#stocken

Conductor and composer Pierre Boulez was one of the most articulate members of the French postwar musical avant-garde, but now many music lovers believe  his compositions are sonic sewage. Boulez played a role in driving contemporary  music into a cul-de-sac.

- Frederick Stocken

Pierre Boulez’s musical avant-garde radicalism was part of how he rose in the public consciousness in the first place. But only a part. Boulez was a figure who believed, passionately, outspokenly and uncompromisingly, in the relevance of art to today’s world. In doing so he was controversial, sometimes confrontational and he divided opinion – but the trade-off was that he, and his work, resonated far beyond that of most composers and conductors. And while recalling the more controversial of his comments, it’s also important to remember that many would first have had their ears opened to classical music through his teaching (itself unorthodox – such as his so-called Rug Concerts in New York), the institutions and ensembles he founded (IRCAM, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Cité de la Musique), or the clarity and advocacy brought by his recordings of 20th-century repertoire. This, music-making, was above all his life’s work and his legacy.

Die Hand aus der Erde (1): Erwartungen

Was es zu erwarten gilt ist nichts im Vergleich zu dem was immer im Dunklen des Unerwarteten verborgen bleibt. Du meinst Dein Weg liegt hell und klar vor Dir, gerade und eben, bis plötzlich eine Hand hervorschießt und die Festigkeit der Fläche auf der Du auftrittst aufweicht. Die Hand, die Dich am Knöchel packt und diesen fest umklammert, aufhält. Du strauchelst und musst acht geben nicht zu…

New Post has been published on http://www.covergap.com/flying-dog-by-jplantin/

This weekend I went to Stockholm with a bunch of exchange friends- Hugh, Thomas (burger), Laura, Nick, Chris x2, Sarah, Rachel, and Tiff. The boys stayed with a friend of Hugh’s from Queens who is going to the Stockholm School of Economics and us girls bunked up in a hostel.

This was my first hostel experience and it was definitely very interesting.. Location was great…We were staying in Gamla Stan, which is the old part of Stockholm. I loved the area; there were tons of old shops, cafés, and really beautiful old buildings. But the people in our hostel were a little different.. we slept in a ten person room so we didn’t know six of them. I found this really difficult when trying to sleep .. And we had some loud snorers in our room.

But the weekend was fabulous anyway!!!

On the first day we went to a bunch of bars around the city. We went to a “medieval bar”, a “Viking bar”, and a Scottish pub. I had to carry my giant backpacking bag to each one since we hadn’t checked into our hostel yet. This was a big conversation starter. I got asked by at least three men “where I was from?!??” Did I walk from the Arctic?” and “where were my skis??” (I was also wearing my huge fur parka and my Sorels so I literally looked like a giant snow, mountain beast)

The Viking bar was probably my favourite place of the night. They had a group singing and playing the fiddle/violin and served traditional Nordic “mead” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead)

The next day we went to the Royal Palace in the morning. The palace was in Gamla Stan so it was a short walk from our hostel. We toured through the guest apartments, the treasury, and went to a special exhibit on the current King, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. 2013 was his 40th year of being King so the exhibit commemorated his leadership. I learned that he was also forced into the position when he was a young man- his father unexpectedly died. So, Sweden essentially saw Carl "grow up"- get married, have kids etc... 

In the afternoon, we walked around central Stockholm; poking into little shops, walking around the park etc.. It was nice but unfortunately the weather was reaaally bad (it was raining, cold, and grey). Later that night we went to Tom's residence, met some of his floormates, and went out to a nightclub in Stockholm called the Marquise. The "entertainment" experience in Stockholm was really different than in Canada (or even in Uppsala!!). First of all, the club opened at midnight! You also had to sign up on the guest list to get in, and each guy had to bring a "plus one" (a girl) to be guaranteed entrance. One of the guys in our group also got initially turned down because he wasn't wearing dress shoes! 

Overall the night was really fun! We danced to Avicii (very famous Swedish DJ), and lounged in the 'bar'/lounge area, feeling very posh amongst the stylish Swedes. 

The next day we were all a little tired from our club adventure (we got home around 4:30am), so we slept in until noon then decided to head to the Vasa Museum. This museum is the home of a giant Viking ship that was recovered from the base of the Baltic Sea. It was really amazing to think that this ship we were seeing was so old. To read more about it, go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship) !

Overall, I had a great time in Stockholm. Some key take-aways for me are:

It is very, very expensive. Even though we walked EVERYWHERE and ate out of grocery stores we had to spend a lot of money. To give you an idea of the costs, the subway costs about $6 Canadian per ride, a black coffee is $5, and entrance to museums/exhibits started at about $18 for students.

