Laibach are best known for their cover versions of pop songs which have been rerendered in such a way as to reveal formerly hidden or unnoticed messages, often commenting on political totalitarianism or rock stardom’s own forms of dictatorship. This was done most successfully on Opus Dei, especially on their cover of One Vision. Named Geburt Einer Nation after D. W. Griffith’s classic film The Birth of a Nation, Queen’s lyrics are sung in German to a strident military beat. All of a sudden lines like “one flesh, one blood, one true religion” start sounding suspiciously familiar...
However the bulk of Laibach’s output is their own work. Their own early experiments with totalitarian ambiguity led to their being outlawed in then-Communist Yugoslavia; their name was made illegal so the band resorted to using their black-cross emblem on posters instead. To this day their work deals with similar ideas but frequently Laibach reference their own legendary status and tongue-in-cheekily play with the kinds of in-jokes a band accrues in over 25 years of work.
Laibach’s musical style has varied a lot over the years. They began as avant-garde industrial musicians, producing what could best be described as ambient noise but soon discovered the joys of the martial rhythm. Having produced a couple of albums of heavy martial industrial music, they began to expand sonically. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia their difficult but rewarding album Kapital included hip-hop influences among many others and NATO borrowed from techno while keeping the bombastic atmosphere. The next offering Jesus Christ Superstars came after quite a hiatus and it may have shocked a lot of people with its balls-out metal guitar riffs. The 2003 album WAT returns to a more electronic sound; working with techno producer umek has produced a slightly odd album of electro beats.
Volk was released on October 20, 2006, preceded by the single Anglia. The album contains 14 songs composed and produced together with Silence, inspired by national anthems.
2008 Laibach released new album, titled Kunst der Fuge. This album is the laibachian interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's work The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The majority of the material has been created already in 2006 and premierly performed the same year on June the 1st at Bachfest festival in Leipzig.
VOLKSWAGNER is the title of a musical project which was realized in collaboration between Laibach and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra (2009). Laibach also cooperated with the composer and conductor Izidor Leitinger on this project, and it was decided that together they would compose a work which will in a specific manner interpret some of Wagner's better known musical motifs and combine them into a unified symphonic electronic suite.
From a formal point of view, the collaborating artists have decided to seek in Wagner the rudiments of modernism, which first through Mahler, Bruckner, and Debussy, and subsequently through Schöenberg, Berg, and Webern, developed into the core of the jazz music of the sonic experimentalists, such as Miles Davis and Sun Ra, and to upgrade them with the ambient electronic spectrum that has been developing over the last three decades. In addition, the suite will address the history of the 20th century – modernism crossbred with pop art.
4.4. 2012 a movie titeled Iron Sky was released. Laibach in collaboration with Ben Watkins as a co-writer and producer of the score provided soundtrack for Moon Nazi Invasion in Iron Sky.
Official Laibach website: www.laibach.org
National Reservation
Laibach Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Moved us on these reservations
Took away our ways of life
A hand grenade, and a carving knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the things we made by hand
Are nowadays made in japan
Eastern people!
Eastern tribe!
So proud to live, so proud to die
They took the whole eastern nation
Locked us in these reservations
Although we wear our shirts and ties
We're still the red man deep inside
Although they changed our ways of hope
They'll never change our heart and soul
And then someday when the world has learned
Civilization will return
Will return...
The Laibach song National Reservation highlights the mistreatment of Native Americans who were forced to move onto reservations, and the destruction of their culture and way of life. The first verse mentions how the eastern Native Americans were moved onto reservations, where they were stripped of their traditional ways of life, language, and skills. The second verse continues to describe how the Native Americans were locked up in the reservations, but despite being forced to dress and act like the dominants (wearing shirts and ties), they still remain Native Americans within. The lyrics also acknowledge that the power of civilization will someday return and free them from their oppression.
Line by Line Meaning
They took the whole eastern nation
The government forcefully relocated the entirety of the eastern native tribes
Moved us on these reservations
The native population was now forced to live on designated, inferior lands
Took away our ways of life
The rich culture and traditions the eastern tribes had were forcibly removed
A hand grenade, and a carving knife
Violence and destruction was used to intimidate and control the eastern tribes
Took away our native tongue
The government forcefully implemented their language system, erasing native languages and making them learn English
And taught their English to our young
The younger generation was subjected to learn the English language and abandon their native tongue
And all the things we made by hand
The government's control over the east tribe took away their ability to create without being restricted and later led to imports taking over the culture and innovations
Are nowadays made in japan
The nation's products are now manufactured elsewhere and are no longer created from the tribe's origination
Eastern people!
A rallying cry emphasizing the east tribe's identity
Eastern tribe!
Another rallying cry that encompasses the east tribes as a single united tribe rather than individuals
So proud to live, so proud to die
The tribe was honorable about the pride of the tribe's entire existence
Locked us in these reservations
The tribe's ability to move and travel was restricted to designated areas
Although we wear our shirts and ties
The tribe has acclimated themselves to belong to society's expectations of professionalism, however, it does not take away from their native culture
We're still the red man deep inside
Despite being forced to integrate and abandon their traditions, the eastern tribe still holds the strength and identity to remain their own culture
Although they changed our ways of hope
The government forced the tribe to change its culture, which in turn alters the tribe's future
They'll never change our heart and soul
The east tribe's identity and pride will never dissipate and will always be strongly ingrained into their people
And then someday when the world has learned
A hopeful outlook on the future with the possibility of the world gaining knowledge and understanding towards cultural sensitivity
Civilization will return
A sign of hope that one day, the tribe's rights and freedom will be restored without opposition
Will return...
Further affirmation that the east tribe will be able to exist and thrive on their own terms once again
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHN LOUDERMILK, JOHN D LOUDERMILK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind