Trying to explore Kebnekajse, part two:<\/p>\n
From the last years of the sixties and into the seventies Kenny H\u00e5kansson, guitarist in Mecki Mark Men and Kebnekajse, was one of the most hired session musicians. (Strangely enough, because he was not with his very personal way of playing and his very personal tone in his guitar, typical for a session musician.) Kenny appears on recordings with Bo Hansson, Bj\u00f6rn J:son Lindh, Johns Holm, Pugh Rogefeldt, Bernt Staf and Turid. Most important \u2013 for Kenny and for the future developement of Kebnekajse \u2013 is his appearance on an album with Bellman (national poet) songs \u201dRun to Ulla \u2013 Run!\u201d with Cornelis Vreeswijk in 1971.<\/p>\n
The same year Kenny went on tour with Cornelis. Some members of the touring group were two of the best fiddlers in Sweden, Bj\u00f6rn St\u00e5bi and Pers Hans Olsson, who both accompanied Cornelis in the Bellman songs as well as they played some traditional Swedish folk tunes on their fiddles. Among other songs \u201dBarkbr\u00f6dsl\u00e5ten\u201d, to which Cornelis had made up his own lyrics, and \u201dSk\u00e4nkl\u00e5t fr\u00e5n R\u00e4ttvik\u201d, both melodies later to be found on Kebnekajse\u2019s second album.<\/p>\n
Kenny was listening and was impressed, not least when he heard the two fiddlers warming up behind the stage. Earlier when Kenny sometimes had heard folk music played on accordion or fiddle he had considered it as \u201dcreaking\u201d. Now he discovered that the Swedish folk music was \u201d a huge musical treasure\u201d and he wanted to start playing folkmusic himself \u2013 or to be accurate \u2013 Swedish folk melodies (the difference will be explained later) on his electric guitar but also on fiddle. He borrowed a fiddle from Bj\u00f6rn St\u00e5bi that had belonged to Strong Arvid. Kenny learned to play \u201dfairly good\u201d according to Mats Glenng\u00e5rd.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt was something in the air\u201d, said Kenny in the booklet to the first album \u201dResa mot ok\u00e4nt m\u00e5l\u201d (Journey to destination unknown). He was then referring to the Swedish lyrics and the name of the group.
\nIn the early seventies the Swedish folk music was also \u201din the air\u201d. For example had the young progressive Stockholm started to invade the fiddlers meeting in Delsbo. In 1970 the poster to the first G\u00e4rdetsfest (Sweden\u2019s kind of Woodstock) was decorated with an old fiddler and in 1971 the album \u201dHon kom \u00f6ver mon\u201d with the pop group Contact and the fiddlers in \u201dSk\u00e4ggmanslaget\u201d was released. And when Kenny started to play some old folkmelodies for the rest of Kebnekajse most of them had already both heard and played folkmusic long before Kenny.<\/p>\n
Fregatten was a club in the Stockholm harbour. It was run by guitarist Ingemar B\u00f6cker, who before that had had several clubs where he had mixed rock and jazz, art and poetry, with the help of Pelle Ekman, drummer in Kebnekajse. Both Kebnekajse and the group Homo Sapiens ( choir on \u201dResa mot ok\u00e4nt m\u00e5l\u201d), used to play on Fregatten. When they shared an evening they usually ended up playing together, a double size rock band called Compa\u00f1iddros. So, even if the line up was a bit strange \u2013 double basses and two drummers \u2013 it was rather natural for the two groups to get together under the name Kebnekajse.<\/p>\n
Mats Glenng\u00e5rd came from Homo Sapiens and he had started to play the fiddle as 8-9 years old and even studied the violin for a teacher who was a \u201dreal fiddler\u201d. Pelle Lindstr\u00f6m, also from Homo Sapiens, had moved to Stockholm from Dalarna (\u201dhome of the folk music\u201d). His father, Rune Lindstr\u00f6m, wrote several local folklore theatre pieces, such as \u201dHimlaspelet\u201d and \u201dSkinnarspelet\u201d.<\/p>\n
G\u00f6ran Lagerberg, who replaced Bella Linnarsson\/Ferlin on bass between Kebnekajse\u2019s first and second album, used to be a teenage idol in the pop band Tages. In 1969 Tages was transformed into Blond. Even if they still had English lyrics Blond was an attempt to create pop music with a Swedish tone. The title track for the album \u201dThe Lilac Years\u201d is the same folk melody as \u201d De s\u00e5lde sina hemman\u201d (They sold their farms) as the Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson interpreted so successfully. Together with the producer Anders Henriksson Lagerberg also went to visit the fiddlers P\u00e4kkos-Gustaf and P\u00e5hl-Olle.<\/p>\n
Singer\/poet Turid Lundquist, who knew and followed Homo Sapiens to Kebnekajse, sang Swedish folksongs way back in the sixties.<\/p>\n
Both Mats Glenng\u00e5rd, f ex \u201dPolska from H\u00e4rjedalen\u201d (can be heard on the third album) and Pelle Lindstr\u00f6m contributed with folk melodies to Kebnekajse\u2019s repertoire of \u201dfiddlers rock\u201d (as the music was named in a press release from Silence). But Kenny was the one who found most of the melodies.<\/p>\n
