in brief
29.11.2022

Et spejl af os selv?

Lars Hannibal: »Mirror of the Past«

Lars Hannibal har skabt kinesisk musik på en kvarter lang digital udgivelse. Fire numre med digte fra Tang Dynastiet (618-907), som ifølge komponist og guitaristen selv er »et spejl og en fortidig kommentar til den menneskeskabte klimakrise«.

I Kina vil de sikkert diskutere teksternes oversættelse og den musikalske autenticitet. Svenske lyttere vil nok diskutere klima, og straks stille sig skeptisk overfor, at Hannibal er fløjtet to uger til Sydfrankrig til Jørn Utzons sommerhus for at skrive musik med en klimadagsorden. Tyskerne vil lugte epigonisme, og i USA vil de diskutere kulturel appropriation, og om det overhovedet er tilladeligt for en hvid, vestlig mand at skabe kinesisk musik. I Irland vil de sikkert være glade for, at Stephen Yesetas kontratenor har et irsk, folkemusikalsk præg pga. accenten og den rene brug af pentaton-skalaen. Her i Danmark vipper jeg mellem benovelsen over så stærke musikere som Michala Petri på lækre, dybe fløjter samt Gert Mortensens delikate brug af de percussive instrumenter, og om det fungerer at lave øreappetitlige klange med et kinesisk islæt. Eller om det primært spejler os selv. 

Hannibal har skabt smuk, billedskabende musik, der bestemt lyder autentisk – godt hjulpet på vej af Xu Ziling på den kinesiske erhu og topklasse produktion ved Preben Iwan. Men lytter vi blot til vor egen fordom om Kina? Selvom de enkle melodier ikke kan tåle for mange genlytninger, bliver jeg dog indfanget af klangæstetikken, og får en stærk lyst til at høre mere ægte kinesisk musik. Derfor er værket en god øreåbner. Ikke for sin mærkelige snak om klima.

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»Music is, to us, a kind of closed club of nepotism, networking and Copenhagen cowboy energy. But in reality, it’s got nothing to do with expensive guitars or technical skill. For us, music is something you can feel in your chest, or something that gives you goosebumps. The best concerts are when someone screams so earnestly that the rest of us don’t have to. The best music expresses emotions in a way that would get you picked up by an ambulance if you did it out on the street. For us, music should fuck with the people who have it too comfortable, and give those who have it fucked a feeling that they’re not alone. Boom. And what the fuck is a chord and a key anyway? Kisses from Nightmaries.«

Nightmaries blend saws, guitars and voices into a dark-country, no-wave, cowboy-doom nightmare. They create the kind of soundtrack that feels like a fever dream you somehow don’t want to wake up from. As the world gets stranger and darker, Nightmaries lean into the madness, serving up slow-burning songs that creep under your skin like a poison that takes its sweet time. Put on your favourite steel-toe boots, dip your smoky eyes in an ashtray, and prepare yourself for sloppy doom with punk energy.

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»To me, music is love. I love how music allows you to skip the small talk and connect directly with people’s innermost selves. It is an extraordinary and moving way to meet one another.«

Fenja wrote her first song at the age of twelve – about a polar bear dying due to climate change – and themes of existentialism, nature, and her own sensitive nature came to define the lyrics and sound she has since developed. She released her debut album, Flugtdyr, in 2021, and in February 2026, she released the album Menneskedyr.

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Danish composer Sofus Forsberg has died at the age of 56. With his distinctive blend of melodic sensibility, electronic processing and rhythmic precision, he created a musical world that moved effortlessly between IDM, pop and the avant-garde.

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»Music for me is my hobby, my job, my outlet, my mood, an endless source of discovering new music and new, old music, some of the best and can be some of the worst. And I love it!« 

Track72 aka Tue Track aka Anders Lundby Brixen. Producer, DJ, rapper and more. Known for his role in the trio Malk De Koijn, which since the mid-1990s has created a personal universe in Danish hip-hop. Has performed in Ponyblod, Xtra Naan, Track Abdullah Rock, Booty Cologne and others.

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On Wednesday, 5 August 2026, it happened again: a chord in John Cage’s Organ2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) changed after two and a half years. Classic FM reports.

The work was written by the American avant-garde composer John Cage in the mid-1980s. The score consists of eight pages of music, and, as the title suggests, the instruction is to play it »as slow as possible.«