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Sven-Åke Johansson

Country: Sweden

Sven-Åke Johansson was a Swedish drummer, accordionist, composer and poet, born in Mariestad in 1943. He settled in Berlin in the late 1960s and was among the first European drummers to play free jazz, recording For Adolphe Sax (1967) and Machine Gun (1968) with Peter Brötzmann. In 1972 he made Schlingerland, an early solo free drum record, issued on his own SÅJ label. From 1976 he kept a long duo with pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, and later worked with Jan Jelinek, among many others.

Konzert fur 12 Traktoren
Have you ever heard a tractor orchestra? In this unusual concert, the tractor brands «Famulus», «Pionier», «Zetor» and «Belarus» are both the muses and the stars. Their engines produce a unique rhythmic piston beat.  Sven-Åke Johansson has composed a concert specifically for these 1950s and 1960s tractors which is being performed for the first time here in Thuringia. In his search for suitable machines, the composer made great finds in Weimar and environs. Under his direction, twelve tractor dri…
Filme II
Different films around the work from musician and artist Sven-Ake Johansson. 'Ludwigs Besen', a portrait by Rudi Ewals (1994). 'Telefonbuchstück für zwei gelbe Seiten' (2010). 'Gesamtkatalog D' (2005 - 2008). 'Solostück für Konzertbecken' (2010). 'Grenaphon Exercises' (2006). 'Stereo für 8' (2006). 'Tüüt' (2010). 'Die neue Zeit ist pausenlos' (2008). 'Konzum'. With English subtitles. Film dokumentation by Teresa Iten. With 20 pages booklet, photos and a german/english text by Thomas Groetz.…
Adventmusik at Kippenbergers Buro (1978)
From the archives of Sven-Ake Johansson artist and musician, original recordings from 1978, five tracks centered around voice and accordion, recorded in the studios of artist Martin Kippenberger in 1978. Historical!
The 80's Selected Concerts
'Rimski' with Mats Gustafsson, tenorsax, sopranino. Wolfgang Fuchs, bass clarinet, sopranino. Sven-Ake Johansson, drums vocal. Recorded by Christian Fnghaus, (Audionauten) Berlin 6.9.1990. 'Erkelenzdamm' with Richard Teitelbaum, piano, electronics, and Sven-Ake Johansson, drums, accordeon. Rec. at Institut Unzeit, Berlin 1985. 'Splittersonata' with Günther Christmann, trombone. Wolfgang Fuchs, bass clarinet, sopranino. Sven-Ake Johansson, vocal, accordeon, percussion. Torsten Müller, double bass…
More compositions
KNM Berlin, Ensemble Zwischentöne, Eberhard Blum, Agnieszka Dziubak, Gunnhildur Einarsdottir, Sven-ke Johansson, a.o. Rec.1992 - 2013. 'Italienische Vekehrsverstndigung' (1983) for seven woodwindplayers woodwind ensemble, conducted by SJ,recorded Ballhaus Naunynstrasse Berlin 1992. 'Klingend und festgehalten' (1995) five stations for combo drum set 'Bom-Zeke-Bom' (1995) for septet, Ensemble Zwischentöne. '22 Miniaturen für Akkordeonorchester' (1991) for accordeon orchestra. Akeordeon Orchestra B…
Harding greens. Symphonie fur Kartonagen
22 cardboard boxes in various sized bowed by 22 players with bowing technique that produce a new, almost silent sound in all imaginable nuances. World premiere with the Echtzeitmusikensemble, conducted by Titus Engel with: Alexandre Babel, Burkhard Beins, Tim Blue, Anthea Caddy, Johnny Chang, Gesine Conrad, Werner Dafeldecker, Chris Dahlgren, Agnieszka Dziubak, Helena Gough, Andreas Hirtler, Tisha Mukarji, Nathalie Hörhold-Ponneau, Berit Jung, Klaus Kürvers, Hannes Lingens, Morton Olsen, Michael…
Fur Paul Klee
For Sven-Ake Johansson, the capricious and mercurial character of Paul Klee's texts is not a flaw, but a quality in its own right. His thirteen settings capture precisely this quality of the texts. Johansson's clear diction, his distinct, almost exaggerated elocution, imbues Klee s texts with a lapidary air without stripping them of their personal and intimate nature.
Filme I
MM schumend. Wepa. Wirbel und einzelene Schlge für kleine Trommel. Ertrumtes Konzert. 34 Photos - Solo Performance 1986. SJ is someone, who, austere and prosaic, but with subliminal passion pays attention to the \'things\': in particular the lackluster \'byproducts\', the bulky till tongue-tied circumstances, the useful coverings of the alleged precious where he draws out the last, extracts a ghost. Thomas Groetz. Video dokumentation by Teresa Iten. 16 page booklet with a text by Thomas Gr…
1974 - 2004
Per Henrik Wallin, piano. Sven-Ake Johansson, drums, voice, trumpet, accordion. Plus Joe Williamson, doublebass on one CD. Unique release of a 4-CD box including rare recordings of swedish pioneers of free jazz and improvised music, as well as a 28-page booklet with extensive writings and photos, letters and drawings by the artists taking you on a historical, yet contemporary, ride through over thirty years of musical continuos development. This box honors and puts in to attention the gr…
