Fylkingen 
V.A. : Text-Sound Composition A Stockholm Festival -5CD box- (S,re.2005)**°°
Text-sound was a term used on the occasion when sound-poetry found its own refuge and foundations on Swedish ground. This new term was used to describe the inspirations used by the new generation of poets who for the first time used the mains of tape recordings, the association of radio performance or radio play, and who used text-associations to broaden the possibilities of poetry reciting as an art form of performing. Text-Sound was supposed to become the Swedish equivalent of a movement of interest comparable to ‘poésie sonore’, or to any other “sound poetry movement” existing likewise or beforehand. This new field of inspirations found its place of organisation thanks to the label Fylkingen, in cooperation with Swedish radio and its recording facilities. The results were performed on a yearly festival between 1968 and 1977. They invited other mostly European contemporaries who contributed their performances or recording efforts. The early editions were recorded and printed on LP in a limited edition.
The Swedish foundations of sound poetry had shown a certain independency in visions compared to the other international movements who used poetry more as sound in their performances or recordings. A main influence on their grounds, which has been mentioned more often than anything else in the accompanying booklet, is Fahlstrom's "faglar i sverige/Birds in Sweden”, a radio play from 1963 which had also been released by the label together with another recording and a book, this is now sadly sold out. This particular work of inspiration should very much have given a vision of its own, an independent style approach that was distinctive from the foreign examples.
What clearly took part in the inspirations of text art were the technical abilities and limitations of the tape recorder as if being participants to the results.
Another idea is that text-based letters were also part of the sources of inspiration and imagination as useful tools or elements for sound organisation.
Having heard the 5 (over 70 minute) CDs now I can very much categorise the text sound organisation further.
A few artists very much make collages. Often these are the least interesting tracks with more random situations, use of words, sound deformations or distortions and backgrounds mixed in but not really leading to much else and with a lesser degree of musicality (like in the case of Ake Hodell).
Other artists are extending, like I mentioned before, the performance of text performance. Often where two performers texts are multi-layered, repeated and the medium becomes a mixture of poetry reciting and music, because language is becoming more like a musical tool, with mostly rhythmical repetitions. Both performers recite, perform text clearly for a public and directing towards it, more than they are intercommunicating, creating a new world of sounds. One step beyond that is Bengt Emil Johnson who used a whole choir of singers/performers making really music with sounds and language, with use of harmonies. Another artist combines animal sounds with those human repetitions.
Then we have performers who experiment with the sounds of vocals and experimental sounds with their mouth, or with breathing. Most often this is very physical. Henry Chopin very much stands out here using breathing sounds for instance to create a new almost musical world.
In between the word performers and resonance chamber performers Bob Cobbing has let us return to the animalistic state of the sound producing human, experimenting with the expression possibilities itself.
Then there are the performers who use syllables or letters instead of words as their foundations of expressions, repeating them, and building with them. A bit like the letterists. (like Ilmar Laaban)
From those who play with language layers of performance there are a few whose inspirations are more or less based upon the tape recording techniques of speeding up, slowing down, changing the sound and adding some echo. Often this becomes a category on its own.
The first recording of Charles Amirkhanian uses the rhythm of word performing first and the scraping mouth sounds in the second half of his piece. Lars-Gunnar Boddin’s first contribution is more electro-acoustic contemporary art with voice as one of the elements and with manipulated sounds. The two other pieces fit with the category of multi-layered poetry reciting with use of some tape echoes. Svante Bodin’s work is like a radio play with spoken word and background sounds, almost like science fiction with an almost frightening cold and rational atmosphere, like the expression of a lonely planet’s atmosphere. I have mentioned already Henry Chopin. He very much stands out as delivering the idea of a new art form of expression. The first track is based upon manipulated breathing sounds. The second track is a mixture of electro-acoustic and electronic sounds, partly this is based upon voices, singing and physical sounds of a voice or its resonance chamber. The third track is a real text performance with multi-layered spoken word of two performers. But also here some studio resonance and microphone directing breathings can be heard. The UK performer Bob Cobbing recorded his multi-layered textual performance with different performers in the EMS studio. It has something musical in it.
The second performance by Bob Cobbing on the second CD has developed qualities. It is a play with words but also with physical sounds of the performers. It almost forms a new world of sonic expressions. It is playful. On “As Easy” real animalistic sounds like birds (seagulls,..) are combined with the voice performance which in this case becomes even more animalistic as if returning to the experimental state of expressing, like an animal. And also the third piece on this CD, with rather mad laughing voices combined with a few humming background atmospheric sounds and use of some instruments like flute and percussion shows a performance that seems to take humans back to some previous state of mind, improvising. François Dufrène’s performances show very strange experimental body sounds with voice and some echoing, fitting in the physical sound category. Gust Gils’s vocal exploration fits in that category as well, the performers here are closer to language and there’s use of some sorts of harmony singing and humming too, with nice effect. Further on he plays with speed manipulation to great well done fun effect. Jarl & Sonja Hammarberg-Akesson shows another example of invented language and syllable sounds with physical qualities. Several layers of performers perform directly this new language of expressions to the public. Sten Hanson’s first track used the voice of Che Guevara as a foundation, with responding performing voices, these voices become like sound-based responses, become deformed and change in the end into a machinegun sound. This is a nice conceptual idea. The second conceptual track, another rhythmical play with words has some performers who express people who can hardly speak French, making its own rhythm of performing. The third track plays with some abbreviations, a word play with another conceptual background. The next track is also a well-mixed performance of background noises with spoken word and distorted spoken word, another creation of a world on its own. The last piece is based upon the repetition of a word with an echoing multi-layered mix with some distortions and some extra physical sounds. The last piece by Bernard Heidsieck is more poetry in the classical sense, with expression in the performance, and with a second layer added.
