The Swedish musician Anna von Hausswolff has her show at a Parish church canceled at the last minute due to security concerns over catholic protests.
The singer’s previous show in Nantes received backlash from a group of people. They said her music is Satanist and were heard chanting Saint Mary, mother of God, pray for us poor sinners and claimed that her music primarily features pipe organ.
Hausswolff posted about the situation on her Instagram, sharing a photo of her sitting inside the empty Notre-Dame de Bon-Port church and captioned the post saying, “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.”
The singer added, “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."
Hausswolff ended her long post with the conclusion that said, “When different people try to overcome differences and barriers that’s when true healing begins.”
The protest was called ‘an attack on the freedom of creativity and expression,’ and the subsequent cancellation was made to protect the security of everyone present by the director of le lieu unique director, Eli Commins. Le Lieu Unique is the cultural center that promoted the Nantes show, which was canceled.
Anna Von Hausswolff Career Details
Anna von Hausswolff is a talented and creative musician whose songs are gothic organ creations filled with doomy mystery. The Swedish singer has shared about how stereotypes are tougher to break for women saying, “They have to defend what they’re doing so hard because they’re in a male-dominated genre, so there’s more focus on them being female than on their work. She added, “It’s still weird for people to see someone screaming her nuts out, playing loud music. I think, how can it be shocking anymore? We still haven’t broken down our idea of how the genders should be.”
Anna von Hausswolff is one of the few recording artists in the world who plays the pipe organ in popular music and has spoken about how she was struck by the instruments’ huge sound. She had shared she connected to the church organ, saying, “It’s a very physical instrument, so when you play it, you can really feel it because you’re sitting close to the pipes. It’s almost as if you’re becoming part of the instrument; it makes me feel small as well.”
The singer announced her first solo pipe organ tour across Europe in November and December of this year where she will present her latest work, All Thoughts Fly on 17 different organs, and the musician herself invited her fans to take part in her first solo tour saying, “Each and every concert will be unique in terms of sound and volume. So I hereby invite you to take part in this huge experiment of mine where I befriend these instruments for the first time and present ‘All thoughts fly’ for organ and 12 speakers. Go to church, be embraced by the sound, and let your thoughts fly.”
The singer’s fourth album is the most aesthetically adventurous album of her career, titled Dead Magic, and the singer herself has no recollection of how she managed to compose this marvelous art saying, “I know it sounds unbelievable, but when I was making it, I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t aware. I wasn’t present.”
The singer made her debut in 2010 with Singing from the Grave album. Anna’s first five albums were all hit which was Ceremony in 2012, The Miraculous in 2015, Dead Magic in 2018, and All thoughts flew in 2020. The singer is also known for her extraordinary vocal range as she can reach the operatic heights of primary influence Kate Blush.