Rock in opposition

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Rock in Opposition ( RIO for short ), was a loose association of European bands at the end of the 1970s and later developed as a synonym for AvantProg to the style term for an offshoot of Progressive Rock . The starting point of the movement was a unique music festival of the same name that took place in London in 1978 . An annual festival has been held in Carmaux since 2007 with the participation of musicians from the movement at the time .

history

The movement goes back to the British band Henry Cow around the drummer Chris Cutler . In 1978 he invited four European bands to hold a festival on March 12th at the New London Theater with the name Rock in Opposition and the slogan “The music the record companies don't want you to hear”. The background was the frustrating experience with the music industry, which Henry Cow said was not interested in such bands and musical quality, forced bands to make artistic compromises and exploited them financially. The participants were Henry Cow Stormy Six from Italy , Samla Mammas Manna from Sweden , Univers Zéro from Belgium and Etron Fou Leloublan from France . What was striking was the European character of the event, which was consciously opposed to Anglo-American dominated music styles and record companies. The festival drew 450 people and received worldwide media coverage, but despite a £ 1000 grant from the British Arts Council, the event remained in deficit.

Originally no formal organization was planned, but the need for one arose on the part of the bands involved. So they met on December 8, 1978 in the Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg SG to draw up a program or manifesto. Despite many differences of opinion, the bands agreed that a network should be set up to organize performances and sell records (e.g. via Cutlers Recommended Records ). In addition, the following admission criteria were set for future members:

  • Musical excellence
  • Active work outside of the music business
  • Social engagement for rock music

Art Bears , Art Zoyd and Aksak Maboul have all been declared new members. Further festivals followed in Italy, Sweden and Belgium, after which formal activities came to a standstill. But Rock in Opposition had triggered something. Some musicians continued their collaboration, other bands began to work in the spirit of the movement, so that the term rock lived on in opposition. After all, it was often used synonymously with AvantProg, i.e. as a pure style designation for various experimental or avant-garde varieties and subgenres of progressive rock.

Music genre

Musically, the original RIO groups moved in the field of progressive rock, whose classic representatives turned to new styles at the end of the 1970s or went their separate ways. Despite the stylistic inequality between the RIO bands, the distinguishing feature from classic progressive rock is a turning away from its melody-like side, which is more experimental with clear influences from folk , jazz , chamber music , new music or classical avant-garde of the 20th century.

The actual RIO connection broke up quickly, but bands that are musically moving in the same direction are still called RIO today. In this context, RIO is also often referred to as AvantProg . Examples of later bands are:

Festivals

In Carmaux

In April 2007 there was another rock-in-opposition festival in the Maison de la Musique de Cap Découverte in Carmaux , France. The organizers were Roger Trigaux from Present together with Michel Besset , who only invited musicians who followed the RIO concept. It played Magma , Faust , the Peter Blegvad Trio (with Chris Cutler and John Greaves ), Salle Gaveau, Present, Zao , Mats Morgan band , Guapo and NeBeLNeST.

In September 2009 there was a 2nd RIO Festival, which took place again in Carmaux. It played Electric Epic , Magma, Charles Hayward , Aranis , Combat Astronomy , Kōenji Hyakkei , Yolk , The Muffins , Present, Guapo, Univers Zero and Present along with Univers Zero.

Performed at the 3rd RIO Festival in Carmaux in 2010: Gong , Art Bears Songbook, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum , Jannick Top / Infernal Machina, Thierry Zaboitzeff , Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Rational Diet , Full Blast , Miriodor, Genevieve Foccroulle and Aquaserge .

In 2011, at the 4th RIO Festival in Carmaux, the Belgian groups Present, Univers Zéro and Aranis played together as a 17-piece band called Once Upon a Time in Belgium . Also performed: Alamaailman Vasarat , Vialka , Yugen , Gargantua , Panzerballett , Jack Dupon , Grumpf Quartet , Sax Ruins vs. Ruins Alone vs. Ono Ryoko, Dispositivoperilanciobliquodiunasferett. At this festival Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder shot the documentary Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition .

For the 5th RIO Festival in 2012 the following were invited: Kafka & B. De La Fuente, Caravan , One Shot , Spoke Orkestra , We Insist! , Strange Enquête , Thinking Plague, Magma, Mr le Directeur , Masterclass Christian Vander , FAT 32 , Erik Baron and Hassan k . It was also Romantic Warriors II shown.

At the 6th Festival in September 2013 occurred: L'Enfance Rouge , Aranis, We Insist !, Faust, Cheer-Accident , Univers Zero, Poil , Soft Machine , Korekyojinn , miRthkon , Senogul , Guapo, Nullstellensatz , tanks Pappa , Ulan Bator , Present.

At the 7th festival in September 2014: Artaud Beats , Artus , Caillou , Chromb! , Doctor Nerve , Fred Frith , Le * Silo , Magma, ni , Offering , Stabat Akish , The Young Gods .

At the 8th Festival in September 2015, Aquaserge, Ukandanz , Present, Rêve Général , Art Zoyd, Mats & Morgan, Pryapisme , Happy Family , Alec K Redfearn and the Eyesores , Secret Chiefs 3 and The Very Big Experimental Toubifri Orchestra played . As a special feature, the 44.5th anniversary of Art Zoyd was celebrated when Gérard Hourbette and Thierry Zaboïtzeff reformed a 10-member band and performed a retrospective from 1976 to the present day.

At the 9th Festival in September 2016, No Noise No Reduction, Pixvae, Nippon Eldorado Kabarett, CICALA MVTA, Jump for Joy, Magma, Richard Pinhas & Arthur Narca, Uz Jsme Doma, ApOllonius AbRaham ScHwarz, Upsilon Acrux, and Half the Sky played. The latter band only played music by Lindsay Cooper , who died in 2013 and was involved in numerous projects as a RIO musician from the very beginning.

At the 10th festival in September 2017, Aranis, Cheer Accident, Faust, Le Silo, Miriodor, Trans-Aeolian Transmission, Gong, Acid Mother Temple, APATT, In Love With, Guapo, Slapp Happy played .

In Würzburg

In addition, both groups from the early years of the RIO and younger groups in German-speaking countries regularly appear at concerts by the music initiative FreakShow Würzburg . As part of this, both individual concerts and the FreakShow art rock festivals that have taken place every year since 2001 a. Univers Zéro, Present, Doctor Nerve, Cheer-Accident, Thinking Plague, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Guapo, 5uu's, October Equus , Rational Diet , Yugen, Discus and Aranis, some of them several times. Geographically, numerous nations are represented here: from long-standing RIO countries of origin such as Belgium, Great Britain and the USA, the spectrum ranges within the named bands to Spain and Italy to Belarus and the Philippines.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b RIO facts , squidco.com , accessed on December 31, 2012.
  2. ↑ a b Rock in Opposition , ccutler.com , accessed December 31, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b RIO , squidco.com , accessed December 31, 2012.
  4. ↑ Guide: Rock In Opposition , Babyblaue Seiten , accessed on December 31, 2012.
  5. ↑ Reviews of Romantic Warriors II: A Progressive Music Saga About Rock in Opposition on the Baby Blue Pages
  6. ↑ Dave Lynch: Romantic Warriors II from Allmusic , accessed December 31, 2012.
  7. ↑ Concert overview of the FreakShow Würzburg