Duck and Cover were a multinational avant-rock septet founded in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

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, ...

(UK),

Heiner Goebbels Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge' ...

( GER), and Alfred Harth (GER) from Cassiber;

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 one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

(UK) from Skeleton Crew;

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. H ...

(GER) from

Art Bears Art Bears were an English avant-rock 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 Krause (vocals; previously of ...

; 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, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. Performers at Moer ...

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 ...

in October 1983 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

, and again at the Festival of Political Songs 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 sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

Name

Duck and Cover's name was taken from the duck and cover 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 theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

. The escalation of Cold War hostilities between the United States and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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

Cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

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 theate ...

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 ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

made the following statement:

"Berlin Programme"

The "Berlin Programme" performance was based on a structure which had been designed by Alfred Harth and written by

using fragments of compositions by

/ Alfred Harth ( Duo Goebbels/Harth), Cutler/ Frith (

) and

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

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...

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 Langho ...

in East Berlin on 16 February 1984, and was recorded and mixed by radio engineers from Rundfunk der DDR directly onto ¼" master tape. This 40-minute performance was broadcast across

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

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 * Alfred Harth – 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 professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

/ Eisler, Cutler/ Frith, Duo Goebbels/Harth,

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 hi ...

, Krause, Lewis) – 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/ Frith, Duo Goebbels/Harth,

, Krause, Lewis) – 27:41 :::This is a minor edit of the original "Berlin Programme" release on ''Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2''. *''

The Art Box ''The Art Box'' is a six- CD box set by English avant-rock group Art Bears. It contains all Art Bears album and single releases, plus new material, including live and unreleased Art Bears tracks, and unreleased remixes and reworkings of Art Bear ...

'' (6xCD, Recommended RēR ABox, UK, 2004) **Disc 6, track 2: "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" ( Cutler/ Frith) – 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