Live in Frankfurt 82
Bitter Funeral Beer Band
“It is the convergence towards a music without boundaries, where every instrumental voice shines and is well fermented and integrated. Music is unity.”
with Don Cherry & K. Sridhar
Bitter Funeral Beer Band was a unique band with an early world music with an own identity that mixes african funeral music and improvisation with a nordic touch that has not existed before or after the few years in the 80’s that the band was active. Led by Bengt Berger who had studied a couple of years in Ghana, the band based a lot of the music on the funeral music concept of the Lo-Birifor people of northern Ghana.The band did its first cd, Bitter Funeral Beer, on ECM and then one more, Praise Drumming on the Swedish Dragon label. We found one later live recording later and released “Live in Nürnberg 1984” in 2007.
CE09 – Release date october 16, 2007
The Italian label Black Sweat Records has released “Live in Frankfurt 82″ on vinyl!
This is how they present the album at the release in 2018:
“First of all, Bengt Berger – a pioneer of the Swedish underground of the 70’s and historical member of bands such as the Archimedes Badkar and Arbete Och Fritid – is a versatile drummer-percussionist and well-educated ethno-musicologist with several research sojourns in India and Ghana. Deeply influenced by Hindustani, Carnatic and West Africa music, he founded in 1980 the Bitter Funeral Beer Band, an ensemble of 12 elements, basing his ideas on the traditional funeral music of the people of Lo-Birifor, in the northern region of Ghana.
The marriage between this afro polyrhythmic roots, with the spiritual jazz of the eternal Don Cherry and the indian sarod of K. Sridhar is in the direction to a pan-internationalism of profound spirituality, which blends different geographical traditions in a single contemplative gaze. It is the convergence towards a music without boundaries, where every instrumental voice shines and is well fermented and integrated. Music is unity.”
Here is the video from the concert
They have also put the album for you to listen on Bandcamp
Tracks
1 Darafo 7:16 Soloists: Matthias Helldén, cello; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet;
2 Chetu 9:38 Soloists: Sigge Krantz, elgitarr, Don Cherry, pocket trumpet
3 Bitter Funeral Beer 9:42 Soloists: K. Sridhar, sarod; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet, Anita Livstrand, röst; Thomas Mera Gartz, tenorsax;
4 Funeral Dance 26:04 Soloists: Tord Bengtsson, fiol; Tommy Adolfsson, trumpet; Ulf Wallander, tenorsax; Björn Hellström, flöjt; K. Sridhar, sarod and Don Cherry, pocket trumpet; Sigge Krantz, elbas; Jörgen Adolfsson, altsax; Tommy Adolfsson, trumpet; Christer Bothén, tenorsax; Matthias Helldén, cello; Bosse Skoglund and Thomas Mera Gartz, drums;
5 Gahu (trad. arr. Berger) 3:55 Soloist: Bengt Berger, Atsimevu
Musicians
Bengt Berger, Ko-Gyil (Lo-Birifor funeral xylophone), Atsimevu (Ewe master drum);
Anita Livstrand, Ko-Gyil, voice, percussion;
Bosse Skoglund, percussion;
Thomas Mera Gartz,percussion, tenor sax;
Sigge Krantz, acoustic and electric bass, guitar, percussion;
Matthias Helldén, cello, percussion;
Tord Bengtsson, violin, guitar, percussion;
Christer Bothén, tenor sax, bass clarinet, percussion;
Björn Hellström, bass clarinet, flute, percussion;
Ulf Wallander, soprano sax, tenor sax, percussion;
Jörgen Adolfsson, soprano sax, alto sax, percussion;
Tommy Adolfsson, trumpet, percussion;
Don Cherry, pocket trumpet;
K. Sridhar, sarod;
More Info
Recorded at Alte Oper, Frankfurt, october 1, 1982 by Hessischer Rundfunk
Released courtesy of Hessischer Rundfunk
Photos by Paul Deker
Mastered by Claes Persson, CRP recording
Produced by Bengt Berger
Graphic Design by Jon Edergren/Electric Boogie
P&C Country & Eastern 2007
www.countryandeastern.se
Big thanks to: Steve Feigenbaum at Cuneiform records, Günter Hottman and Brigitte Keusch at Hessischer Rundfunk
Press release: C&E News october 2007
Horn Please is one of the top ten albums in the december/january issue of brittish fROOTS magazine.
Awarded the « Recommandé » TRAD MAG award by Trad Magazine, France.
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