Some thoughts on the St Nikolai anti-war memorial in Hamburg, which featured in a song by Tom Cowin and me, in the Ruins zine project. (To be found here: https://theknightsproject.bandcamp.com/track/chasm) I was asked to write this by the lovely people working at St Nikolai´s Cathedral: https://www.mahnmal-st-nikolai.de/ In the midst of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, the cathedral seems like an even more important space. May we all do everything we can to promote peace, and demand that those in power do the same.
I answered three questions asked by the staff:
- What brought you to the Memorial St. Nikolai?
- What was it about the Memorial St. Nikolai that inspired you to write this song? (for example an impression or a feeling)
3. Why did you include the line engraved on Edith Breckwoldt’s sculpture in your song?
1. I wrote the melody and lyrics for the song to music which a co-musician, Tom Cowin, had sent me from England. We are part of a small record label, Castle Cooperative Records, working on projects combining music with other mediums such as visual art or poetry. At the time we were collating music, poetry and images around the theme ‘ruins’. I thought the cathedral would be a perfect place to get inspiration for a song related to the theme. Tom’s melancholic but beautiful guitar fit with St. Nikolai’s for me. I spent an afternoon walking around the memorial, humming melodies to myself. I’d just moved to Hamburg two months before and was still getting to know the city (I still am). St Nikolai is one of my favourite spots in Hamburg.
2. I feel a sense of awe standing in the empty space of the St Nikolai ruin. Me and a friend reflected once on how important it is that it has been preserved this way, and not filled up with something. The emptiness leaves the visitor with space to reflect on the impact of war. This is where the title ‘Chasm’ came from, and the lines ‘They left it open/ So you can see/ The bare stone broken/ The bare stone bleeds where the bombs have left it empty.’ In the lyrics I try to embody or personify the cathedral. I asked myself, what would the stone say if it could talk?
3. I was struck by the femininity of Edith Breckwoldt’s sculptures, and the contrast of the introspective, personal quality of the inscription ‘take my hand and I will lead you back to you’ with the hugeness of the memorial, and of war. This womanly figure rising up in the middle of the ruin also makes me think about the need to embrace femininity and feminine qualities in this world, how essential this is if we are ever going to move towards greater levels of peace.
See some clips of the beautiful cathedral here.
Castle Cooperative Records 