BRAGAGILD PRESENT: SOLBLOT, DIE WEISSE ROSE, ALLERSEELEN
KOPENHAGEN, 19.III.2005
www.bragagild.dk
http://allerseelen.blogspot.com/
DEN TALENDE KNOGLE
Flight to Kopenhagen. Azure sky. Himmel - in German just one word where the English language distinguishes between sky and heaven. The clouds below the airplane reminding me of photos of the antarctic Neuschwabenland. Reading some lines in Martin Heidegger, Was heisst Denken? "Was sich entzieht, kann sogar den Menschen wesentlicher angehen und in den Anspruch nehmen als alles Anwesende, das ihn trifft und betrifft." At the horizon the Austrian mountains. The desire to be there again. Looking forward to new experiences and impressions. Walking through the lanes of Kopenhagen. Many antiquariats, many books also in German by Rainer Maria Rilke.
On the roof of the Börsen, the old stock exchange, a monument of four dragons, their tails coiled together, forming a grey conic tower. Soundcheck of Solblot from Sweden, Die weisse Rose from Denmark, Allerseelen. In the afternoon the vinterbanket, the last winter banquet before the beginning of spring - grillet vildsvin (roasted boar) and many other things to eat. Thinking of Gullinborsti. This vinterbanket is a tradition of Bragagild, grillet vildsvin is eaten each year at this spring festival. Before the concerts den talende knogle (the talking bone) was passed around, a bone of the first boar that was eaten five years ago. Every one holding the talking bone was allowed to talk, to recite, to ask or just to say thank you. I said thank you for the invitation and the great meal prepared by a girl of Bragagild. I had one special wish - holding the talking bone during the whole Allerseelen concert. Solblot with ancient Swedish songs, guitar, accordion, long horn, beautiful music, but very short. Die weisse Rose with four drummers, one of them fourteen years old, soundscapes, some voices of Max Ernst and Klaus Kinski. On the stage white roses. Allerseelen were dynamic, music as ammunition - on my back and head I felt several wooden splinters from the sticks of one of my apocalyptic drummers. Holding the microphone in the left hand, den talende knogle in the right hand. During the love song Löwin I wound some white roses of Die weisse Rose around the talking bone.
Walking around in the sunshine with my bassist at the Stadsgraven. The first flowers apart from the white roses yesterday. In the Nationalmuseet I was impressed by the large, dark lures - strange ritual music instruments which were found by pairs in the black swamps. They looked more like tools. Oak coffins with dead women and men. The men with swords, the women still having combs and daggers with them - they would need them again after awakening. Woollen blankets to avoid that they freeze. There is no death, just a big or small sleep in cold nights. Thinking of Miguel Serrano´s beautiful words: "Nur während des Todes ist einem eine kurze Ruhe vergönnt." Stones with helleristning (rock carvings). A stone like a small portable throne with footprints for an emperor or magician - who is standing on it, has power. Thinking of the stone birth out of the petra genetrix. Pieces of dark amber. Large rune stones, Tirsted from Lolland, Tryggevaelde from Ostsjaelland. The runic inscriptions almost always vertical, from the bottom to the top. The famous silver cauldron from Gundestrup which was fabricated in South Eastern Europe. Drinking Malbec red wine, Yggdrasil´s Mjöd (mead).
Spring equinox. Beautiful weather. Travelling by train with a member of Die weisse Rose to Odense. Going by bus to Otterup. In the North of Odense a beautiful and very dynamic "devilish" black sculpture of Thor with his hammer on his chariot with the two he-goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr. Dolmens and tomb chambers close to Kappendrup. Close to Emmelev a beautiful little jaettestue (dolmen), surrounded by thorns like Dornröschen, the sleeping beauty in the fairy tale. Close to Emmelev too a beautiful large dolmen, this one having a more martial impression - like a bunker. The entrances of the two dolmens looked towards South-East. Staying in the evening and night in Odense. Listening to the strange and surreal songs of Else Marie Pade. Listening to the dark chants of Utrenja, composed by Krzysztof Penderecki.
Train to Roskilde. The ships of the vikings. Buying a small Thor´s hammer which was found on the Danish island Falster. The Roskilde fjord. Going by bus to Öm. Walking two kilometres to a beautiful tumulus, appearing like a female breast. The stone chamber inside the hill had a length of around seven metres. Its roof consisted of heavy rocks. A beautiful place to spend the night. Its entrance looked towards East, the direction of the rising sun. Almost no bones were found inside the chamber, solely flints, amber pearls. Maybe this tumulus was no tomb hill but a place where women went to give birth to their children. In a culture where death was sacred, birth of course had to be considered as sacred too. In fairy tales the farmers brought each winter solstice food to the jaette (spirit) living inside the dolmen to have a good harvest in the next year. Another hint to fertility. I was glad, saying thank you to be able to be at this place which appeared to me like the navel of Denmark. Is there a connection between the German words danken (to say thank you) and denken (to think)? The gaya scienza - to be able to say thank you, to be aware that everything might be completely different the next day: Als wärs das letzte Mal. Again in Kopenhagen. Being interviewed for the Danish magazine Evilution. Speaking about the talking bone, about dolmens, about art as a powerful psychoactive field of force, about songs and lyrics as seeds.
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Many beautiful and powerful solar symbols in the garden and on the facade of this building. A Mithras relief – I was again fascinated by the dynamics of this monument and movement - a circle being formed by the tail of the bull touching the coat of Mithras who closes with one hand the nostrils of the bull and pulling the dagger with the other hand into the flesh. Fleisch - again in German only one word for the English distinction between flesh and meat. Statues of some muses - Melpomene (tragedy), Polymnia (hymns), Erato (poetry), Thaleia (drama). But Polymnia and Thaleia without arms like the female saint in Alejandro Jodorowsky´s psychoactive movie Santa Sangre. Also a marble bust by Antonio Canova from 1807 which might show Mithras with the Phrygean cap. Etruskan art. Egyptian stone reliefs - the representations of the Egyptian ships reminded me of the books of Jürgen Spanuth about Northern influences on the Egypt culture. Returning to Austria. The clouds blueish and purple like on the paintings by Nikolas Roerich.
Gerhard
26.III.2005 + 24.II.2006
"Ein phantastisches Konzert! Die Trommler entfachten, unterstützt vom Bass, ein wahres Feuerwerk, laut. Allerseelen spielte sich quer durch das gesamte Repertoire und hat sich mittlerweile seinen eigenen Stern am Himmel der hochkarätigen Livebands gesichert."
www.lichttaufe.de
