Duck and Cover were a multinational

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry ...

founded in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1983, comprising

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, N ...

(UK),

Heiner Goebbels Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, Conductor (music), conductor and professor at University of Giessen, Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 201 ...

( GER), and

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (band), Just M ...

(GER) from

Cassiber Cassiber were a German avant-rock group founded in 1982 by German composer and saxophonist Alfred Harth, German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels, English drummer Chris Cutler from Henry Cow and German guitarist ...

;

Tom Cora Thomas Henry Corra (September 14, 1953 – April 9, 1998), better known as Tom Cora, was an American cellist and composer, best known for his Free improvisation, improvisational performances in the field of Experimental music, experimental jazz ...

(US) and

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

(UK) from

Skeleton Crew A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item. Skeleton Crew may refer to: Music *Skeleton Crew (band), an American experimental rock and jazz group *Skeleton Crew, an American record label co-founded b ...

;

Dagmar Krause Dagmar Krause (born 4 June 1950) is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups including Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Her ...

(GER) from

Art Bears Art Bears were an England, English avant-rock Musical ensemble, group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler (percussion, texts), Fred Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, keyboards) and Dagmar Kr ...

; and George Lewis (US) from the ICP Orchestra. Cutler, Chris (1 September 1985), "Record Information: Duck and Cover", Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2, page 6 The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983

Moers Festival The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world music, world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. ...

at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth. Duck and Cover performed a 45-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the

Berlin Jazz Festival JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...

in October 1983 in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, and again at the

Festival of Political Songs The Festival of Political Songs () was one of the largest music events in East Germany, held between 1970 and 1990. It was hosted by the Free German Youth and featured international artists. History The Festival of Political Songs was founded by ...

in East Berlin in February 1984. Both performances were recorded and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the East Berlin broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the '' Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2''

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

Name

Duck and Cover's name was taken from the

duck and cover "Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion. Ducking and covering is useful in offering a degree of protection to personnel located outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still within ...

drill taught to school children in the United States between the late 1940s and the 1980s in the event of a

nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can prod ...

. The escalation of

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

hostilities between the United States and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the early 1980s and the Europe-wide protests in 1983 at the deployment of Cruise,

Pershing II The Pershing II Weapon System was a solid-fueled two-stage medium-range ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable thea ...

and SS-20 missiles were the motivation behind the formation of this ensemble and its music. Before the second performance of the "Berlin Programme" in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

made the following statement:

"Berlin Programme"

The "Berlin Programme" performance was based on a structure which had been designed by

and written by

using fragments of compositions by

(

Duo Goebbels/Harth The Duo Goebbels/Harth (1975–1988)—combining German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels and German composer, multi-media artist and saxophonist Alfred 23 Harth—became famous for its adaptation of and departure fro ...

), Cutler/

Frith Frith is a word derived from Old English meaning "peace; protection; safety, security, freedom, refuge". Etymology Derived from Old English ''friðu, friþ'', it is cognate to Old Norse '' friðr'', Old Saxon '' frithu'', Old High German '' ...

(

) and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...

plus improvisation by all members of the ensemble. The first performance was at the

in West Berlin on 29 October 1983. The 45-minute show was recorded by West Berlin Radio ( RIAS) and broadcast on 28 August 1984. The songs used were: *"Rats and Monkeys" (Cutler/Frith) *"The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" (Cutler/Frith) *"Kein Kriegsspielzeug Für Jonathan" (Duo Goebbels/Harth) *"Easter Day 1935" (Brecht/Eisler) *"Dunkle Wolk" (Duo Goebbels/Harth) *"Und Ich Werde Nicht Mehr Sehen" (Brecht/Eisler) *"Freedom" (Cutler/Frith) The second performance took place at the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...

in East Berlin on 16 February 1984, and was recorded and mixed by radio engineers from

Rundfunk der DDR Rundfunk der DDR (, 'GDR Broadcasting'; from about 1948 to 1972 Deutscher Demokratischer Rundfunk, 'German Democratic Broadcasting') was the collective designation for radio broadcasting organized by the State Broadcasting Committee in the East ...

directly onto ¼"

master tape Master recordings, or simply masters, are the original recordings—including Mastering (audio), post-recording mixes and Record production, production edits—of audio performances, from which all analog and digital copies of the audio are derived ...

. This 40-minute performance was broadcast across

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

later in February 1984, and contained the following pieces: *"3000 Explosions" *"Dark Cloud" (Duo Goebbels/Harth) *"Walls are Loosening" (Cutler/Frith) *"Rats and Monkeys" (Cutler/Frith) *"Pause" *"Easter Day 1935" (Brecht/Eisler) *"Kein Kriegspielzeug Für Jonathan" (Duo Goebbels/Harth) *"The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" (Cutler/Frith) *"The Address" *"Fragments" *"On Suicide" (Brecht/Eisler) *"Und Ich Werde Nicht Mehr Sehen" (Brecht/Eisler) To prepare the "Berlin Programme" for the '' Rē Records Quarterly'' LP release, Cutler and Goebbels edited the East Berlin radio recording with "repeated listening in mind". Cutler, Chris (1 September 1985), "Editorial", Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2, page 3 They were unable to alter the mixes but shortened the recording to 28-minutes, omitting the closing Art Bears song, "Freedom". Cutler remarked that notwithstanding the edits, the LP version "... does, I think, still convey that contradiction we tried to express at the concert: between the distracting and draining pressure of contemporary life ..."

Members

– cello, bass guitar, cassettes, electrics *

– drums, electrics *

– guitar, bass guitar, cassettes *

– piano, synthesizer, guitar, cassettes *

– tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, mouthpieces *

– vocals * George Lewis – trombone, mouthpieces

Discography

*'' Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2'' (LP, Recommended Rē 0102, UK, 1985) **Side 1: "Berlin Programme" (

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

/ Eisler, Cutler/

Cora Cora may refer to: Science * ''Cora'' (fungus), a genus of lichens * ''Cora'' (damselfly), a genus of damselflies * CorA metal ion transporter, a Mg2+ influx system People * Cora (name), a given name and surname * Cora E. (born 1968), German h ...

Krause Krause (German for '' ruffle'') is a common German surname. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 64.9% of all known bearers of the surname ''Krause'' were residents of Germany (frequency 1:531), 20.6% of the United States (1:7,541), 3.5% of Braz ...

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

) – 27:44 :::This is the original edit of Duck and Cover's live performance of the "Berlin Programme" at the

in East Berlin on 16 February 1984.

Re-issues

*'' RēR Quarterly Selections from Vol.1'' (CD, Recommended RēR QCD1, UK, 1991) **Track 2: "Berlin Programme" (

/ Eisler, Cutler/

) – 27:41 :::This is a minor edit of the original "Berlin Programme" release on ''Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2''. *'' The Art Box'' (6xCD, Recommended RēR ABox, UK, 2004) **Disc 6, track 2: "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" ( Cutler/

) – 3:42 :::This is an extract from the "Berlin Programme" of the

song.

References

External links

*
Duck and Cover
''Chris Cutler home page'' {{Authority control German experimental musical groups Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Chris Cutler Fred Frith