På 1890-talet var intresset för cykling stort i Finland. Intresset avspeglades även i musikkulturen eftersom det började komponeras musik med cykeltema. Endast en liten del av den musiken har getts ut kommersiellt i Finland. Kaj Ahlsved har grävt i arkiven och i samarbete med musiker levandegjort musiken så som den finns nertecknad i version för hornensemble i Finlands armés stämböcker. Hur lät ”cykelmusiken”, vem komponerade den och varför?
The Blues in Sweden before 1960: varying conceptions of a genre
This article presents a review of the various meanings and shapes of blues as a genre in Sweden c. 1920–1960, drawing primarily on presentations in newspapers and jazz magazines, and recordings. Blues has been construed as an African American music, rising from specific social conditions; as an American music, a source for and subgenre of jazz; and as a part of music in the international modern society in general.
In 1923 blues was introduced as a new dance, and many new tunes were promoted as blues; medium tempo, chromaticism and altered chords seem to be the distinguishing traits. From the mid-thirties, blues was discussed as a predecessor to jazz as well as a jazz genre format (‘12-bar blues’). The rising interest in blues is followed through audience reactions in press, recordings, and jazz criticism. Jazz critics tended to promote country blues and Bessie Smith as authentic forms, while Josh White’s performances during his annual tours in the fifties were praised for his consummate artistry. The trad jazz boom, boogie woogie piano, skiffle and rock’n’roll all used the 12-bar format. In parallel, blues was also an occasional pop song denomination signalling melancholy. Identifying as a blues singer was not an option; this would change during the sixties.
Four fields of tension are identified: blues as a specific expression for African American experience vs. blues as a genre suited for Western modernity in general; blues as a subgenre to jazz vs. blues as an autonomous sphere; blues considered as genuine folk music vs. blues as popular music; and blues as a genre of mainly historical significance vs. blues as having contemporary relevance.
In 1967-1968 some Swedish avant-garde poets, artists, critics and musicians turned to pop music and formed groups that performed at museums, happenings, art galleries and other venues. Blå Tåget often used a variety of genres, sometimes with a nostalgic or ironic perspective; Träd Gräs & Stenar produced a mixture of rock, Swedish folk fiddling and minimalist drones and riffs. After 1968 both groups expressed a critical perspective on Western society and capitalism, and became leaders in building "the progressive music movement", which during the 1970s was a strong alternative force in Swedish music alongside subsidised art music institutions and the commercial music industry.
This article focus on strategies that are used in the struggle to raise the status of a popular music form. By analysing the journalism of British composer/bassist/recording leader ‘Spike’ Hughes in Melody Maker in 1931-32, the shaping of a critical discourse based in jazz music is studied. By establishing a discriminating aesthetics of jazz promulgated by sophisticated experts, Hughes and others contributed to jazz being spoken of with an intellectualised attitude. This attitude was rooted in jazz’s musical style, stressing how jazz contained new qualities not to be found in established art music - qualities that would contribute to the evolution of music in general. However, since jazz in the thirties was still framed within a commercial production system, the expectations put on a named master like Duke Ellington would be almost impossible to fulfil.