A SEVEN INCH SPECIAL, VOL. 1: 3 POLITICAL SINGLES

Three political various artists singles with a strong local flavor.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Historien går igen (Manifest, EP 1977)
Featured artists: Ted Ström / Thores Trio / Magnus Nilsson
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

A four-track EP released on Manifest – the premier label of Northern Sweden – to raise money for a feature length documentary on the fate of small town Karlsvik, directed by Kerstin Wixe and Ylva Mårtens. The subtitle for ”Historien går igen” is ”Stöd filmen om Karlsvik!” (=”support the Karlsvik movie!”). An early example of fundraising.

Karlsvik is a very small town, a village really, just outside of Luleå (home of the Manifest label), with a population of then only 280, and once dependent on the local ironworks before it was blown-up in the early 20th century which almost forced the village to shut down completely. The same thing was about to happen again in the late 70s (hence the title ”Historien går igen”, ”history repeats itself”) when the local grocery store was about to shut down. According to the EP's liner notes. a municipal commissioner says in the movie that they'd prefer if they just could let Karlsvik cease and desist altogether. This was actually not uncommon in Sweden during the 70s when many a rural area bled both financially and populationwise to the bigger cities in the South. Several artists, especially from the affected regions, dealt with it in their songs, most notably Bernt Staf and Ted Ström. Not surprisingly, Ted Ström contributes to the lead-off title track to this EP, an acoustic number also included on his ”Kärva lägen” album.

The remaining three tracks are shared between obscure band Thores Trio (who had one full album out in 1981), and Magnus Nilsson who gets two songs. Nilsson was actually a member of Gothenburgians Text & Musik, and although none of the tracks on this EP is any good, Nilsson's ”Den första butiken” is the best. The style of all four selections is rather typical political songs, and if I am to point out any certain value of this release, it would be exclusively historical.

If the movie and its accompanying EP had anything to do with it is beyond my knowledge, but the village of Karlsvik still exists; population 232 in 2020. 

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Norrbottenplattan 1 (Manifest, 1977)

Featured artists: Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng / Contraband / Thores Trio / Norrlåtar / Håkan Rudehäll
 Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: *

The second of the two volumes of ”Norrbottenplattan” is already on this blog. This first volume was released a year earlier than volume 2, in 1977. Featured on both releases are Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng, the nebulous musical collective who had different members on any given occasion. Their track here is one of their weakest – ”Playa Plannya” is several songs in one mixing show tunes with trad jazz, like a miniature cabaret.

Contraband is featured with a song named ”Euskefeurat” which soon also became the name of the band. As such they had a long career which earned their mix of folk sounds and comedy quite some popularity for reasons that will remain obscure with me.

Thores Trio is back again here with a track in the same sort of old timey folk vein and just as forgettable as the one on ”Historien går igen”.

Norrlåtar is the most credible band in this lot but their contribution is among their weakest tracks.

Håkan Rudehäll released at least one album on his own, and at one point contributed an essay on the lack of work in Northern Sweden to an anthology book published in 1973. His track on ”Norrbottenplattan” is a jolly ditty of which there are seemingly thousands in the field of political song. And none of them is worth hearing.

All in all, this is for local patriots only. Others should steer clear.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Livet i Kvarnbyn / Vi bygger landet (no label, 1982)

Featured artists: Pär Holmertz / Leif Moe / Maria Samuelsson / Mats Sköldberg / Stefan Sporsén 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Quite possible one of the most obscure and secretive releases on the blog, this was a local release from Mölndal, a neighbouring town to Gothenburg. The two songs on the single was culled from a stage play about the labourers movement's development in the Mölndal region in the early 1900s. Info on this release is scarce to say the least; it's not even listed on Discogs and I don't recognize most of the names on the cover either, but it appears that Leif and Ole Moe (brothers, assumably) later had a couple of private releases out, and Pär Holmertz (guitar, bass, drums) could possibly be the Per Holmertz who later did some engineering work for bands in the Gothenburg area. Trumpeter Stefan Sporsén however has had a long career afterwards, playing with several of Sweden's best known artists in more recent times. Not that any of this really matters because it's nothing worth hunting down. ”Livet i Kvarnbyn” is an undistinguished track that reminds me of equally undistinguished Christian singer/songwriter rock from the same time (but without the Christian message). B side ”Vi bygger landet” sounds like any old laborers movement song, and without any proper songwriter's credit here it might very well be. The production is pretty good, especially for a release like this, so I assume somebody put a little cash into its realization.

from Historien går igen:
Ted Ström - Historien går igen
Thores Trio - Hit kom dom

from Norrbottenplattan 1:
Contraband - Euskefeurat
Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng - Playa Plannja
Thores Trio - Norrbottenssången
Norrlåtar - Lakkolaulu Pajalasta

Livet i Kvarnbyn:
No links found.