The people dress very nicely. Even though it was raining and cold, most Swedes were wearing very nice clothes still. No rainboots, or even snow boots were to be seen. I did see quite a few fur coats and hats though!

The nightlife is a ton of fun. There is a vibrant, youthful energy at night in Stockholm. Young women can be seen walking around in heeled boots and skirts with beautiful blonde curls, ready to take on the evening. Young men stroll about heading for the lounges and upscale nightclubs around town.

I love the restaurants. Sadly I could not eat in many (we only had one sit-down meal), but I loved watching the Swedes eating dinner. Most restaurants were very classy-  essentially all had tablecloths, candles, and big windows to look onto the street. Groups of Swedes would sit, sipping champagne and wine while the waiters gracefully walked by serving. I would love to come back once I can afford it and eat dinner among the wealthy.

On Tuesday night I had the opportunity to experience my first Nation event. Stockholms Nation held a “reccemottagning” for the new inductees into the Nation (both Swedish and foreign). I don’t think there is a direct English translation for “reccemottagning” but essentially we were told it was a reception to introduce all new members to the workings of the Nation, followed by a dinner. It sounded more like a presentation or slightly dull event to me… but that was definitely totally wrong. 

We were told that women could wear anything at this event, so I chose to wear a black skirt with a blue top and heels. The boys were instructed to wear an “odd jacket” - which we deciphered as a jacket that was not the same colour as your pants.

When we arrived everyone was very “posh” looking. Gorgeous girls, well-dressed guys etc… very country club meets yacht club. I was honestly quite terrified at first. 

We were then put into groups and given two “fadders” (older Stockholms Nation members) to lead us around to different stations. At each station we were introduced to one part of the Nation, and had to play a game. Stations included lunch, breakfast, newspaper, theatre club, pub guys, special events, jazz band, along with about 5 others. All the food related ones had their members tell us about their work preparing lunches (or breakfasts, dinners etc..) for students in the Nation, and tried to get us to sign up to assist them.

This is an aspect of the Nation that I find so cool. Students sign up voluntarily to help with all the operations of the Nation. This means that literally everything is run by the students!! The daily breakfast, for example, is organized by five head students, who then recruit other members to help serve/prepare it each day. Students do not get paid for their work, but they get a free meal and free drinks when working, and get free breakfast and lunch coupons for other days. They also get a line skip pass after working for three shifts. This pass is the biggg incentive - it allows you to skip the GIANT LINE (2 hour wait) that forms every Thursday at Stockholms Nation for their club night.. and when it’s SO COLD it is definitely worth gold.

I signed up for pub night, breakfast, lunch, special events and possibly a few others… I think it would be a great opportunity to get to meet more people and it actually sounded very fun! I also would LOVE to get the free food passes. Budgeting is becoming harder and harder.

Anyways, after the station members told us about their operations, we got to play a game/activity. Some of them were reallyyy interesting and so much fun. I’ll tell you about a few..

At the FIKA station, we had to spin around a bat 10 times (I was in heels), then run with a chokladboll (a very popular Swedish dessert) balanced on a spoon, and throw the ball into a bin without using any hands... and take a shot. Another station (‘the pub guys’) had us each drink an entire beer (or cider) after one another while they timed us. The group who did this the fastest won. That was a big shocker, but I’m proud to say we won (thanks to some great guys on our team)! 

Another really cool station was where they ‘inducted’ us into the Nation. At Stockholms there are five (ish) head counsellors who are in charge of the whole nation (similar to a president). So, we had to be put through a little induction ceremony to prove our worthiness to them. We had to wait in a dark foggy hallway, and then were led two at a time into a room. Once inside we were met by five very blonde, very “Swedish” guys dressed in army-like attire. They proceeded to sit us down (slightly aggressively) and demand our names/nationalities. After declaring that we were both Canadian (I was with another Canadian friend here named Laura) they started chanting “MATS SUNDIN! the most noblest of all hockey players!” and told us we were going to do shots to Mats Sundin. They also decided to give us “Swedish names” - mine was “saw-rah”. We then had to sing a traditional Nation song with them- basically singing about getting drunk and having a good time, and take more snaps shots. Btw- the "schnapps" is not the delicious syrup-y stuff that we drink at home.. we were drinking SNAPS which is a very dark, bitter horrid alcohol. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaps 

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. The night was so different than anything I could experience in Canada. We were served a two-course meal, drank champagne and wine, had shots of "snaps" throughout the evening, and concluded the night with dancing. It felt very classy and timeless- like I'd been transported back to the 1950s. 

Our group ^

The dinner table ^ 

Heads of Stockholms Nation ^

If you want to read more about the social events or history of the Nation you can read here: