International relevance: -
Swedish vocals
Independent theatre groups were an
important part of the progg movement. Bertolt Brecht was a popular
author among those groups, but it was a common thing that the theatre
groups staged their self-written plays, often with a clear political
agenda. The most famous of the lot were Nationalteatern and Fria Proteatern, but there were many more spread across the country, such
as Musikteatergruppen Oktober and their some time collaborators
Bruksteatern. All the aforementioned groups used music as an
integrated part of the theatrical performances, and all of them
released albums with songs excerpted from their plays. However, few
shared Nationalteatern's knack for writing songs memorable enough to
have a life away from the stage setting. Many of the albums made by
musical theatre groups are frankly an embarassing listen today.
This is certainly the case of
Bruksteatern's ”Palestina mitt blod, min väg, mitt land”,
funded by a plethora of organisations, musicians and writers. The
songs and the play they were written for deal with the long standing
conflict between Palestina and Israel, and the music – all acoustic
– is subordinated the message. While some of the instrumental
passages are OK (after all, experienced musicians such as Björn J:son Lindh, ”Fjellis” Fjellström and Kebnekajse's
Mats Glenngård came to Bruksteatern's aid for the recording), the
vocals are so overwrought that it hurts, and the recitations that
keep the narrative going are cringeworthy. This is exactly the kind
of stuff that makes it easy to poke nasty fun at progg music, and
this album deserves every bit of ridicule it can get. Listening to
this crap makes me feel unclean. I'm sure it has traumatized me
for life.
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