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A few days ago, I sent out a dozen of questions to Bakhall... Instead of a straight Q&A, here is what Orjan Gerhandsson choose to share with us.
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 12:14:50 +0200
Dear Richard Joly,Insead of answering your questions one by one I write it as a block of text about Bakhall and myself and my work with Yoko and with this title and you can use what you like.
Here it is:
Bakhall is a small publishing house in Sweden run by me and my brother Krister and a small team of people. It was founded by me in 1980. Our motto is "rock steady sail through the decades". As you know publishing is more and more a business for the giant corporations, so how a small firm can compete with is definitly not through volume, but maybe with commitment. We have always been very devoted to our work, everything is done with an almost fanatic commitment. On our list we have many literary classics such as Kafka, Dostoevsky, Strindberg etc, but also many titles connecting to different types of avantgarde and avantgarde classics, rock'n'roll, jazz, dada, surrealism, conceptual art etc - Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Chet Baker, Charlie Parker and many others.
I am a Yoko fan myself, always was, so it has been an ecstatic experience for me to work with Yoko directly for a number of projects. I have met her several times at the Dakota and elsewhere, I have interviewed her, I have disussed project details with her - well, it is a dream come true, of course, I have to pinch myself, this is impossible, things like this don't happen, the fan discussing projects with the idol, but yes, it's true!
Over the years we have produced a number of titles with direct contact with Yoko: In 1997 we published John Lennon's book A Spaniard in the Works with a special bonus CD, in 1999 John Lennon's book Skywriting by Word of Mouth with a special bonus CD, in 2001 Yoko Ono's Grapefruit with a special bonus CD, in 2004 Yoko Ono Yes Box, a box with 2 CDs, a booklet and a card. And now we are working with a new Yoko book that will be published next year.
I am convinced that Yoko is a genius in the true meaning of the word, she sees more and grasps more than the rest of us and she has the gift to present these ideas in her seemingly simple but in fact brilliant works of art. The more you think of a Yoko artwork, the more you realize how brilliant it is. E.g. the all white chess set, "play as long as you can remember where your pieces are" - that's the game of life, really! To remember where one's pieces are! And the card with the hole and the text "A hole to see the sky through" - so simple and so brilliant! When you actually look at the sky through the hole you start thinking about all these things around you that you take for granted but in fact are fantastic!
Yoko is very very nice to work with. She is super-professional and she always knows exactly how everything shall be done to turn out correctly. At the same time she is warm and kind and thoughtful. And I think I know why: Because she really has a vision, a vision of peace for mankind, a vision that global understanding really is possible, a true belief that nothing is impossible!
Kind regards,
Orjan Gerhardsson
See: http://www.bakhall.com/english/index.html
Bakhall Printers and publishers
P O Box 1114
221 04 Lund
Sweden
phone +46 46 12 63 99
fax +46 46 12 61 82
website www.bakhall.com
email staff@bakhall.com
thanks to Mike, and Lynne for their input.
