Ett minne för livet

A Swedish music collective

Authors

  • Alf Arvidsson Umeå university
  • Jörgen Adolfsson Svenskt Visarkiv, Statens Musikverk

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v5i1-2.142

Keywords:

music collectives, music and politics, Swedish jazz, world music

Abstract

Ett minne för livet was a Stockholm-based musicians’ collective of four groups (ISKRA, Spjärnsvallet, Archimedes Badkar, and Vargavinter) that grew out of overlapping memberships and a couple of joint concerts in 1975, and continued to work together into the eighties. They worked together on several levels—arranging concerts and tours; having their own record company; sharing rehearsal premises—and functioned as a pool of musicians. Taking up influences from India, the Balkans and Africa, they deliberately crossed genre borders, mixing styles within concerts/records and within single tunes. In tune to contemporary leftist ideas they were often searching for new ways to play together and to act in relation to their audiences in order to break down hierarchies. They were also active in various political rallies. However, the dominant leftist aesthetics prioritized rock as a musical base, so the collective was rather marginalized even on its primary scenes.

Author Biographies

  • Alf Arvidsson, Umeå university

    Alf Arvidsson is Professor in ethnology, specializing in ethnomusicology and folklore. Recent studies include ‘Songs with a Message: Common Themes in Swedish 1970s Rock/Folk Songs’ (Music & Politics 4(1) 2010: 1) and ‘“Mike” Disc-courses on Hot Jazz: Discursive Strategies in the Writings of Spike Hughes, 1931–33’ (Popular Music History 4(3) 2009).

  • Jörgen Adolfsson, Svenskt Visarkiv, Statens Musikverk

    Jörgen Adolfsson has been curator at the Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research since 2006. During the 1970s and 1980s he was a member of the Swedish music group ISKRA and he also played in numerous other Swedish groups at that time. He has also contributed articles in the Swedish jazz magazine Orkester Journalen and the magazine for new music Nutida Music.

References

Eriksson, Karin (2005) ‘Svensk folkmusik blir svensk världsmusik: Ideologi i förändring under 1970-tal’. Exam paper in musicology, Uppsala university (unpublished).

Eyerman, Ron, and Andrew Jamison (1998) Music and Social Movements: Mobilizing Traditions in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511628139

Haapala, Tuomo, and Marie Selander (1978) ‘Barn av sin tid?’ In Spela för livet: Fria kulturgrupper inför 80-talet, ed. Lars Åberg, 130–38. Stockholm: Liber.

Millroth, Thomas (1977) ‘Ett minne för livet—respekt och vilja’. Musikens Makt 5(9): 23.

Niklasson, Olle (2012) ‘En förlösande katalysator’. Lira musikmagasin 18(2): 30–37.

Sandford, Neil (1979) ‘Ett minne för livet’. Impetus 10: 415–35.

Selander, Marie (2012) Inte riktigt lika viktigt? Om kvinnliga musiker och glömd musik. Möklinta: Gidlunds.

Published

2012-11-19

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Arvidsson, A., & Adolfsson, J. (2012). Ett minne för livet: A Swedish music collective. Jazz Research Journal, 5(1-2), 142-152. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v5i1-2.142