TEXT-SOUND COMPOSITION is an artistic hybrid standing midway between poetry and music; it can be either a poem in which the actual speech-sounds and voice are just as important as the meaning of the words (if not more so), or a piece of music in which the human voice and the music inherent in the language from the artists the sequence of sounds.

A group of artists at Fylkingen started working with text-sound compositions during the sixties. At that time the medium had difficulty being accepted either by the poets or by the musicians; amongst composers the demand for 'pure' music was still very strong, and poets still clung to metaphor and semantic elements as the basic components of poetry. But the picture has changed during the last 15 years. The tyranny of the established media is no longer so powerful, and a belief in intermedia art is growing amongst artists from previously opposing camps.

In 1967 Fylkingen decided to arrange an international festival for text-sound compositions. A number of foreign artists were invited to present three concerts together with their Swedish colleagues. Since then, text-sound festivals have been an annual event, which has also spread to other countries. None of Fylkingen's other activities during the past few years has received as much attention at the international level as the work in the text-sound field.

As a prelude to the tenth text-sound festival 1977, five Swedish and five foreign text-sound composers who have been active at previous festivals were invited to contribute to this jubilee record.

CHARLES AMIRKHANIAN (b. 1945) is a poet, composer and percussionist. He works as Sound Sensitivity Information Director at the non-commercial radio station KFPA in Berkely, California. 'Dzarim Bess Ga Khorim', which was made fore the 1972 festival, is based on Armenian texts by Victor Bedoian, an Armenian poet resident in California.

LARS-GUNNAR BODIN (b. 1935) has, besides text-sound composition, made his name as a composer of mainly electronic music. He has also worked as a painter and creator of intermedia works. 'Nastan and Plus' (Almost and Plus) is based on poems from the intermedia work 'Clouds'. Electronic transformation is restricted to phase-shifts between the two output channels.

HENRI CHOPIN (b. 1922) is a Frenchman who has lived in England since 1968. He is active as poet, painter and critic. The magazine OU which Chopin published for many years, has had a decisive influence on the development of the medium - it was the first to publish text-sound compositions on record at regular intervals. 'Définition des Lettres Suivantes' is an example of the way in which Chopin works with small overlapping speech-sounds. The piece is dedicated to Chopin's children Brigitte and Denis.

BOB COBBING (b. 1920) is the only British experimental poet to have worked consistently with the text-sound medium. He is also very active as a visual poet. Through his publishing company Writers Forum, Cobbing has made an important contribution to the furthering of experimental literature in Great Britain. 'Portrait of Robin Crozier' was made in the Fylkingen studio in the summer of 1976, when Cobbing was guest composer at the studio.

STEN HANSON (b. 1936) is a poet, composer and intermedia artist. 'Au 197,0' is a materialistic rite. Unusually, Hanson here works with his own voice.

BERNARD HEIDSIECK (b. 1928) belongs to the early group of French text-sound composers who started working in the medium during the 1950's. He has developed a consistent personal style in which the semantic contents of the compositions are significantly more important than is normally the case. He is here represented by a modern version of the Sisyphus theme.

ÅKE HODELL (b. 1919) is a visual and concrete poet as well as a creator of text-sound compositions in which the dramatic element is very prominent. This work has also led Hodell into the role of author of experimental radio drama, which received international recognition. 'The Voyage to Labrador' has a folklore basis in the form of cattle calls which are varied by the poet.

BENGT EMIL JOHNSON (b. 1936) is both poet and composer. His text-sound compositions are often lyrical nature studies. 'Behind Alpha' is a sequel to Johnson's composition 'Alpha' for mixed voices. Elements of this composition, sung by Bromma Chamber Choir, have been reworked electronically and restructured.

ILMAR LAABAN (b. 1921) is a poet of Esthonian origin who has been working in Sweden for many years. He has developed his own technique for text-sound composition, in which two or more pre-recorded sound channels are mixed with one which is made directly at the time of performance. In this version the direct channel is of course also recorded.

ARRIGO LORA-TOTINO (b. 1928) works in Torino as a painter and experimental poet. He has also published magazines and an anthology consisting of seven records of international text-sound composition. He works in the Studio di Informazione Estetica which regularly presents experimental art in Torino and Italy in general. 'Chiacchere' means small talk gossip.