International relevance: -
A virtually unknown double album documenting a stage play written by Sture Karlsson with music composed by Anders Lindström, and first performed in 1977. It deals with a miners strike in 1891-92 which is one of the labor movement's biggest conflicts. It started when the workers in Kallmora iron ore mine suddenly got less wages than promised and quickly grew to a nationwide concern when Sweden's then Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting came to Kallmora to appear for the workers. Military forces were called in against the strikers, but the soldiers surprisingly sided with the miners. The workers eventually settled for an agreement that didn't entirely fulfilled their claims.
It's a historically relevant incident, and so is the theatrical description of it as it inspired several more so called ”workers plays” around Sweden in the following years. But that doesn't mean it's fun to listen to on record, especially not a double album. It's virtually impossible to sit through ”Norbergs-strejken 1891-92” with its amateurish acting (I don't think any of the actors was a professional) and the terrible music. The songs are all in the typical vein of all acoustic political progg albums from the 70s. The message is the all-important thing here, so the songs are merely meant to carry the narrative and not necessarily to entertain. And they certainly don't. I can't see anyone getting a lot out of this album, except for possibly one or two local Norberg scholars wanting to dig deeper into the area's political history.
Marie Selander also sang about the strike in the appropriately titled "Norbergsstrejken" on her fine album "Från den svenska vildmarken".
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