Laibach in Leipzig
There are a few bands in the world that leave an impression with you for days after you see them in concert. One of these bands is Laibach, whose individual, industrial sound has been around since 1980. This Slovenian group was invited by the cultural authorities in the city of Leipzig to perform their rendition of the works of J.S. Bach, who was cantor at the Thomaskirche and city music director in Leipzig until his death in 1750. This concert was part of Leipzig’s B.A.C.H. - Alternative Compositions on Historical Basics concert series. Last night, on June 1st, Laibach came to Leipzig to perform in LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE: Konzert für das Kreuzschach und vier Schachspieler, or Concert for Cross-chess and four Chessplayers.
The show was held at Werk II, which, appropriately enough for industrial music, is an old factory converted into a music venue. I got there early to be first in line, as Jim and I were back in 1992. This enabled me to get front and center to see things closehand. Second and third in line were also a couple of displaced Americans like myself, Brent and Lynn from Hamburg. They work over here as English instructors. I could see that Brent was a committed Laibach fan, as he sported a hat with a Laibach button as well as a Laibach armband, which he had picked up at a Laibach concert last year in Breslau. We chatted about Laibach in front of the stage before the show, when one of the guys in the band, Dejan Knez, stopped to say “Hello” to Brent. (He kicked himself later for not asking me to take a picture of the encounter.) When Brent asked what they were planning for the show, Dejan replied, “It is a surprise,” so the anticipation built.
The stage was set up with three projection screens at the back, four high-backed wooden chairs around a cross-chessboard table in the middle, and four Laibach lecterns sporting Laibach-logo laptops on top of them. The gray, slender lecterns had treble clefs fashioned out of metal on the front with a Laibach-logo in the middle of them. I found this a little funny, as it reminded me of the treble clefs on the front of the bandstands in the old Lawrence Welk show.
Soon, the show was about to begin. The four band members came out to their lecterns, with the lead singer, Milan Fras, last. They were clad in typical Laibach attire, that is, Austrian Loden jackets and knickers and, of course, Laibach armbands. Instead of his typical headdress, Milan was wearing an Enlightenment-style powdered wig, as were the other gentlemen. On the far left was Ivan Novak, an unidentified man was next, then Milan and Dejan. They took their place at their laptops, and began mixing the various samples that they were using to create Bach-like music in an industrial genre. It was very cool. On the background screens, the opening sequence showed black and white, grainy film footage of a lone biplane soaring through the clouds. This was later combined with bomber footage and film of US atomic testing, where men on-board ships placed protective goggles over their eyes to shield them from the blast.
After the first piece, the four left their places at their lecterns to sit down at the cross-chess board in the middle of the stage. Earlier, a lady from the bar had brought 4 snifters of cognac to the table. “Now what is going to happen?” I wondered to myself as they took their places at the table. The middle screen behind the stage now showed an overhead view of the table, which displayed a chessboard in the shape of the Laibach Greek cross. In keeping with the fascist imagery often used by the band, the cross formed an X on the screen, with the areas where the captured chessmen were to be placed making a vague swastika form, somewhat similar to a Hitler Youth insignia. They sat down, toasted one another with the cognac, and proceeded to open up wooden cases containing their chessmen, as their Bach-like compositions played in the background. The chessmen were in bullet-form, with the king being about the size of a .50 caliber round. You could watch the placement of the pieces on the screen, but, unless you paid very close attention, it was hard to discern just which piece was which after they were in play. The chessboard, being in cross-form, was 8x8 in middle, and 8x4 at each of the players locations. The rules were standard chess rules, and the moves progessed counterclockwise. It took a while for things to get moving, but once long-range pieces like bishops and rooks were free to move, the game heated up.
As play continued, the music went through various renditions in the style of Bach, some almost with Rococo charm, others brooding like Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. The imagery flashed on the screens included architectural models, giant power-generating windmills, musical notation, industrial wastelands, an oil well, as well as a parallel in the natural world to the lone biplane fighter and bomber formations at the beginning: flocks of geese and a solitary golden eagle.
At the end, the vanquished at the chessboard congratulated the victor (I don’t think they really played out the game to the bitter end, as they knew that when the next to last musical composition was coming to an end, they had to take their places at the front of the stage again.) The last composition of the evening (other than the short encore) saw the four band members attending their laptops on their respective lecterns. During the encore, Laibach came out and took a bow before the audience.
One thing overall that was quite noticeable during the performance was that the lead singer, who uncharacteristically was wearing spectacles, actually smiled from time to time, as did the other members during the chess game. They were playing chess just as you would at home, commenting upon and disputing moves, enjoying a smoke during the game and congratulating the competitor upon a masterful move.
Laibach has posted photos of the concert on their website.
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