Die Harke Und Der Spaten - About The Love Life Of The Garden Too
Sven-ke Johansson : accordion, vocals. Axel Dörner : trumpet. Mats Gustafsson : saxophone. Per-ke Holmlander : tuba, trombone. Sten Sandell : piano. Matthias Bauer : double bass. Raymond Strid : percussion. Die Harke und Der Spaten [The Rake and the Spade] is a musical stage play with 8 scenes, for one singer/speaker and a musical ensemble. The tools - the rake and the spade - are presented during the performance in differente positions, serving as the starting point for the scenes, reco…
Field Recordings 1969/70
Field recordings made at Mariental-Dorf (Germany) 1970, Göteborg 1970 (Sweden), Wolfsburg 1969 (Germany) Sonnenberg, Harz 1970 (Germany) with a Uher mono recorder and a microphone Sennheiser MD 421 N
Mariental tapes
Norbert Eisbrenner, electric guitar. Conrad Schnitzler, analog synth. Sven-Ake Johansson, percussion. Incredible recording from 1970!
Große Gartenbauausstellung
Sven-Ake Johansson, Andrea Neumann and Axel Dörner formed the trio Barcelona Series in the end of the 90's. Their music was utterly important for the development of the new improscene, the new ways of improvising by using your instruments more as acoustic bodies than traditional instruments. Johansson had since the 70's been experimenting with a music with less gestures but anyhow keeping the emotional pressure. Both Dörner and Neumann were pioneers in their ways of playing their instrume…
Der Kreis des Gegenstandes
Axel Dörner, trumpet. Werner Dafeldecker, doublebass. Sven-Ake Johansson, drums. Recorded in May 2010 in Gothenburg by Bengt Pettersson and Bertil Karlsson.
Berlin Symphonie MND 1968 - 72
Legendary recordings by Johansson and friends, precursor of today´s minimalistic impro. Includes 30 minutes solo by sax player Frippe Nordström. CD I recorded at Club Litfass, Berlin, 1968; CD 2, track 1 recorded at SR, Stockholm, 1970; CD 2, tracks 2-4 recorded at Club 7, Oslo, 1972.Sven-Åke Johansson, drums, voice; Norbert Eisbrenner, guitar, alto saxophone, voice; Bengt Nordstöm, tenor saxophone (CD2 track 1); Werner Götz bass (CD 1, CD2 track 1); Peter Dyck, cello (CD2 tracks 2-4).
Cymbals In The Night
Heavy solo release from deep as Marianas Trench Swedish drummer Sven-Ake Johansson. Johansson is primarily known in the US as the drummer on the two hugely influential Brotzmann recordings: For Adolphe Sax and Machine Gun. However, the Berlin-based percussionist/composer/filmmaker/performance artist/painter -- all of which he is remarkably adept at -- also has numerous FMP releases and a well documented relationship with Alexander Schlippenbach. Notable contributions to the canon of exper…
La Vase-Slikke
Sven-Ake Johansson (percussion, and crackle box on one track) and Christine Shenaoui (saxophone) recorded in Berlin 2009.
Grand Electronic Suite
Recorded at the Roundhouse 1972, during the ICES Festival."For this show we rehearsed a week in a small village in the south of Holland. The repertoire of the first part was a kind of "frozen improvisation". We made some written plans about the form and structures and then rehearsed it for the whole week. So during these rehearsals things moved from improvisation into fixed form, just by remembering what we have played, and polishing it. This is a working concept that …
Ol’ man rebop ensemble
Henrik Walsdorff (saxophone). Matthias Bauer (bass). Axel Dörner (trumpet). Uli Gumpert (piano). Sven-Ake johansson (drums). Recorded on June 1998 in Berlin.
Up and down the lion-revised
“The only existing recording by this legendary 1979 trio. Alexander von Schlippenbach and Sven-Åke Johansson was a working duo, when Peter Brötzmann joined them for a trio tour in Sweden in the fall of 1979. They were all three part of the strong growth of the free improvised music and free jazz in Europe. In 1979, though, the era of revolutions was already history. They had all played in groups that made any retreat impossible; not to mention their solo works. The music of the trio 1979 could r…
Abovensen...
Sven-Ake Johansson (voice, percussion) with KNM Berlin. 'Polis, Wachs und Pomade' (2000), 'Abovensen... (2002), 'Einen staubigen Klang finden' (1998).
Djungelmusik med sang
This is a CD of field recordings by the Japanese artist Toshiya Tsunoda. Microphones were placed inside small objects (e.g. bottles and drain hoses) located outdoors - either in an urban or rural sound environment. The work of Toshiya Tsunoda is concerned with the relation between sound space and cognition space, and often investigates stationary waves formed by fixed conditions in closed systems. He has previously released CDs on the WrK (Japan) and Selektion (Germany) labels. He also works wit…