Nach Jahren auf der Varieté-Bühne hat die “visuelle Musik” von Gretli & Heidi ihren klingenden Vollkommenheit erreicht.
Ihre Stimmen harmonieren perfekt mit Glasglocken und Flaschen. Ihre Fingerspitzen produzieren Klängen aus den 27 abgestimmt Kristallgläser in der Glas-Harfe – als Kontrast holen sie manchmal auch ihre Akkordeons dazu, um mit “fröhlichen Liedern einen Duft von Ländler und Bierstube” entstehen zu lassen. Gretli & Heidi mischen Poesie und Humor auf eine erfrischende Art.
Gretli & Heidi, die auch als Komponisten Catharina Backmann und Carin Blom bekannt sind, begannen ihre Zusammenarbeit als musikalische Varieté-Künstlerinnen. Sie spielten Tourneen in und um Schweden in einem Zirkuszelt mit dem Variete Vauduvill.
Mit Edelweiß bestickte Kleider, Spitzenblusen und Männer in Lederhosen sind die, für die Schwedinnen phantasievollen Attribute um den Klang der Kuhglocken, des Jodeln und den Stepptanz zu visualisieren. Sie konstruierten ihre erste Glasharfe im Jahr 2001 und seitdem erforschen und integrieren sie verschiedene Glas-Sounds in ihre musikalisches Universums. Im Jahr 2005 führten sie Beethovens Sinfonie Nr.5 zusammen mit dem Schwedischen Radio Orchester im Nationalen Fernsehen auf.
Pressespiegel:
“Es ist eine besondere Form der internationalen Musik, die aus der Mongolei, Süd-Amerika kommen könnte - oder aus dem zentralen Afrika sowie aus dem Tirol oder Stockholm. Einfache perkussive Mustern und weibliche Vokal-Harmonien… Subtiler Humor, ja. Aufdringliche Ironie, nein. Ein Mädchen mit ihrer “gläserne Harfe” …tritt hier als eine kosmische Sound-Maschine und das alles hört sich toll an …”
“Bald, ein heiteres Wiegenlied mit Glocken und wortlose Engelschören, welches nur entlastet werden kann durch eine experimentelle Akkordeon Melodie würdig eines Lars Hollmer.”
Englische Info und Hörbeispiele hier:
http://www.womex.com/virtual/ragadang_records/gretli_heidi/
Gretli & Heidi
What at first sight looks like an over the top Yodel album from the mountains of central Europe, turns out to be a Musical project of two Swedish artists. Gretli is played by Carin Blom and Heidi by Catharina Backman. Together with their impressive collection of cowbells, bottles, wine glasses, two accordions flutes etc. This duo creates a theatrical, experimental kind of Alp-noir music. Starting the album with a greeting the sun Yodel, followed by their thoughts of lonely girls, stumbling over a 4000 years old corpse and fighting over a man. Then they got lost in the fog and disguise themselves as men and get free rösti. It all ends in an ode to a guy who works in a glass factory for 25years. How all of these themes sound? Well, a lot of high pitched and airy sounds, sometimes surprisingly melodic and rhythmic but always with big and small cows just around the corner. This is visual music made for live performance. Not bad recorded at all, but I keep getting the feeling that I miss something and wish the two artists appeared in my living room when playing their CD. Something tells me their stage performance is quite spectacular.
© Eelco Schilder , www.folkworld.eu
Experimental alp music.
Amusingly, two Swedish musicians who have made an album with music inspired by alp music and when I hear the opening cowbells, some magical glass tones and two voices improvise on yodeling, I am completely convinced that I stopped in Swiss singer and musician Christine Lauterburgs fine album “All ein” from last fall in the CD player. The same kind of improvising quiet tones, the same space, almost the same instrument, similar voices and so on, but I realize that it is not.
Here it is Catharina Backman, from Katzen Kapell and Carin Blom that in the duo Gretli & Heidi have been inspired by alp music and ländler and perform their music on the glass, bottles, accordion and other more or less original instruments. The music is often beautiful, they are influenced by Astor Piazzolla, Lasse Hollmer and Steve Reich and it’s fun with musicians who dare to create something odd. Bengt Edqvist / Lira (www.lira.se)
Cowbells, glass sounds, bowls and women’s voices echoes of the imaginary Alps …
Gretli & Heidi move us in lightning speed to a fantasy-Tyrol, with high mountains and deep valleys – and strange musical instruments. Catharina Backman and Carin Blom germanic alter egos have a great sense of humor, probably because of their roots in vaudeville shows, playing on a variety of glasses and accordions, yodeling in tyroler dresses.
It can be fun in small doses with little Tyrolian irony of course, but … On this disc is much more than that. A spiritual seriousness comes through in the second track, Sanctus. And the subsequent “SOS” as well. The music goes in minor and is actually extremely atmospheric.
The bizarre glass harmonies and blows in bottles pulsating like a dying man’s bloodstream.
In “Die Steinzeit” as well. Big drama in stripped form, with tonal indications of an emotional drama somewhere at the nearest Bierstube. When their voices are slowly entering the sound with a flute is like watching a forgotten cinematic dream sequence signed a young Dario Argento. A little scary, completely unique and definitely causing a slight discomfort.
Dark drama in concentrated, condensed form, that is. Some form of circus feel are also on the disc, but it is far from the so-called new circus self distanced irony. Here it is heart and pain – for real.
The piece “Gretli & Heidi” is a statement in swedish about life as Tyrolian ladies.
The yodeling here is traditional and it is obvious that they are good at it and that they themselves enjoy it.
Plates and bowls play the rhythms and pace of the atmospheric “Vinterresan”, one of the strongest tracks on the disc. It’s a strange form of international music, which could come from Mongolia, South America or Central Africa as well as from the Tyrol or Stockholm. Simple percussive patterns with female vocals above. The girls’ own “glass harp” (with 27 glasses in!) appears here as a cosmic sound machine and it all sounds great.
Carl Abrahamsson / Tidningen Kulturen