Note once again: the melodies. Kenny was, an still is, interested in Swedish folk music in an unusual and a little surprising way. He didn\u2019t care much about folk music in the meaning of creating a mood between the fiddler and the listeners\/dancers, the tradition that had been kept alive from fiddler to fiddler, different parts of the country and the fiddlers different dialects and ways of playing and so on. He cared about the melodies. Sooo beautiful, thought Kenny.<\/p>\n
That is why he preferred to get the melodies on note sheets rather than listen to recordings with old fiddlers. \u201dThe written notes are more neutral\u201d Kenny thought. On the note sheet it was easier to understand which was a \u201dtrill\u201d that the fiddler had made and which was the original melody.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt is the same with Swedish folk music as with the blues\u201d, sais Kenny. \u201dMany folktunes are similar to each other. Just a few are outstanding.\u201d. A few of the folk melodies that Kenny chosed because they had \u201d an outstanding profile\u201d was \u201d R\u00e4ttvikarnas g\u00e5ngl\u00e5t\u201d, \u201dHorgal\u00e5ten\u201d and \u201dSk\u00e4nkl\u00e5t fr\u00e5n R\u00e4ttvik\u201d (all three on this album).<\/p>\n
Listen to Kenny\u2019s guitar! How close to the melodies he is playing, how scantily he plays; just the tones of the melody and not much more. Straight and clean. It is almost as if Hank B Marvin (from The Shadows, the English instrumental band from 50-and 60 ties) or Bo Winberg (in the Swedish instrumental band The Spotnicks) should be playing Swedish folktunes. Kenny had listened to both of them, he tells, and he also appreciates them a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201dWhen Rolf (Scherrer) moved out into the woods\u201d (quotation from the press release to this album) Ingemar B\u00f6cker mentioned above was joining Kebnekajse. It is interesting to listen to and compare Kenny\u2019s and Ingemar\u2019s way of playing the guitar. They really play in different ways. \u201dIf you want to plant a birch tree you should not put a lot of pinecones there\u201d, says Kenny. Sometimes he used to mutter that he thought Ingemar\u2019s guitar was a \u201dlittle disturbing\u201d. Ingemar B\u00f6cker had played with a lot of jazz groups and could play a little like \u201dbe-bop\u201d also in Kebnekajse \u2013 not straight melodies like Kenny, but rather around the melody.<\/p>\n
It is told that once when Ingemar at a concert played a solo, according to Kenny \u2013 too much bebop and jazzy, Kenny started to imitate him and played just the same solo. Ingemar\u2019s comment was: \u201dLibrary branch office\u201d<\/p>\n
I do not agree with Kenny. I think their different ways of playing are making the guitars discussing and complementing each other. Kenny and Ingemar are each others musical opposites \u2013 and therefore also necessary for each other. They inspire each other. It is fantastic to hear their different styles working together. Without Ingemar Kebnekajse would have been a completely different group.<\/p>\n
Kebnekajse are also playing some of Ingemar\u00b4s compositions. They are also in contrast to \u2013 in the meaning complementing \u2013 the \u201dfiddlers rock\u201d. Musically they are hard to name, since they are swinging in between rock-jazz-jazz-rock\u2026Ingemar describes \u201dComanche Spring\u201d as a political instrumental song: it is his comment upon the native American Indians situation, the massacre at Wounded Knee and Red Power.<\/p>\n
A concert is a concert and a record is a record is surely a suitable expression when you are talking of Kebnekajse. The records are quite different from the concerts.<\/p>\n
Not least were the tunes a lot longer at concerts. \u201dSometimes we could be playing a D-moll for ever and ever \u201d says G\u00f6ran Lagerberg. It sometimes also happend that Kenny, Pelle Lindstr\u00f6m and Mats played a tune on just fiddles. Such things are of course not on the records.<\/p>\n
Turid Lundquist toured with Kebnekajse from 1971 until 1974. But she is only heard on one track on the records \u201dR\u00e4ttvikarnas g\u00e5ngl\u00e5t\u201d. On stage she used to sing wordless songs in the softer more folk alike tunes. There is no such example on record. When I begin to ask around I soon understand that I am getting into an intern dispute. \u201dKebnekajse was my whole world for a while\u201d says Turid. Some of the other members are wondering if she really was a part of Kebnekajse.<\/p>\n
\u201dI played with them, but they did not play with me\u201d says Turid. At last she got her own part and became a \u201dpause bird with her acoustic guitar and her songs. Other members mean that they lifted her forward and placed her in the centre. I don\u2019t want to interfear in all this. But I can just verify that when I hear Turid\u2019s voice in \u201dR\u00e4ttvikarnas g\u00e5ngl\u00e5t\u201d I still want to hear more.<\/p>\n
