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18/03/2004
11.51.29
FREAKSHOW ARTROCK FESTIVAL
2004

the Freakshow Artrock festival
2004 will take place on the 12./13. of june.
scheduled are:
JUNE 12:
Versus
X
Akineton Retard
Wobbler
Univers Zero

JUNE 13:
Octafish

Chawata
Taal
Mats/Morgan
Info:
www.artrock-festival.de

Marcello
Marinone

17/03/2004
12.00.55
Katzen Kapell
Interview

We have the opportunity to
speak with this scandinavian band, surely one of
the most original of the last years.

Could you please tell us a brief
history of Katzen Kapell (the influences, the
beginning, how did the musicians meet, the common
musical ideas?

Catharina/Magnus:
The
members of the very first version of the group
Katzen Kapell studied jazzmusic together for a few
years in the south of Sweden.This was between
1982-85.Back in Stockholm we played with drummer
Lasse Lundbom and formed the group in
1986.
Guitarist Luciano Scalercio(now Lutte
Berg) left the band to move to Italy after a
year.
In 1990-91 , the group extended to six
members with violinplayer Eva Lindal and
percussionist Kjell Nordeson. Bassist Peter
Adolfsson quit 2002 and was replaced by Gustaf
Hielm (from Meshuggah). In the beginning, the
sound was a mixture of different influences from
the composers:
A. Circusmusic and
Piazolla-inspired tango-(Catharina Backman).
B.
Frank Zappa, Nino Rota and Stravinsky -(Magnus
Andersson).
C. Peter Adolfsson´s interest in
flamenco,tango and filmmusic.
D. Also,we often
wanted to add some bizarre humor to the
music.
Lasse Lundbom contributed with his
extended rock/punk/funk drumming combined with
classical percussion and have now started to write
material for the group.
Eva Lindal added her
virtuosity from her work in the classical and
contemporary music scene. Her improvisations on
the violin is intense and innovative in the aspect
of sound.
Kjell Nordeson is a skillful
improviser on his main instrument in Katzen
Kapell: the vibraphone. As a percussionist he
often uses instruments like finger cymbals or
guiro which give the music an oriental or latin
american touch.

I think that your music
could be described as a strange mix of folk,
rock,chamber music, jazz, tango, and progressive
(a la Samla Mammas Manna and Zappa);do you agree
with this (obviously simplified) definition?

Gustav:
Yes, of course there
are traces of other kinds of music as well but
those are the more obvious ones.

Catharina:
I agree and want to add
oriental and rock influences as well.

Eva:
I agree, I really find that
KK:s music is a beautiful mix of Argentinian
tango, Zappa, jazz,"classical chamber music" and
improvisation.

Which aspect of your
music do you think are really innovative elements?
and which ones are taken from the tradition or
comparable to other artists works?

Gustav:
I don't know about
"innovative or not" really, but the fact that
regardless of what kind of music we draw
inspiration from it still sounds like Katzen
kapell and not a showcase of different styles is
in my opinion one of our greatest fortes.

Eva:
What I think is innovative are
the compositions themselves; music from three
different band-members, strong and very
personal.Three different temperaments. Sometimes I
hear some Piazzolla or Zappa in the music, but
still, it`s not......

Catharina:
It´s hard to point out
one single element.What I think is special for
Katzen Kapell is the way we work as a group with
the musical material.It is often very structured
and well notated by the composer.But there is an
improvised part in almost all songs.We try to
eliminate the difference between the written and
the improvised.When everyone in the group knows
the material well,we play around quite freely with
all the musical components. The result is a music
formed not only by the composer but by the entire
group.The innovative elements (if there are any)
are products of that way of
working.
Magnus:
We have one uniqe
thing and that´s Catharina Backman herself. Her
solos on the accordeon,her compositions,her
lyrics,her singing with the accordeon is 100%
personal.Also ,the sound of a melody played by Eva
and Catharina in unison!They create a new
instrument.

Do you think that today
it's still possible to do something new in the
musical scene?

Gustav:
Absolutely.
Contrary to popular belief it wasn't any easier to
create something new before. New music is music
never heard. There's a lot of music left never
heard.
Eva:
Absolutely

Catharina:
It is always
possible.
Magnus:
We´ve been doing it
for the last 15 years,but no one knows about it. I
think it´s a question of combinations and visions.
You can still make a scandal if you play a certain
music in a wrong room.Or if you are lucky,you can
make billions of dollars,like Andre 3000,sing
greasy lovesongs in combination with Coltrane,and
do it as a hiphop artist.That is not expected and
I think it´s great.

