Anna Von Hausswolff is an artist unlike anyone who has ever come across my radar. Von Hausswolff is an artists that defies any particular musical genre. She has been labeled neoclassical, darkwave, ambient pop, art pop, ethereal wave, experimental rock, and drone but in all reality, Anna Von Hausswolff is her own entity and she is an artist that I feel everyone should know about it.
In 2020 Von Hausswolff released All Thoughts Fly, a collection of original compositions written and performed on the pipe organ. In support of the album, Anna Von Hausswolff embarked on an ambitious solo pipe organ tour across Europe in November and December of this year, presenting the latest work, All Thoughts Fly on 17 different organs. About the tour, Anna said, “These beautiful organs all have different manuals and dispositions, they are big and small, old and new, and they live in different spaces, holy and unholy.”
Catholic protesters prevented Anna von Hausswolff from performing at St. Clémen, a Catholic church in Nantes, France on Tuesday, December 7th. A group described by Nantes’ deputy mayor, Bassem Asseh, as “intolerant radicals” blocked the entrance to the church Notre-Dame de Bon-Port ahead of von Hausswolff’s show, accusing her of making “satanist” music, despite the show being organized in accordance with the Nantes diocese. the Paris church Saint-Eustache has cancelled her planned 9 December concert, citing concerns over security.
In the wake of Tuesday night’s cancellation Yves Trocheris, curate of Saint-Eustache in Paris, told the Guardian he had made the “difficult and serious decision to cancel Von Hausswolff’s December 9th concert “to ensure that public order was maintained at the gates of the church”.
In a second statement, he said he had received many hostile messages from the public that had prompted him to cancel the event, also taking into consideration the nightly meal that church organization la Soupe offers to those without means directly outside the entrance.
He added: “Let’s make something clear: Anna von Hausswolff is not satanist. Her work derives from her own imaginary artistic universe. She explores the world of the organ and plays the instrument in a singular fashion. Her music defends contemporary issues such as those facing women and the plight of the climate.”
Anna Von Hausswolff posted on Wednesday an image of her inside of the cancelled venue while protestors radically gathered outside:
Yesterday night the far-right Catholic integralism won over art, but not over love. Here I am waiting inside the church while listening to about 50-100 integralists chanting and screaming outside the church’s doors, blocking the way for almost 400 people. It was a scary, tense and sad situation and there was nothing for us to do but to cancel, we had too little security. My thoughts go out to all of you amazing fans who stood peacefully and patiently in front of these guys, I loved that you remembered that these things will never be solved by violence. Me and the church are working together and not against each other. This has worked very well, both parts are happy. Lots of love and respect. Thousands of people have traveled to come to these shows, and there has been nothing but love and affection in the air, both from my audience and from the church. When different people try to overcome differences and barriers that’s when true healing begins.
It is so sad to me that the Religious radicals put such asinine labels on music as well as other forms of art. Anna Von Hausswolff has taken it all in stride and been very positive amidst all of the chaos. She stated that thousands of people had seen this tour, “and there has been nothing but love and affection in the air, both from my audience and from the church. When different people try to overcome differences and barriers, that’s when true healing begins.”
Anna Von Hausswolff’s Tour is scheduled to resume on December 11th in Bruxelles, Belgium at Saint-Dominique de Bruxelles and wrap up on December 18th in Helsingborg, Sweden at Gustav Adolfs Kyrka.
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