Søs Gunver Ryberg: ”They were true pioneers”

When today’s electronic composers feel that life as a professional musician can be a bit tough, they might reflect on the heavy equipment their colleagues had to haul around in the 1970s.

“They were true pioneers,” SØS Gunver Ryberg says about Gunner Møller Pedersen and Fuzzy, who created Denmark’s first-ever electronic concert: MUSIKZAG at the Glyptotek in 1972.

Strøm revived MUSIKZAG at the Glyptotek on Thursday, August 22 as part of Strøm Festival 2024. SØS Gunver Ryberg was one of the four electronic composers who reinterpreted the original tapes from back then and performed alongside Gunner Møller Pedersen and the three other reinterpretive musicians on the day: Anton Friisgaard, Sofie Birch, and Thomas Knak.

“I met Gunner and Fuzzy many years ago when I joined the Danish Composers’ Society,” SØS Gunver Ryberg says.

“They have always been incredibly warm-hearted and generous with their thoughts, and it has been very inspiring for me to hear all their stories about everything they’ve been through—the resistance they faced against experimental electronic music, how demanding it was for them to travel and tour with all that heavy equipment, and how much things have changed,” she says.

“Creating MUSIKZAG at the Glyptotek in 1972 would have required tons of gear because the technology was completely different back then, and everything took time in a way that’s hard to imagine today. They were true pioneers. Having those kinds of visions at that time can’t have been easy. It must have really required perseverance and passion,” she says, and continues:

“That’s something I’ve been able to lean into when I sometimes think that it’s a bit tough to make a living from music. I hear what it was like for them and think, ‘Oh well, we certainly face different challenges today.’ And then you can laugh about it together. And keep talking about everything that inspires us. Our conversations have really given me a sense of connection.”

Text: Christina Majcher