A PROGG BLOG SPECIAL: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNA KOKA FEM ÄGG JAG ÄR VÄRD I HUSET

 

Earlier this year, one of the most intriguing progg albums was graced with a much needed re-release:Anna Koka Fem Ägg Jag Är Värd I Huset's lone album, originally issued in 300 copies on their private label Flärrp-Skivor in 1975. (It was briefly available as a CD-r from the band, but that one had no wider distribution, and can hardly be considered a true reissue.) It's a most original work, vaguely reminiscent of Philemon Arthur & The Dung but darker in tone. The lyrics help setting the mood, being oddly twisted as if coming from a mirror reality where everything is familiar yet strangely skewed. Unfortunately for foreign listeners, they're in Swedish so that one dimension is lost on non-Swedes, but the general atmosphere is still so off-beat it's guaranteed to sneak into the mind of anyone not familiar with the Swedish language. Even the band name is one of the strangest in history, translating into ”Anna boil five eggs, I'm the host of the house”. At first it makes no sense to an outsider, but once you've heard their album, it somehow makes perfect sense in all its thought-provoking absurdity.

The reissue and the live performance that followed it brought national attention to the band when brothers and Anna Koka Fem Ägg core members Mats and Rolf Svensson were left alone on the stage to perform Philemon Arthur chestnut ”Om ni tycker jagundviker er”. Both Anna Koka Fem Ägg and Philemon Arthur hail from roughly the same region, in Skåne in the deep south of Sweden. The Svensson brothers indeed sounded like what an aged version of Philemon Arthur might sound like, which provoked speculations in national media: Are they really the original Philemon Arthur & The Dung? The Svensson brothers refuse to comment on the subject, and quite honestly, I couldn't care less. I'm intrigued by the Philemon mystery, and with too few mysteries in the world to tickle our imaginations, I'm more than happy to see Philemon Arthur & The Dung's true identity remain a secret for all times to come. Also, the brilliance of Anna Koka Fem Ägg is great enough to have them stand on their own. True originality and genuine brilliance need no excuses or references.

After decades in obscurity to all but the most seasones collectors, Anna Koka Fem Ägg Jag Är Värd I Huset have taken one step further into the limelight, which is a great opportunity to approach Rolf Svensson with a a little set of questions. With longtime progg and progg blog fan Lars Holmquist supplying some further questions, this interview was conducted over Facebook in May 2022.

How did the band come about?
At first we were only two people. Then from 1973 and on, several others teamed up with us, and even more members joined in time for the album sessions, so in the end we were eleven people in the band.

How did you come up with the name for the band?
The band's name is the end of a true story from the village where I grew up. Algot'sa John (i.e. John son of Algot) lived on a family farm with his sister Anna. Those who knew them both knew that Anna had a mind of her own and the one in command in the house. One day in his younger years, John came home with a bunch of buddies and wanted to show off to his friends, to appear a little cocky and bossy. As the guys stepped through the door, John yelled, ”Anna! Boil up five eggs, I'm the host of the house!” What happened to John after that, one could only imagine... Really, the story is only fun to those who knew the villagers.

Did you play live a lot? Any gigs outside of Skåne?
We did about ten shows between 1973 and 1975. Most of them were low-profile shows, but the one we did with Nationalteatern and Norrbottens Järn was a larger event. One of the shows were in Växjö while the others were in the Lund-Lomma-Malmö-Ängelholm region.

How and where was the album recorded?

In former big band leader Leif Uvemark's studio in Malmö during a weekend in May 1975.

Did you choose to put it out yourself to begin with, or did you approach any major labels first?
Yes, and nope.

Was the album ever reviewed in Musikens Makt [the music movement's own in-house journal]?It was, in Musikens Makt issue no. 7 in 1975.

Are there any unreleased recordings?
Only a few in my own private archive.

Were there any plans for a second album?
Nope.

Your lyrics are very special with a touch of the absurd, not without a dark edge. Can you tell me a little bit about how you wrote them? What were your inspirations?
Several of the songs were inspired by growing up in a little village in the northwest part of Skåne in the 1950s and '60s. It was me, my brother, my cousin and a friend of my brother's who wrote most of them.

To what extent were Anna Koka Fem Ägg an actual band, as opposed to a project of sorts? Did members come and go?
A few members came and went in the very beginning. It's fair to say we were a band, a pretty obscure one, who showed up every now and then at small scale concerts. Almost always at the request of various concert organizers.

Were there some kind of D.I.Y. scene that you were part of in Skåne at the time?
No.

Are there any other unknown gems from that area worth looking for?
No idea, but I wouldn't think so.

How did you get along with the rest of Skåne's progg scene, with bands such as Radiomöbel, Ferne from Risken Finns and even later bands like Kabbala Kitsch and Blago Bung?
We had no contact whatsoever with the rest of Skåne's progg scene.

What prompted you to reissue your album now?
We had no intention to re-release our album at all. It was a sheer coincidence that Jörgen Nilsson, a record dealer and a concert organizer in Kristiansand, happened to see our original album in a crate of albums he happened to come by. He thought it sounded very good and different. As the album is hard to find and several of his customers liked it when he played it in the shop, he asked us if we were interested in re-releasing it. Then he asked us if perhaps a few of us would even like to play a show. I thought it sounded like a fun idea, and I managed to get in touch with almost every one of our original members. I hadn't met several of them since we did the album 47 years ago!

Remaining copies of the reissue can be ordered from Kompakt Disk in Kristianstad,

info@kompaktdisk.se. But hurry up! Not many are left! It's also available for streaming on Spotify.