VARIOUS ARTISTS – 10 års kultur i partiets tjänst (Kulturföreningen Spartacus, MC, 1981)

 Swedish vocals, English vocals, other languages, instrumental
International relevance: *

Is this an endurance test, or what? A double cassette-only release named ”Ten years of culture at the service of the party”, with the party in question being KPML(r), the far-lefties best known on this blog for inhouse propaganda band Knutna Nävar. Needless to say, Knutna Nävar appear here with three tracks, including the otherwise unavailable ”Mortelslagen ekar i bambubyn” which is a rather suggestive and hypnotic track. Dan Berglund, Maria Hörnelius and Röda Ropet are other wellknown names. Also Viveka Seldahl and Knutna Nävar affiliate Sven Wollter; both later launched successful acting careers. And then there's the expected slew of marchings bands, Stalinist choirs, ideologically constipated singer/songwriters, and various other fistwavers. The few listenable tracks would have made a half-decent EP, but at almost 90 minutes, this is a study in nausea.

Full album

KNUTNA NÄVAR – Internationalen och andra revolutionära arbetarsånger (Proletärkultur, 1971)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

The first Knutna Nävar album is split with Göteborgs BrechtEnsemble and an unspecified overenthusiastic marching band. The hysterical sloganeering is disturbing. Mao, Stalin or Hitler – blind extremist anthems are equally and deeply unpleasant no matter if they come from the left or the right. At best they're valuable for academic studies of a hopefully long gone past.

”Internationalen och andra revolutionära arbetarsånger” is different in style to that of Knutna Nävar's next album, the more rocking ”De svarta listornas folk”. This has more in common with Freedom Singers. No wonder, as Knutna Nävar were a Freedom Singers splinter group. Only ”Lär av historien”, an awkward translation of Creedence Clearwater Revival's ”Proud Mary” that I refuse to believe was ever authorized by John Fogerty, points to what was to come a couple of years later.

Two Knutna Nävar 45's followed in 1972, ”Dom ljuger” and the comparatively decent double 7” ”Vi slåss för vår framtid” with a version of Freedom Singers' best song ”Richard Dollarhjärta”. They have one track on communist party KPML(r)'s 10th anniversary double cassette release ”10 års kultur i partiets tjänst”

Full album playlist

from Vi slåss för vår framtid

Richard Dollarhjärta

FREEDOM SINGERS / DE FÖRENADE FNL-GRUPPERNA – Albums 1968-1974

Two groups, closely related to both each other and the Gothenburg communist party KPLM(r), with anti-imperialist lyrics dealing with the liberation of Vietnam. Maria Hörnelius and Marie Selander were both among the many Freedom Singers members.

FREEDOM SINGERS – 68 (Befria Södern, 1968, 10”)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Freedom Singers first album, an eight track ten inch, was a joint venture by the FNL groups of Gothenburg and Stockholm. The music is part American sounding protest songs (ironically enough), part Swedish styled singer/songwriter, and part standard fare communist anthems. ”Befria södern!” has become a classic of sorts in the circuits of like-minded, and also gave name to the bands' own label.

FREEDOM SINGERS - Antiimperialistiska sånger (Befria Södern, 1970)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Second album is mainly the work of the Gothenburg FNL faction, but it doesn't helped making the music much better. If you've heard one of these albums, you've basically heard them all. But at least this one has a couple of decent songs if you can look beyond the dreadful genre typical fist-waving, more precisely ”Wall Street”, the Jefferson Airplane inspired ”Richard Dollarhjärta” (their best track), and Fugs cover ”CIA-visan”, the latter two with full band backing including fuzz guitar. ”Bläckfisken” (not the Björn Afzelius song) is passable. Anthem ”Befria Södern” makes another appearance.

DE FÖRENADE FNL-GRUPPERNA

Till det kämpande Vietnam (Befria Södern, 1971)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Includes contributions from various FNL groups from Stockholm and Uppsala in a standard protest style with few variations. Some tracks sound like Fria Proteatern with accordion. Horrible. And for the third time, ”Befria Södern”. 

