Progg

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Progg, a contraction of the Swedish for progressive music ("progressiv musik"), was a left-wing and anti-commercial musical movement in Sweden that had its roots in the late 1960s, and its golden age in the 1970s. It should not be confused with the English expression progressive music or progressive rock. It is important to note that progg is not a genre. There were progg bands playing progressive rock, but the progg movement encompassed many other genres.

The progg movement was closely connected to similar movements in arts, theatre and design, and to alternative life styles and left wing views. The people playing and listening to this music came to be called proggare (Lit. proggers) in Swedish.

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[edit] The movement

Many musicians and people working with music in the end of the 1960s were against the commercialism of pop music. New bands emerged, and also new distribution channels were created. Notably, the record companies Silence and MNW were formed, and started to record and release this new music. They created a new distribution company, SAM-distribution, which distributed the records of the alternative record companies, and so called music forums, places where concerts could be held without a commercial middleman such as ordinary concert arrengers were created in many Swedish cities (in the middle of the 1970s around 75 music forums existed). The word that was generally used about the movement was musikrörelsen (The music movement).

[edit] The music

Progg did not have a uniform sound and featured a broad spectrum of musical styles, although standard rock was the dominating genre. Bo Hansson played instrumental progressive rock, Kebnekajse played rock inspired by Swedish folk music, Södra bergens balalaikor played Russian folk music and Dag Vag played reggae, while Jan Hammarlund is a singer-songwriter. While some bands often had explicit political lyrics, such as Hoola Bandoola Band or Blå Tåget, others played instrumental music or didn't write about politics. Most lyrics were in Swedish, while English was the common language for other pop and rock in Sweden at the time, although rock in Swedish had been pioneered by Pugh Rogefeldt in the end of the 1960s. The two big progg record companies had a somewhat different musical profile, where MNW had more political songs, and Silence more experimental and instrumental music.

[edit] History

Alternative bands began to form in the late 1960s, but the movement emerged in full in the summer of 1970. A big alternative music festival was held at the field Gärdet in Stockholm between June 12 and June 14. The festival was illegal, as a permission for it had not been obtained. It was a big success, and the new indepent record company Silence released a compilation record with music from the festival as their first record, and signed some of the bands that played, including Träd, Gräs och Stenar and Gudibrallan. In 1971 MNW was formed, and in the middle of the 1970s around 50 independent record companies existed. During this decennium the progg movement had a strong position in the musical landscape of Sweden.

At the end of the 1970s, however, the movement started to decline, as many of the bands disintegrated and the music forums were closed. The left wing ideals became less dominating among young people, and the rock and folk music also became less popular than new genres such as hard rock and electronic music.

[edit] Opinions

The progg movement took a clear stance against capitalism and commercialism, but it was by no means a homogeneous movement. The political opinions ranged from everything from anarchism and communism to less clearly pronounced general left-wing opinions. The relations with the governing Social Democratic Party were not that good, which can be exemplified by the song Fy på dig sosse (Shame on you, Social Democrat) by Gudibrallan, which criticized the social democrats for deserting their ideals. Few people in the movement were members of any party, though the communist parties KPML(r) and SKP started their own record companies which joined the movement.

The United FNL groups were a strong movement in support of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, and progg bands often played at their manifestations and demonstrations. Progg bands also played at other big manifestations at the time, such as the protest that managed to stop the cutting down of the elms in the park Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, and the protests to stop the tennis matches against tennis players from the Pinochet-ruled Chile in Båstad 1975.

Among the "alternative" people at the time, many different radical and idealistic ideas were common, and is today seen as typical for the progg era. For example, the idea that the big cities are not good for people led to Stockholm having it's only decline in population in history, when 20,000 people moved out to the countryside. It was thought that people should not follow fashion, and not wear clothes produced by impoverished people in poor countries. Clothes from the Mah-Jong clothing company which followed these ideals were popular. It was also thought that food should be organically grown and vegetarian. These opinions were not shared by everyone, but for example the band Träd, Gräs och Stenar arranged a course in biodynamic agriculture on the countryside, and took part in starting the macrobiotic restaurant Fröet in Stockholm. In 1977 the record company Silence moved their studio to the small village Koppom in the forests of the province of Värmland.

Although, it's importent to note that not all bands that were considerd to be "proggare" were socialist. Bands like Samla Mammas Manna even made fun of the movement with the song Klossa Knapitatet.

[edit] Legacy

Some of the artists from the progg movement have continued to play music and managed to remain popular over the years, for example Björn Afzelius, Mikael Wiehe, Totta Näslund and Peps Persson.

There has been a stereotypical image of progg as something out of date and spaced out from the 1970s. On the other hand, since the end of the 1990s, many progg bands have experienced some renaissance, with many old progg bands reuniting for concerts and new records, for example Träd, Gräs och Stenar and Samla Mammas Manna. Some bands, like Nationalteatern, still go on long tours in the 21 century performing their old songs for a new generation. Silence has re-released much of their catalogue from the 1970s on CD, and old LPs with progg music are sold at high prices.

There are new musicians who have references to the progg music, and are sometimes called nyprogg (new progg), for example Lars Winnerbäck and Doktor Kosmos.

The film Together from 2000 is set in Sweden during the progg era and features much progg music.

[edit] Progg Musicians