkansson of Göteborgs Visgrupp had a solo album released in 1971, the decidedly un-proggy "Illusioner".
from Riv alla stängsel