DE FÖRENADE FNL-GRUPPERNA - Vietnam är nära (Befria Södern, 1972)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

More of the same, although the lush string arrangement on ”Vid läsningen av Ett tusen poeters antologi' is an (temporary) advancement. ”Maktens män” and ”Roten till det onda” feature a full band but aren't as 'good' as ”Richard Dollarhjärta”. ”Avskedet” and ”En kamp på tusen slagfält” are the least maddening tracks here. And oh, ”Befria Södern” finishes off the album.

DE FÖRENADE FNL-GRUPPERNA - Framtiden är vår (Befria Södern, 1974)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

”Vi hjälptes åt” almost sounds like something UK folk prog band Spirogira could have done, for what it's worth. ”Basarbetaren” has some of that ”Richard Dollarhjärta” fuzz but it's still a crap track. And in case you thought they had forgotten, they didn't: Here's the fifth version of ”Befria Södern”.

Freedom Singers released on further album, ”Lär känna Vietnam”; recorded live in 1973 with a Vietnamese song and dance group (and including ”Befria Södern”). They also released a 1975 EP, ”Vietnam Kambodja befriade!” to celebrate the end of the Vietnam war. Thankfully, that was the end of Freedom Singers/FNL-grupperna as well.

Of course I concur with the sentiment here – it's needless to point out that the Vietnam war was a disgrace to mankind, but the fundamentalist vibe to these record is as repellant as on many political albums in a similar style. Sitting through these albums one more time for the review made me nauseous. I felt physically ill, I kid you not. Also, they are outdated, at best an academic reminder of the dogmatism of bygone days.

Knutna Nävar evolved out of Freedom Singers.

from 68

Leve det vietnamesiska folkets befrielsekamp 

Antiimperialistiska sånger
Wall Street
Å Sentab och jag
Visan om Gunnar Myrdal
Vårt sagoland 

Rövarvisan 

Vi sår vårt ris 

Befria Södern 

Bläckfisken 

Hur ser friheten ut? 

Visan om Olof Palme 

Kafferepet

En liten quisling 

Richard Dollarhjärta 

CIA-visan  

from Framtiden är vår

När avtalstexten torkat 

Vi hjälptes åt 

Visan om terroristlagen 

Basarbetaren

Kambodja ska bli vårt

En vanlig kvinna i Vietnam

Kissingers fredsvals 

Ett helt lands framtid 

Folken i Indokina kämpar även för oss 

Till det kämpande Vietnam full album
Vietnam är nära full album playlist

A VARIOUS ARTISTS SPECIAL: 4 POLITICAL COMPILATIONS

Just like one might expect, there's a slew of various artists albums released during the progg years. Some of them are regional releases covering a local scene such as ”Bygg ett eget musikforum”, a double album including several lesser known Uppsala bands plus an exclusive track by Samla Mammas Manna. Others in turn document specific events, such as ”Alternativ festival”, released by MNW in 1975 consisting of live recordings from Alternativfestivalen held as a protest manifestation against the commercially oriented Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm 1975 following Abba's ”Waterloo” victory in Brighton the previous year. And there's of course the famous 2LP set commemorating the Gärdet festival that many consider the starting point of the entire progg movement.

There's also a fair share of charity styled albums produced to bring attention to certain causes and raise funds to help for instance striking labourers. These albums are of an undeniable historical value, artefacts to remind us of a particular events and moments in time. However, few of them are fun to listen to for other than strictly academical reasons. More often than not, they're bogged down by political fundamentalism and tiresome sloganeering. Even if you sympathize with the core sentiment of the leftwing world view expressed in the lyrics, they soon get overbearing, rendering many of the albums straight up unlistenable. I consider them being of limited interest even to foreign listeners unfamiliar with the Swedish language, due to the often low quality music. That said, they're still part of the progg movement and thus clearly within the scope of this blog, why I've decided to present some of them here as the first in a series of brief overviews.

 ARBETARKAMPEN OCH AVTALSRÖRELSEN (Arbetarkultur, 1974)

Featured artists: Finn Zetterholm / Narren / Jan Hammarlund / Klasskamraterna / 

Oktober / Marie Selander / Knutna Nävar

Swedish vocals, other languages

International relevance: *

Publishing house Arbetarkultur was run by Swedish communist party SKP, but had several record releases out during the 70's from artists such as Maria Hörnelius, Röda Kapellet and Unga Gardet. ”Arbetarkampen och avtalsrörelsen” (”the labourers' struggle and the round of wage negotiations”) has catalogue no. AKLP01 and was recorded live at the Labourer's convention in early 1974. Far left stalwarts Knutna Nävar make a contribution with ”Det är något konstigt med friheten”, while singer/songwriter Jan Hammarlund, one of the first to openly declare being gay and a fierce mouthpiece of the Swedish gay rights movement, appears with three tracks. The album closer speaks for the album's sentiment, a full cast performance of ”The Internationale”.

