(based on a clubs' column article in Bass World)
by Ture Damhus
Founded in 1987, Dansk Kontrabasselskab (The Danish Double Bass Society) is among the oldest bass clubs outside the US. Currently it has some 250 members spread around all of Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Sweden, Norway, Holland and a few more European countries. Members include classically oriented bassists as well as jazz bassists, folk music devotees and cross-over types....and amateurs of all ages as well as school kids, students, professionals, and seniors.
Barry Green once wrote about local bass club heroes in one of Bass World's clubs' columns. The Danish society also has a hero: Mette Hanskov. A true bass enthusiast and a talented player on the instrument since her very young years, Mette is today principal of the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra and teacher and coach for large numbers of students. Mette took the initiative to found the society and established a network of dedicated amateurs and professionals to arrange the first general assembly, where the first board was elected and the society's mission was agreed on as 'contributing to the development of bass playing in general and to the public knowledge about the bass and its music'.
The future membership magazine, Bastidende ('Bass Times'), was also named at this occasion and an editor for it elected.
Mette became the first president of the society and has since served two more terms. In between, a number of other distinguished Danish bassists have had the honor. The magazine editor elected was Preben Fahnøe, already then a veteran of bass pedagogy in Denmark (on the double bass as well as the electrical bass) and in his earlier days active as a professional bassist on both the classical and the jazz scenes and also as a jazz guitar player. Preben edited Bastidende for 12 years, assisted by a number of members acting as co-editors, including the present author. Recently, Pia Dahl Andersen and Per Knudsen
took over as editors of the magazine.
The young society in 1988 launched its first major project, a week-long get-together for bassists with solo performances, masterclasses, jazz coaching, listening to records, luthiers demonstrating their skills and lots of bass fun. The central figure on the classical side was Mette's former teacher, Ludwig Streicher from Vienna. Jesper Lundgaard and Mads Vinding, prominent Danish jazz bassists, showed us their art (maybe this was the first time we really heard a jazz bass duo performing in Denmark?). And Günther Krahmer-Pöllmann was luthier-in-residence. The Pöllmann family has maintained close relations with the Danish bassists ever since, the two sons Michael and Ralph eventually taking over from their father - all this not to the exclusion of other craftsmen such as Horst Grünert and Stefan Kratzenmacher, who have also visited us.
The next many years saw big events like the one just described alternating with smaller workhops, clinics, courses, and meetings where members would listen to music and discuss matters of common interest. Visiting bassists from abroad have included Palle Danielsson, Håkan Ehren, Ruben Giorgis, Wolfgang Guettler, Jorma Katrama, Thomas Martin, Duncan McTier, Aladár Pege, Franco Petracchi, František Pošta, François Rabbath......(see more names below). Eugene Levinson was the special guest for the society's 10th anniversary in November 1997, which in addition to masterclasses and various evening activities included a giant concert in the Danish Radio Concert Hall with performances of solo pieces, duets, quartets, etc., by Levinson and a number of Danish bassists (including several premieres) and also the formation of a mass bass orchestra with some 60 bassists on stage.
On occasion of the anniversary, Bass World featured a bass-inspired picture by the Danish painter Henrik Elnegaard on the front page of its issue XXII # 1 (1997).
Another large event was organized in October 2000, primarily by Mette and Danish jazz (or multi-style) bassist Bo Stief, both currently teachers at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense (the largest city on the central island of Funen) and was named Bassissimo 2000. This was again a week full of bass playing, this time with the attendance of a whole series of international tutors and performers: David Heyes, Ovidiu Badila, Teppo Hauta-Aho, Björn Malmquist, Bjørn Ianke, Arild Andersen, Miloslav Jelinek. Around 60 bassists participated. Quartets were formed in large numbers and practiced during the week, classical bassists crossed over and had a try at some jazz playing, mass bass orchestras were again established and so on. Every night had one or two concerts. Noteworthy was the premiere of a new concerto for double bass by the multi-facetted Danish composer Anders Koppel, composed during a few months in the summer of 2000 at the request of Mette Hanskov. Mette herself played the solo part in the version for string quartet and bass which was ready for this occasion. Koppel later completed a version with chamber orchestra and also a piano reduction. All this was published by the Danish publisher Wilhelm Hansen.
Even though Denmark may seem a small country seen from abroad, it is not always easy to get people together across the country, and therefore it has been important to have Bastidende appear regularly three times a year to keep track of the events and to provide a steady bass-related information flow to the entire membership. Preben Fahnøe has alway been full of ideas and has realized quite a few of them over the years, e.g. doing interviews with a number of prominent bassists and picking up on historical themes, whether jazz-related or classical. A number of members and the various co-editors have also contributed articles ranging from portraits of luthiers and repairmen to reports from courses and visits abroad and reviews of books, music, and CD's, so it is fair to say that it has been a very varied magazine.