Also the third CD with French spoken word performances by Bernard Heidsieck continue mostly with the idea of repeated spoken word becoming a different rhythmical form of expression. These performances with two readers expressing on top of each other are all a bit comparable to each other and becomes also less appealing because of this. Christer Hennix contribution is an electro-acoustic recording sounding like a reminder of spoken word echoing in an aluminium empty box. Ake Hodell’s contributions fit in the collage category. “USS Pacific Ocean” uses morse code beeps rhythms, Japanese and American voices, a collage of spoken word, propagandistic brass music has all the elements of a radio play but the result still is a bit annoying. Also his other works have something political, almost propagandistic. The second track uses pig sounds combined with shouting voices, a very raw atmosphere. Also there’s not enough musicality involved to make this really work. Bengt Emil Johnson has spoken word in Swedish, descending electric and electronic tones and radio voice backgrounds as if recorded in a sort of airplane, voice humming, the ideas are stretched very long to convince well or to keep the attention.
The fourth CD starts with a piece by Bengt Emil Johnson with tape manipulated expressions of vocal expressions mixed with more recognisable spoken word, very much an improvised studio experiment based upon a text performance. Here the language of performing is expanded in the direction of a musical experiment. “Behind Alpha” is outstanding for its use of choir singing adding rhythmical accents to the performance just like word expressions, and some great combinations of voice melodies with electronic sound. Sandro Key-Aberg’s track uses a collage of telephone ringings, clock ticking, multi-layered spoken word repetitions, heartbeats and other sounds. This is like a sound track with a certain foundation of rhythms with spoken word. Also Bengt Af Klintberg’s track has something of a collage and filmic soundtrack, with environmental spoken word, laughs, animal sounds and some distortions of the recording. Ilmar Laaban’s first track, “Stentorsstön” is perhaps one of the only examples of syllable-based performance, half singing at times too. This is also an example of vocal performance art. Also the other contributions are to categorise as two performance expressing something directly the public with something that is like a language. His tracks are all a bit similar. The last track is a cooperation between Anna Lockwood and Harvey Matusow. It is a performance with words and sounds, like a collage of ideas with word repetitions and a background of electronic noise manipulation, but the result is not really so interesting.
The last CD starts with a piece by Arrigo Lora-Totino, a piece with word repetitions, with the extension of a second performer. The piece by Arne Mellnäs with spoken word and its repetitions, distorted words and a mix with pop music sounds like a kind of radio play of deep daydreaming with words responding to the songs. Franz Mon’s electro-acoustic recording used voices as a foundation, but they are so much changed and changing in shape by filters there are moments where sound becomes dominant over the words, and back. It shows interesting rhythms, and different sonic combinations, spoken word and humming. The expression is explorative with its inner sounds. This is followed by some tracks by Ladislav Novak. He makes use of the repetitions of words so that a rhythmical sound, a different language of performance is created. This again directs this way more towards music, to a more abstract form of expression. Also Diter Rot & Emmet Williams uses word repetitions in different layers and a direction towards the public, the different layers know some interactive rhythms. The track by Erik Thygesen uses one layer of hummed singing in combination with spoken word performance, a reading.
As a bonus track the recording by Belgian Paul De Vree is added (I assume this is, although differently written as the title in the booklet, “April bij sneeuw”). On this dutch spoken word performance the poetry changes shape because of word repetitions. This way the words become sounds and music. Also Ghérasim Luca’s French text with multi-layered words succeeds to change the essence of word performance into something more rhythmical, something more abstract as an expression.
This box is of course very complete with its performances and showed me an insight behind the creative process of sound poetry and some of its possibilities. A few example, which I mentioned are outstanding with it. Some performers experimented a bit for the random effect and are more forgettable, but in general each track is enjoyable enough so that it’s worth remembering the opportunity that this festival gave, thanks to this document.
The reissue of the 5 lp's includes bonus tracks from tracks that were originally also intended for inclusion as well. The two essays in a booklet of 60 pages explains very well the context of these events and gives biographical contexts for all participants, of which you already must have noticed in this review several were invited from abroad for similar sound poetry interests or occasionally for participating other useful ideas with sound (in case of Annea Lockwood).