HÖR MASKINERNAS SÅNG (Proletärkultur, 1973)

Featured artists: Knutna Nävar / Maria Hörnelius / Boråspionjärerna / Wiveka Warenfalk / Fred Åkerström / Röda Ropet / Röd Morgon / KPML(r):s Blåsorkester
Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

 

”Hör maskinernas sång” (”hear the singing of the machines”) is similar to ”Arbetarkampen och avtalsrörelsen” only more hardboiled left-wing, being released by Proletärkultur, the label affiliated with communist party KPLM(r). Of course, KPML(r) figureheads Knutna Nävar appear on the album providing two tracks, plus backing Maria Hörnelius up on ”Den trojanska hästen”. Also featured is renowned singer Fred Åkerström. The album is recorded during KPML(r)'s federation day meeting in 1973 and each song is followed by the unproportionally loud Soviet Union styled audience roar. ”Hör maskinernas sång”– appropriately rounded off with yet another version of "The Internationale" – is the perfect album for anyone who wishes to poke fun at the sometimes over-zealous Swedish leftist engagement in the 70's.

LÅT ALMARNA LEVA (Metronome, 1971)

Featured artists: Cornelis Vreeswijk / Bernt Staf / Fred Åkerström / Tage Lidén

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

The album was recorded in May 1971 in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm in conjunction with the massive protests against the felling of elm trees that were 100 years old to make way for a new subway station. It was a battle of political inclinations, but the real struggle took place between the ordinary protesters and the police. Thousands of people participated in the protests and many of them took turns occupying the area day and night to prevent the trees from being cut down. The trees themselves were occupied to stop the chainsaws and several people were hurt during the week-long clashes, but the protesters won and the elm trees are still there as a much loved symbol of the power of the right to protest. 

Various bands and artists supported the protesters, such as Envoys who, with vocal backing from Charlie & Esdor (of Gärdet festival fame), released a benefit 45 "Almarna åt folket”, a cover of ”Power to the People” with John Lennon's original lyrics translated into a war cry in defense of the preservation of the elm trees. Other noted singer/songwriter artists appeared in Kungsträdgården during the protests, including Cornelis Vreeswijk, Bernt Staf and Fred Åkerström, all appearing on ”Låt almarna leva” (”let the elm trees live”), released on the major record label, Metronome. Short speeches and interviews with the protesters and supporters are interspersed between the tracks, providing the recording with a pronounced documentary feel and the album is highly valuable time capsule of those events. Musically speaking, it's one of the most consistent albums in this post, but it's doubtful it would make much sense to non-Swedish listeners without necessary insight into the historical events which took place all those years ago.

STÖD DE STREJKANDE HAMNARBETARNA (Proletärkultur, 1974)

Featured artists: Thomas Ellerås / Harald ”Bagarn” Andersson / Knutna Nävar / Anja Svederborg / Fred Åkerström / Mats Lundälv / Sven Wollter / Röda Ropet / Dan Berglund

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: * 

Another typical Proletärkultur release, similar to ”Hör maskinernas sång” above with some of its artists re-appearing here; Knutna Nävar, Fred Åkerström and Röda Ropet, along with several other KPML(r) sympathizers including Knutna Nävar member and later to be famous actor Sven Wollter, and singer/songwriter Dan Berglund, performing one of his best known song "De mördades fria republik" in his typical world-weary voice. (Berglund later left the KPML(r) party and came to dismiss the political engagement of his youth.) The title reads ”support the striking dockers” and there's nothing that can be said about the album that the title doesn't give away immediately. All acoustic pamphlet songs, performed in a typical overwrought ”engaged” fashion. Recorded live at Marx-Engels-huset, "house of Marx-Engels". Go figure.

