Day 254: Kaizers Orchestra - Ompa Til Du Dør (2001)
There aren’t that many rock bands who incorporate a string bass, a wheezy pump organ, brake drums (yes, from car wheels), oil barrels and crowbars into their standard instrument setting. But the Kaizers Orchestra from Stavanger (western Norway) does just that. And they do it well. Well, they did. They went into an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2013, in the same year when I discovered them. But I managed to see them live in concert twice that year, it was amazing both times and it will remain stuck in my memory as some of the best concerts I have even seen. Once in Prague Roxy which was absolutely packed with about 2000 people and exploding with energy and then 5 months later again in Bergen, but this time in an open air concert with 30.000 people in audience inside the old Bergen fort. It was electric both time, just in a very different way.
For little over a decade Kaizers Orchestra were the biggest band in Norway. But Outside Scandinavia they are almost unknown. Their image and sound of jingly drums and wheezy old organ and their theatrical art of an evil circus band or a carnival freak show makes for a mysterious dark atmosphere and very entertaining concerts. It’s a bit of a Balkan gypsy music meets punk rock and there is something distinctly Tom Waits-esque about them. Janove’s gritty and raspy voice and his singing style, very syncopated and almost on the verge of rapping, yet intentionally quite erratic, enhances his image of an evil circus director even more. Watch that and imagine this is someone who studied to become a teacher. And to top their theatrics even more, there’s Helge Risa, aka Omen Kaizer, aka Mr. 250% who plays the old organ and accordion wearing a gas mask. He’s portraying this weird character who always stoically enters the stage before the rest of the band, in his gas mask (bought in a charity shop in Stavanger for 40 NOK back in the days), wearing a suit and holding a briefcase.
All of their song lyrics are in Norwegian, specifically in jærsk dialekt (valley south of Stavanger), which some may find even more fascinating (e.g. nerds like me), but clearly the absolute majority of people outside of Norway won’t. But I find that sometimes listening to lyrics in a language I don’t understand can be also liberating.Â
If you want to enjoy their unique rock / brass / industrial sound, their 1st regular record, Ompa Til Du Dør (2001, Ompa Til You Die) is the one to go for.
The album is a collection of stories about strange characters on the social periphery: sailors, soldiers, Mr. Kaizer and his gang and others like this.
If you ask what “ompa” is, it’s quite hard to translate precisely, but it is an interjection word that describes the cling and musical tone of a brass band of the janissary tradition, possibly close to Balkan folk music. So loosely translated, Ompa Til Du Dør means something along the lines of “make loud music with a kick till you die”.
Kontroll På Kontinentet (Control over the Continent) has a distinct fairground / circus band feel about it. And in live concerts it’s the song when the crowds go wild and sing along like mad. Story-wise it’s song of a mafia boss showing off and listing his conditions of how his successor should look and act like should he himself loose his life.
Resistansen (The Resistance) is a story of a mafia gang and their headquarters. The song features a brilliant group chorus before culminating in the euphoric chant of the album title
The song 170 is a story of a soldier stuck in a war trench, who is called by his general not by his name but rather by his number “170”. The melody reminiscent of an old shanty song, but its banjo line and a very slow, almost tired and clumsy, rhythm gives it more of a wild west - high noon sort of feel. Either way it adds even more character to the record.
My personal favorite of all Kaizers’s songs is the single ballad on this album, Bris (Breeze). It’s sung from the perspective of a character called Kristoffer, a ex-solder who came back from war wounded and crippled and now lingers on the periphery of society. He is pondering his war memories, the sacrifice he had to give to the war and society and while casually talking to the wind at the same time.
Happy Thursday, relax and enjoy.
Album highlights: - Kontroll På Kontinentet (Control over the Continent) - Ompa Til Du Dør (Ompa Til You Die) - 170 - Resistansen (The Resistance) - Bris (Breeze)
Playlist: Â https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7Â
Links and references: Â - Kaizers Orchestra - Wikipedia Â
