BY MARK BOSCH, LEAD CRITIC
The power of “We” is one belief getting Norwegian composer Rebekka Karijord through the pandemic.
Rebekka has with Jon Ekstrand scored the documentary I Am Greta, an intimate portrait of young activist Greta Thunberg. And Greta’s activism is totally wound up in the wicked question of “We”.
As philosopher Rosi Braidotti has often suggested, when we say “We’re all in this together”, we must urgently ask ourselves the questions: “Who’s ‘we’?”, and “What’s ‘this’?”.
“We” are not one and the same, after all.
Yet, Greta and her peers have inspired countless caring humans of all colours and creeds, young and old, to gather together time and again as “We” to demand climate action around the globe.
Rebekka and Jon have, with their score, joined that “We”.
Rebekka joins us to chat about their music for I Am Greta, and the adjustments she’s made as an artist during 2020 — a time in which “We” is in question like never before.
Hi Rebekka! Firstly, I want to ask, what brought you to collaborate on this project with Jon?
Hi! Jon invited me in to the job, and I right away felt it was something I really wanted to do. It’s been one of those assignments that have felt more like a mission than a job.
It’s the second collaboration I’ve done with Jon; we’re also scoring an HBO series right now. We have a great time collaborating, with a lot of musical flow in the studio.
What particularly about Greta’s activism and story inspires you?
I think she just has this remarkable clarity to her that really cuts through and speaks to people’s hearts. But that same honesty and clarity also really provokes some people – especially older white men, for some weird reason!
She is very impressive in the way she is really focused on her task, and not seduced by the fame or attention.
Plus, I am a person who is very concerned about the climate myself. I have two small daughters, and I try to live as climate-neutral as I can.
This score felt like one of those rare chances where you actually can make an impact as a musician: if we could make people feel moved, make them feel more engaged watching this story, then perhaps we have contributed a tiny bit to lifting the subject.
That really motivated me, as I quite often find it hard to trust the impact I can have as an artist, in political or humanist matters.
You’ve mentioned that a more melodic and sentimental score would not have worked for the film, as it would have contained too many emotional triggers. What sorts of themes and soundworlds did you therefore want to underpin the soundtrack for I Am Greta?
Yes, we had to be careful with the sentimentality. Partly because Greta isn’t very sentimental, but also because music can be quite seductive, almost manipulative – and Greta is a living person very much present in people’s minds, right here and now. That makes this kind of score a challenge. So we tried to work with energy more than leading melodies and themes. Repetition, string ricochets – a kind of bouncy, fast arpeggio technique – meeting modular synthesizer arpeggios. A meeting between something ticking, driving, quite industrial, and something more human; organic.
You’ve also mentioned, on your Facebook page, that the score uses a “voice organ”, synthesised from “unique female, male and non-binary voices”. What made this custom-made synth particularly well-suited to the I Am Greta score?
Yes, I have made a voice organ out of 25 singers – male, female and non-binary. We ran my voice organ through Jon’s modular synthesizers, and it really created a synergy between the vulnerable flaws in a voice, repeated and processed through the rigid sequences of the synths.
We ended up using this instrument on some pieces in the score, and I feel it really works as a symbol for the movement – all the voices gathering, the viral journey throughout the film.
As well as your synth, you featured drones to represent the earth. In what other ways did you use instruments or compositional techniques to symbolise Greta’s personal story, as well as her message?
We ended up dividing the score into three voices: firstly, Greta’s own introspective, quite silent voice, which also means the retrospective, childhood aspect of the film. The second voice is the movements, which is very energetic, massive, repetitive, insisting. The last voice is the one of nature itself. And that we found through our cello soloist Linnea Olsson, who has an amazing tone.
We can’t ignore the subject matter of this documentary. Our publication is based in Australia, where School Strikes For Climate are planned to continue as artists and young activists like Greta combine forces to demand urgent political action to halt the crash course of the climate emergency. With COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing, we’ve seen here in Australia the repression of young people’s rights to protest, as well as artists losing many if not all sources of income. How have you and your peers been navigating similar crises in your part of the world? And how do you see your work developing in response to these times?
It’s really tough right now for a lot of people around me. It’s devastating how this virus is affecting artists and culture. And it’s devastating that COVID-19 has forced us to put aside the urgent climate issue.
Plus, I am very concerned about the world economy, and how this will affect the government’s willingness to do those drastic adjustments we need to cut the emissions. But I try to focus on what’s hopeful – for my own sake, for my kids, for people around me. Without a personal sustainability, one can’t make any changes.
I really believe in the “We” right now – in the power of collaboration and community – artistically and within activism, and also in everyday life: how we consume, how we travel, how we eat. We have to collaborate more with those around us.
COVID-19 has taught us that we can make drastic changes together, very fast, if we need to. And that is very hopeful to me!
Plus, the Greta generation is soon allowed to vote. I think we are gonna see a paradigm change politically, due to that.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with artists during this era?
Keep writing, collaborating, use your voice! We need comfort right now. We need to feel – to stay soft and open. Music, and art, is an amazing tool for that.
Thanks Rebekka!
Thank you. Stay safe.
Listen to the I Am Greta soundtrack on Apple Music/iTunes and Spotify.
This story features in our sister publication Level and Gain, which celebrates all things screen music.
Images supplied.
