Bitter Funeral Beer Band
“It is the convergence towards a music without boundaries, where every instrumental voice shines”
Sensational new find from 1985!
After 40 years we recently discovered a mix of one piece that was not final but really good (there are some obviously not completed mixing stuff) with fabulous zig-zag playing by Lise-Lotte Norelius and Anita Livstrand and great work by many of the band’s members. So we decided to release this as a one piece album of nearly 9 minutes with a great photo of the late shaman drummer Thomas Mera Gartz in action as a cover.
First out on Tracklib
As you might know (or not) we cooperate with the sampling site Tracklib where you can find much of our music if you are into sampling. There you find it from December 20 and you will find it on all streaming platforms by January 3.
The origin of Bitter Funeral Beer Band
Upon my return from Ghana in 1977 I tried to apply some of what I learned in various musical groupings, among them Archimedes Badkar, but after some time a bigger group grew out of that to specifically create music around the drumming (mostly Ewe) and funeral music from the north of Ghana, Bitter Funeral Beer Band.
Our very first concert at Fasching in Stockholm in 1981
Drummers Bosse Skoglund and Thomas Mera Gartz, Sigge Krantz on bass and guitar, Mattias Hellden on cello, Thord Bengtsson guitar and violin, Anita Livstrand vocal and ko-gyil, Kalle Eriksson and Tommy Adolfsson on trumpet plus Jörgen Adolfsson, Ulf Wallander, Christer Bothén and Kjell Westling on reeds joined me in that first edition of the band that recorded for ECM with Don Cherry as soloist. After the release in 82 we toured europe and played at the Jazz Yatra in Bombay and Dehli in 1984. Frankfurt photos by Paul Decker.
Frankfurt concert 1982
Our concert in Frankfurt in 1982 with Don Cherry and K. Sridhar taking part was recorded by Hessischer Rundfunk for radio and TV and we released it in the fall of 2007. The album was nominated for a Swedish Grammy. Most of the Frankfurt concert can be seen at YouTube. Here is a video from the start of the concert
Jazz Yatra in Bombay and Dehli in 1984.
By January 1984 Thomas Gustafsson and Lise-Lotte Norelius and Thomas Huhn had joined the band and we played the Jazz Yatra in Bombay, here are some photos by Kerstin Karlsson:
Nürnberg concert in 1984:
Videos with Bitter Funeral Beer
Live in Frankfurt 82 on vinyl!
On June 25, 2018 The Italian label Black Sweat Records released “Live in Frankfurt 82” on vinyl! This is how they present the album:
“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.”
They have also put the album for you to listen on Bandcamp
Our first two albums were released on ECM and Dragon
Our second LP on the swedish Dragon label, Praise Drumming was recorded at Rainbow Studios in Oslo. In 2017 it was released on CD by Dragon Records.
Here is a beautiful podcast episode about the Bitter Funeral Beer album. Andy Moor tells us about the impact of the album on Echobox Radio in Amsterdam’s Blueprints For A Blackout after more than 40 years!
Bitter Funeral Beer Band was really something we all can feel proud about. Here are finally a few links to reviews:
1982 All Music: “one of the very finest items ever released by ECM”
2007 Just Outside: “one of my all-time favorites”
2011 Tyran Grillo, ECM-reviews: “One of ECM’s absolute finest”
Towards the end of the time with the Bitter Funeral Beer Band we were working on Amadinda music inspired by the late great Gunnar Valkare’s studies in East Africa. We had come quite far with the recording of a piece in 1985 but later on the multi-channel reels were accidentally overwritten.
Other albums with Bitter Funeral Beer Band
Inside Kalegala
[CEL 01]
Live In Frankfurt 82 On Vinyl
[BS040]
Live In Frankfurt 82
[CE09]
Live In Nürnberg 84
[CEX09]
Praise Drumming
[DRCD449]