Joseph Beuys – Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee

It always reminds me to an old former colleague simply saying ja ja ja ne ne ne all day. I always wanted to sample and release it. Unfortunately neither him or me are that famous like Joseph and so hats off to him.for doing this genius masterpiece.

CD version available to stream or download for free from Ubuweb https://www.ubu.com/sound/beuys.html

Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986) is one of the most important and influential conceptual artists of the 20th century. Born in Germany, he joined the Luftwaffe in 1941 where he was trained as Stuka dive bomber rear-gunner. In 1944, when his interest in art was already evident, he was shot down on the Crimean front effectively ending the war for him. According to his own (and much disputed) story, Beuys was saved by Crimean tartans, who wrapped his wounded body in fat and felt to keep him warm. This traumatic experience led to Beuys utilizing these materials in his art works in later years. Upon his return in Germany in 1946, Beuys enrolled in the Düsseldorf art academy where he became a professor of sculpture in 1961. As one of the figureheads of the Fluxus (‘flowing’) experimental art movement of the 60s and 70s, which also featured artists like George Maciunas and Yoko Ono, Beuys was never far from controversy. Fluxus was renowned for staging extreme conceptual art performances, which often featured sound and music. In this, Beuys was no exception, which leads us to one of the most desirable conceptual art records ever. Rarely in the history of recorded music has an album title been so apt as Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee. Imagine over 20 minutes per side Beuys’ voice saying “Ja ja ja nee nee nee” over and over again in various intonations. Had you been at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf on December 14, 1968 you would have caught Beuys at this legendary performance. With conceptual art performances all in vogue, this hypnotising soundtrack, based on a compositional idea of fellow-Fluxus artist Henning Christiansen, was released in several formats. With a little luck and 35 Pounds you might be able to buy a copy of the long deleted CD version (Joseph Beuys Medienarchiv 2001) of the full performance. Add almost 550 Pounds and a lot of luck and you’ll bag yourself one of the 500 original vinyl albums released in 1970 in a beautiful gatefold cover with integrated 12 page booklet. However, with most copies in the eager hands of fine art collectors that might prove a problem. An even bigger problem might be the 1969 ‘multiple’ edition featuring a reel-to-reel recording of the performance packed in 20 felt squares in an edition of 100 copies. A copy of that edition was valued at 30.000+ Pounds in a fine arts sale a few years ago. Not bad money for a clever concept!