Stockelborn

There’s hardly any history that has to be reworked and rewritten as often as that of music. The recent, long-overdue discovery of the Sabrosic composer Immanuel Stockelborn has the researcher Sandor Callahan and the musician Afanassi Viebeg to thank, who after years of study will provide an introduction to the life and work of Stockelborn at Pop-Kultur in addition to presenting a selection of his pieces. After being raised on his family’s dairy farm as a goatherd, Stockelborn was exposed to the folklore of his North-Caucasian homeland during his training and learned to play the Mirka, a traditional string instrument, before coming into contact with the compositional techniques of the Cologne School at conservatory. His compositions were banned by the Sabrosian regime for their alleged incendiary content. Stockelborn died impoverished in the eighties as the forgotten voice of a generation—a voice that brought together avant-garde and tradition with a determination that was rare both in and outside of Sabronia.