Which kind of public
do you think you could reach with your music?

Gustav:
Everybody with an open
mind. What has surprised me is that a lot of
people with little or no exposure of music outside
the top40 finds it very
accesible.
Catharina:
The music works
quite well to all kinds of audiences.Our problem
is that the musical scene in Sweden is small and
very dependent of genre.The jazz clubs claim that
Katzen Kapell is not jazz.World music scenes say
that it´s not folk music and so on. But performing
in front of an audience works always great either
it is in a rock festival or a jazz club.

Magnus:
Everybody that likes
music.Our concerts is very visual with a lot of
instruments on stage and we´re all dressed up like
we´re playing in a nightclub in Las
Vegas.Catharina often introduces the songs with
crazy stories so that the audience can get a
picture of what the song could be about.When we
play, people laugh and sometimes they cry. Our
dream is to tour in Europe and Japan,but we don´t
have any manager!

What do you think
about the current musical scene? Which artists do
you prefer?

Gustav:
We live
in such a golden age of music. As long as you
ignore the music industry mainstream and are
willing to look elsewhere I can't think of a
better time for music enthusiasts than
now.
Eva:
At the moment I actually
listen to mostly baroque, jazz and improvised
music.The artists I like just now are Stefano
Scoda- nibbio when he plays his own solopieces for
doublebass; that`s just like improvised music.To
get fire and power into my making music on the
violin I listen to Cecilia Bartoli singing baroque
music. Also, I listen a lot to Per-Henrik Wallin,
the swedish jazzpianist.

Catharina:
I prefer live acts to
recorded music.The last thing that really touched
me was a performance by Zingaro,cirque d’équestre
in Paris.It was not even focused on the music.The
show was called Loungta,cheveaux de vent.The
orchestra consisted of ten monks from Dalai Lamas
monastery in Tibet singing,blowing in horns and
playing percussion!Before that I enjoyed mandoline
players Mike Marshall and Chris Thile playing
“newgrass” in Boulder,USA.Equilibristic and
beautiful.
Magnus:
I´m not really
familiar with the current scene.I have no idea
what is happening in the “progressive” scene.But
it seems that world music continues to grow.I like
rumanian cimbalon, Mali singer Dimi Mint Abba and
Kora player Diabate.In the popular field I like
Outkast,Ben Folds and D´Angelo.The voice of Mary
J. Blige is fantastic but the production is dead
and so is MTV. Nothing seems to happen in the jazz
world.Maybe some musicians use samplers and drum
machines….I´m waiting for the next revolution. For
the last 2 months I´ve been listening to Hermeto
Pascoal. He´s a true genius. When you´re into him
everything else sound boring and pretentious.In
the classical field I enjoy John Adams and Arvo
Pärt.I have my listening periods.Sometimes it´s
only Miles.

What about the future
(Katzen Kapell projects, solo
projects.)?

Eva:
We have to
do a new CD, there are so many new tunes to
record. Before that we should play more often;
festivals, touring. Europe.

Catharina:
Katzen Kapell wants to
play outside Sweden in clubs and festivals all
around Europe.There are plans for a third CD which
I think can be released during 2005. We are about
to be involved in a film project writing music for
the screen for the first time as a group. As a
solo project I am looking forward to compose my
third opera.To stretch out in time and space with
a large symphony orchestra,mixed choir,soloists
and dancers.I am just waiting for a comission…

Magnus:
We have to do more concerts
to try out the new compositions. Then,maybe after
a year we can record them. I don´t know if we´re
going in to the studio or record live. Maybe we
start our own record label. We are about to update
our website and keep it updated. For myself,I want
to write some stuff for orchestra.I´ve done some
filmscores and hoping to get a comission for a
feature film this year.Anyhow,I will work on a
documentary on Einstein.

Do you want to
add something?

Catharina:
The new way of
downloading music from the internet instead of
buying expensive CD:s will increase the need of
live performances on stage and on DVD.The visual
live act is important again,That is good for
Katzen Kapell!
Thank you very much for your
kindness.

Katzen
kapell:
Thank you.Our pleasure.

AGARTHA
TEAM

16/03/2004
12.26.15
Gouveia Art Rock 2004
(Portugal)

The Program:

Saturday
April 24:
- Forgotten Suns (Portugal)
-
Periferia del Mondo (Italy)
- Richard Sinclair
Trio (Canterbury, England)

Sunday April
25:
- La Torre dell'Alchimista (Italy)
-
Isildurs Bane
(Sweden)

http://www.gaudela.net/gar/

Marcello
Marinone

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