Samla Mammas Manna was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band often characterized by virtuosic musicianship,

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

references and silly

humour Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...

, similar in many ways to the song-writing style of Frank Zappa. They were one of the founding members of the

Rock in Opposition Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by English avant-rock group H ...

(RIO) movement in the late 1970s. In 1979 they were Fred Frith's backing band on his solo album, ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

'' (1980). Musically, they bore a resemblance to the

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

. The original line-up was Lars Hollmer (keyboards), Hasse Bruniusson (drums), Lars Krantz (bass) and Henrik Öberg (percussion). For '' Måltid'', jazz fusion guitarist Coste Apetrea joined the group. They were on the fringe of the Swedish political "

progg Progg was a left-wing and anti-commercial musical movement in Sweden that began in the late 1960s and became more widespread in the 1970s. Not to be confused with the English expressions "progressive music" or "prog rock," progg is a contraction ...

" movement, although their lyrics were humorous and not explicitly political. The title of the album ''Klossa Knapitatet'' is a play on the Swedish phrase ''krossa kapitalet'', a common slogan in the 1970s that means "crush the capital", and also the title of a seminal progg song by

Blå Tåget Blå Tåget (lit. ''The Blue Train'') is a Swedish progg-band that used to go under the name Gunder Hägg, the name of a legendary Swedish runner, but after name conflicts occurred they changed name to Blå Tåget (which was a ride at the amuseme ...

, called "Staten och Kapitalet (Den ena handen vet vad den andra gör)". Some more serious elements of the progg movement were not amused by this frivolous attitude. The band underwent line-up and name changes over the years (they released albums as Zamla Mammaz Manna and von Zamla), reinventing their sound each time. In 1999, the band reformed under their original name for a one-off release entitled ''Kaka''. In 2002 they reunited again, this time with Japanese musician

Tatsuya Yoshida (born 9 January 1961 in Kitakami, Iwate) is a Japanese musician; drummer and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as of Koenji Hyakkei. He is also a member of the progressive rock trios ...

on drums, for some performances and their final album ''Dear Mamma''. The band played their first concerts in the US in August 2003, in Chicago at Schuba's, and at the annual Progday festival in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. In 2005 the band opened the international

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

that took place in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, InProg 2005. Hollmer died in December 2008.

Discography

as Samla Mammas Manna *''Samla Mammas Manna'' (1971) *'' Måltid'' (1973) *''Klossa Knapitatet'' (1974) *''Snorungarnas symfoni'' (1976) *''Kaka'' (1999) *''Dear Mamma'' (2002) as Zamla Mammaz Manna *''För äldre nybegynnare'' (1977) *''Schlagerns mystik'' (1978) *''Familjesprickor'' (1980) as von Zamla *''Zamlaranamma'' (1982) *''No Make Up!'' (1984) *''... 1983 (live)'' (1999)

External links

* Swedish rock music groups Swedish progressive rock groups Rock in Opposition Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical groups reestablished in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical groups from Uppsala Silence Records artists {{Sweden-band-stub

Discography

See also

External links