ANTON SVEDBERGS SWÄNGJÄNG – Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng (Manifest, 1975)

Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: **

Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng (sometimes spelt differently) was a Luleå based collective of musicians also involved with other bands including Rekyl, Norrlåtar, Kornet and Norrbottens Järn. With input from a whopping 36 members from such different genres the music moves wildly between folk, rock, jazz, progg, and singer/singwriter music. The style changes from track to track and one could almost think the band's main purpose was to confuse as many people as possible. Because of its entertainment value mention should be made of their cover of ”Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, in Swedish with the original title appropriately changed to ”Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng”. Best track is the hard driving ”Den olympiska maskinen”. The album was recorded live and features some amusing between song banter (in Swedish). 

A curio more than anything.

A live recording was also released as part of  ”Progglådan”.

"Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng"

"Disco Dick"
"Kärlek"

"Den olympiska maskinen"

Tonkraft 1975

"Nödrop från ett betongghetto" 

"Sedelmakaren"

"Lillan snusar i skönan säng"

NORRLÅTAR – Complete albums 1975-1980

Folk music was a big deal in Sweden in the 70s. It connected well with the progg ideals of a locally cultivated music against the American influence on Swedish culture that was often declared an example of US imperialism. The importance of Swedish folk music is obvious when listening to bands like Kebnekajse, Contact and Arbete & Fritid, but there were several bands that took it one or several steps further, such as Skäggmanslaget and Norrlåtar.

Norrlåtar evolved out of Lulelå's ever-changing musical collective Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng and were situated in Norrbotten, a large area in the northernmost of Sweden bordering on Finland to the east. Despite being important to the national economy due to the mining and forest industries, a lot of Sweden's Northern areas weren't properly recognized politically, slowly exposing them to the risk of being depopulated regions. This caused alarm especially among the people living there, generating a sense of protectionism of the local communities. Several progg bands addressed these problems, such as Fria Proteatern and Norrbottens Järn. Norrlåtar dealt with it in their own way, trying to preserve as much as possible of the regional music, including making field recordings of the local musical traditions. Being geographically close to Finland, Norrlåtar's music has a strong Finnish strain, including several songs sung in the Finnish language.

Folkmusik från Norrbotten (Manifest, 1975)

Instrumental, Finnish vocals
International relevance: **

Norrlåtar's first album was aptly titled ”Folkmusik från Norrbotten”, ”folk music from Norrbotten”. It's a straight up traditional album of dance tunes predominantly performed on fiddles but also includes a few vocal tracks in Finnish. Perhaps an acquired taste to many, but tracks like ”Visa från Erkkiheikki” and ”Lanna-Villes schottis” have a transcendent mournful and touching quality about them.

Meikäläisiä/Folk som vi (Manifest, 1976)

Instrumental, Finnish vocals, Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

The bilangual title means ”people like us” in English and further emphasizes Norrlåtar's concern with their native region. The instrumentation is augmented by bass and acoustic guitars, possibly making ”Meikäläisiä/Folk som vi” more accessible to people unfamiliar with Swedish traditional music. In a way a more fluent and upbeat album than the previous one, but still with dashes of fine melancholy in ”Ringlek från Övertåernå”, ”Emigrantvisa” and ”Visa från Roknäs”, the latter sung a capella by Maria Rosén.

 

Urminnes hävd (Manifest, 1978)

Instrumental, Finnish vocals, Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Similar to ”Meikäläisiä/Folk som vi”, and again the elegiacal songs are the most touching tunes – ”Trälens sång”, ”Astridin Valssi”, ”Sorgmarschen”, ”Maa un mustta” and ”Farväl till Jokkmokks skogar”. With more songs of that feel than previous albums, this might be Norrlåtar's best album.

Framtidshopp (Manifest, 1980)

Instrumental, Finnish vocals, Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

”Framtidshopp” is the last and weakest Norrlåtar album for the Manifest label. While the style isn't much different from their previous outings and a decent share of sad and beautiful tunes, the album just doesn't sound as inspired as the ones before it. 

Mention should also be made of ”Dans på Sörsidan” by accordion virtuoso Börje Zettervall. While not a progg album (although some people want you to believe it is), it was released by Manifest in 1979 and features several Norrlåtar players, including key member Hans Alatalo.

Norrlåtar continued releasing albums in the 80's and 90's.

Folkmusik från Norrbotten full album playlist

Meikäläisiä/Folk som vi full album playlist

Urminnes hävd full album playlist
Framtidshopp full album playlist