When Kebnekajse merged with Homo Sapiens the group got two drummers. Pelle Ekman and Gunnar Andersson. They are both sitting in the painted tree on the back of the cover. But in the pressrelease that Silence sent out with the record it sais that Pelle Ekman was ill at the recordings. \u201dPelle L was in Leksand\u201d so he should not had appeared either.<\/p>\n
I am listening but it is not so easy to hear if it is one or two drummers playing. Pelle and Gunnar did actually play very similar; like four arms on the same body, which was the point. It could have been that they played in turns, played alone but in different tunes.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt might have been then I had a broken leg\u201d sais Pelle Ekman. He does not remember. Pelle Lindstr\u00f6m on the other hand claims that he was in the studio. Anders Lind claims that the notes in the press release are correctly. Even though Kebnekajse had two drummer there is only one appearing on each record \u2013 Gunnar Andersson on \u201dthe blue\u201d and Pelle Ekman on \u201dthe brown\u201d album.<\/p>\n
But listen to the bonus-track on the blue album CD issue: a live recording of \u201dHorgal\u00e5ten\u201d. A simple, somewhat hissing recording made 1974 by a fan, Timo Toiviainen, who was in the audience at the concert in Mikk\u00e4l\u00e4, Finland. In its simplicity this recording captures the feeling from Kebnekajse\u2019s conserts. And here you can hear both the drummers. (The department for trivia can tell that Timi Toivianen used to be a member in the group \u201dStenblomma\u201d by which Slence released an album)<\/p>\n
By the way, Kebnekajse also had a third drummer; percussionist Hassan Bah, who had come to Sweden from Guinea-Conacry. He lived in the apartment above Mats Glennmark and Thomas Netzler so they asked him to join Kebnekajse.<\/p>\n
It must have been pretty hard for an African to play Swedish folk music? \u201dNot at all\u201d says Hassan. \u201dAfrican and Swedish music are similar. They have the same rhythm: three-beat.\u201d And that is true, actually. Hassan\u2019s congas are getting on top of the western drumbeats and make Kebnekajse\u2019s fiddlers-rock dance, bounce and swing even more.<\/p>\n
Bengt Eriksson
\n The text is based on my own eyes, ears and memories, conversations with the members of Kebnekajse and other hearsays. It will be continued in the booklet for the next album. \u201dthe brown\u201d one.<\/p>\n
Members in and around Kebnkejse during \u201dthe blue\u201d period:
\nKenny H\u00e5kansson, electric guitar, vocals. Earlier in T-Bones, Baby Grand Mothers and Mecki Mark Men. Session musician on recordings with Bo Hansson, Bj\u00f6rn J:son Lindh, John Holm, Cornelis Vreesvijk, Hawkey Franz\u00e9n, Mikael Ramel, Turid, Pugh Rogefeldt and Bernt Staf.<\/p>\n
Pelle Ekman, drums, played with Kenny in T-Bones, Baby Grand Mothers and Mecki Mark Men.<\/p>\n
G\u00f6ran Lagerberg, bass, earlier a teenage idol in Tages, later Blond and Heta Linjen. Around 1970 he also recorded with Bj\u00f6rn Skifs, Bj\u00f6rn J:son Lindh, Thomas Ledin, Bj\u00f6rn Neidemar, Jason\u2019s Fleece, Claes af Geijerstam, Lalla Hansson, Bernt Staf, Hawkey Franz\u00e9n, Pugh Rogefeldt, Rune Andersson and others.<\/p>\n
Mats Glenng\u00e5rd, fiddle and electric guitar, started in the popband Funny Faces and later Homo Sapiens. Performing on records with ABBA, Turid, Joakim Skogsberg, Jan Hammarlund, Coste Apetr\u00e9a and Mikael ramel. During his time with Kebnekajse he also released a solo album.<\/p>\n
Thomas Netzler, bass, was also a member of Funny Faces and Homo Sapiens. Performs on Mats Glenng\u00e5rds solo album and on records with Turid, Bo Hansson and Joakim Skogsberg.<\/p>\n
Pelle Lindstr\u00f6m, vocal, harmonica, guitar, fiddle, had been a member in Tumble Downs, Ad Lib (who won the national radio popband contest 1969) and Homo Sapiens. Also performs on Mats Glenng\u00e5rd\u2019s solo album.<\/p>\n
Gunnar Andersson, drums, had been in Ad Libs and Homo Sapiens.<\/p>\n
Ingemar B\u00f6cker, electric guitar, played with the youthpaper Bildjournalen\u2019s rock & roll orchestra 1955 in connection with the premiere of the film \u201dDon\u2019t turn your back on them\u201d. Has also played with groups like Rock- Boris, Telefon Paisa, Christer Boustedt and Bernt Rosengren.<\/p>\n
Turid Lundqvist, singer\/poet, has made several solo albums and also played with Jan Hammarlund, Lena Ekman, Thomas Wiehe and the jazz group Resa. Is today working in a post office and sings in public a couple of times every year.<\/p>\n
Hassan Bah, percussions, used to play with Levande Livet (the follower to Telefon Paisa).<\/p>\n
Translation from Swedish by Eva Wilke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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