"Lol Coxhill was the musical director for this travelling troupe
from 1973 to 1975. This is functional music, adapted to the multi-dimensional
performances of Welfare State, Welfare State was a nomadic consortium of
artists, makers, musicians and performers. As said by John Fox in the liner
notes, the WS envisaged themselves as Civic Magicians and Engineers of the
Imagination, devising rituals and constructing images for particular times,
places and seasons. They travelled throughout Europe with a mobile village of
lorries and caravans, creating and animating outdoor events with sculptures,
theatre pieces, celebrations, dances and processions. Consisting of 16 adults
and 7 children, WS would stop for shorter or longer residences, whenever the
opportunity arose to "make poetry concrete". The record captures the functionality and the ceremoniality
of the music, though listening to it one inevitably misses the other sensory
elements needed to make it a full spectacular experience, but one might conjure
up suitable visual images from the sounds captured on this album, not the.least
the front cover pic which reminds me of the cult film "The Wicker
Man". Obvious referneces here to
medieval ceremonies and rituals and old-age mythology. It might bear some
resemblances to what in the UK has become known as the Travellers movement,
dating back to the festivals of the 70s and ideas of alternative life styles,
ironically at a certain distance from the welfare state, one might think." - Inconstant Sol
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