Henrik Meierkord - Geschichten

From Henrik Meierkord

Geschichten, a German word for stories, is the theme of this album. It’s an album about family, past, childhood and stories, but also about Heimat, a hometown for the soul (Seele Heimat). The cover is from my fathers’ village when I was a young child, taken with his super-8 film camera. Twice a year we went to Germany from Sweden to meet our German families. Me, my sister, and brother loved the variety and complexity compared with safe Sweden. And all the stories... The album is a journey through time and relates to how the consequences of a war travel between generations.

This is how World War II and its horrors affected an ordinary Swedish boy growing up in Sweden in the 70s, but also his father, a young boy at the end of the war. How does it affect a child dealing with a sense of responsibility and a feeling of guilt for something that happened before his own time. About the heritage you get through your parents and the society they come from.

There is war in Europe. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has once again reminded us that peace is something we need to work on continuously. Sweden has not been in war for over 200 years, at the same time there are many people living here who come from conflict hotspots and areas at war. Parts of the Swedish population carry the trauma of war. Scientists talk about how it takes 4 generations to free oneself from the collective traumas of war. Those who have been living through the war are often silent, they struggle to survive, forget and return to normal life to protect their children, the second generation grows up with a feeling that everything has not been told, that something is wrong, and they begin asking questions. And so, it is transferred between generations and can thus be a hidden trauma.

Henrik Meierkord has as an adult reflected on how a war that was far away both in terms of time and place has been decisive for his own life and person.

Henrik Meierkord is a Swedish musician based in Stockholm, experimenting with different genres. With the cello as his main instrument, he also masters viola, double bass, guitar and numerous other instruments. As a composer, Henrik creates vivid, full-bodied pieces that draw as much from ambient music's meditative qualities as they do from humanity's rich history of classical styles. As a cellist, he injects emotion that is both relatable and intimate, across a diverse range of musical collaborations. With a work rate that is nothing short of astounding, Henrik continues to explore every possible expression of human feeling, from the heart-wrenching to the transcendental. And yet, a lightness and curiosity run throughout his process, with the sole aim to bring true benefit to the listener. His keywords in making music are pause, vacuum of time, the unconscious, consciousness, dream, meditation, a way of avoiding direct thoughts and reality. He combines Neoclassical approach with his string instruments and effects and sometimes together with synthesizers.