from Arbetarrörelsen och avtalsrörelsen

Marie Selander - Maskinernas sång

from Hör maskinernas sång

Knutna Nävar - Hör maskinernas sång

Maria Hörnelius & Knutna Nävar - Den trojanska hästen 

Boråspionjärerna - Arbetarmarseljäsen 

Boråspionjärerna - Albaniensång

Wiveka Warenfalk - En proletärmoders vaggvisa

Fred Åkerström - Den trettionde i första -72
Fred Åkerström - Mordet i katedralen 

Röda Ropet & Knutna Nävar - Sång om fjortonde maj

from Stöd de strejkande hamnarbetarna

Knutna Nävar - Balladen om Olsson 

Sven Wollter - Riksdagsvisa 

Dan Berglund - Visa till SAP 

Dan Berglund - De mördades fria republik

KNUTNA NÄVAR – De svarta listornas folk (Proletärkultur, 1973)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Whenever someone wants to poke fun at progg music, they pull out a band like Knutna Nävar with a nasty sneer to prove just what kind of leftwing fundamentalists that made up the progg movement of the 70's. Thing is, it doesn't prove anything except that even the Movement had its maniacs too. Because although the Movement (”Musikrörelsen” in Swedish, see ”Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music” for a comprehensive description) very often had leftwing sympathies, few were as far left or proclaimed their politics with such a religious fervour as Knutna Nävar. They were affiliated with KPML(r), a revolutionary party to the extreme left, and basically the musical spokespeople for the party.

In ”99 proggplattor”, an anthology of 100 (!) newly written progg reviews, Stefan Wermelin (famous radio host and founder of the Musiklaget label) sums it up, very accurately, this way: ”The album is worth listening to as a historical document, a musical trip into the past, performed with great gusto and conviction. Two of the songs' lyrics, 'De svarta listornas folk' and 'Hundra procent' were written by Arthur Magnusson, a Swedish revolutionary poet in the 20's and 30's. It works, as long as the lyrics originates in a time when choices were between nazism and communism. More recent lyrics, on the other hand, appear unintentionally parodic.”

Wermelin states that albums such as this were not the kind of albums that were regularly played among proggers. ”They rather belonged in the Party's office”, as he puts it. It's important to remember this every time someone tries to dismiss the entire progg movement on the grounds of one band and a coterie of airheads only. Knutna Nävar were extremists tributing Stalin, most overtly in the infamous ”Sången om Stalin” in which they call the dictator ”our friend and our comrade”.

But still. It's hard to entirely dismiss Knutna Nävar because they did have their merits. They could weave a couple of excellent songs, and they had a couple of prominently executed covers. Just listen to ”Strejken på Arendal” on this, their last album. An irresistably rocking version of the American traditional ”John Hardy”, translated to tell the story of a wildcat strike at the Arendal shipyard in October 1972. (They had previously covered the Creedence Clearwater Revival chestnut ”Proud Mary”, as ”Lär av historien”.) They also had a natural flair for slightly psychy originals in a predominantly acoustic folk vein. A track like ”Greppet hårdnar” is nothing less than excellent, but it's hard to stomach the extreme message even to someone of more moderate leftwing opinions.

At first I considered ”De svarta listornas folk” to be of mainly domestic interest, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that foreigners may appreciate it the most, simply because the lyrics won't get in their way. If this was performed in a language I can't speak, I would probably feel less uncomfortable listening to it. Because it's a largely good album, but just about impossible to listen to due to the lyrics. Oddly enough, Knutna Nävar remain popular among a lot of people, although it's hard to say if it's because of the lyrics or in spite of them, or whether they take the lyrics seriously or not.

Whatever happened to many of the members of Knutna Nävar is largely shrouded in mystery, but Swedish actor Sven Wollter was involved in an earlier incarnation of the band (Freedom Singers). Main musicians on ”De svarta listornas folk” include Bengt Franzén, Brita Josefson, Mattias Lundälv, Lars Gerdin and Thomas Ellerås. Gerdin played congas on Proletärkultur stablemate Dan Berglund's leftist classic ”En järnarbetares visor”, while Thomas Ellerås was also in Folk Blues Inc and other bands. He's an opera singer today.

KPML(r) changed their name to Kommunistiska Partiet in 2005, and as such they still run Proletärkultur, offering mostly leftwing literature.

Full album playlist