Elgitarr och semperfajser, monterdel, Electric guitarr and semperfajsern

En festlig protest
1974 vann ABBA Eurovision song contest med Waterloo. Därför fick Sverige arrangera Eurovision året därpå, 1975. Men 1976, deltog Sverige inte alls. För många var det en chock – för andra var det en seger.
1975 hölls nämligen inte bara Eurovision utan även Alternativfestivalen, en »kamp mot kulturens kommersialisering«. En av artisterna var göteborgaren Ulf Dageby, under namnet Sillstryparn. Sillstryparn var från början en karaktär i Nationalteaterns pjäs Tjyveriaktiebolaget som handlade om hamnarbetare och strejker i 1960-talets Göteborg.
Låten Sillstryparn spelade heter "Doin’ the omoralisk schlagerfestival". Texten riktar svidande kritik mot kommersiell musik. I början av låten pratar Sillstryparn om sin »äkta Semperfajser«. Den ser du här, bredvid elgitarren. Det är en förstärkare, byggd av en gammal plastlåda från barnmatstillverkaren Semper.

ELECTRIC GUITAR AND SEMPERFAJSERN - Semperfajsern is a specially built amplifier used by the Gothenburg artist Sillstryparn, including at a festival in 1975 criticising the Eurovision Song Contest.
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A festive protest
In 1974 ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. Sweden therefore got to hold the event the following year. But in 1976 Sweden did not participate at all. This was a shock to many people but a victory to others.
The reason is that in 1975 not only was the Eurovision Song Contest held but also the Alternative Festival, a “battle against the commercialisation of culture”. One of the artists was Gothenburger Ulf Dageby under the stage name of Sillstryparn. Sillstryparn was originally a character in the National Theatre’s play “Tjyveriaktiebolaget” about dockyard workers and strikes in 1960s Gothenburg.
The song Sillstryparn played was called “Doin’ the omoralisk schlagerfestival” (Doing the immoral Eurovision Song Contest). The text strongly criticised commercial music. In the song, Sillstryparn talks about his “real Semperfajser”. You can see it here beside the electric guitar. It is an amplifier made from an old plastic box from the baby food maker Semper.