Anna von Hausswolff is a Swedish musician who makes expansive, melancholic compositions demonstrating her expertise with the pipe organ—in fact, her 2020 album All Thoughts Fly is entirely made up of out-of-this-world pipe organ compositions. So it only makes sense that her latest tour would see her playing the pipe organ—an instrument commonly found in churches. Unfortunately, her latest show at Notre-Dame de Bon-Port in Nantes was ambushed by Catholic protestors who were offended by von Hausswolff’s music.
The protestors blocked the entrance of the church while singing, “Saint Mary, mother of God, pray for us poor sinners,” as a result of finding von Hausswolff’s music to be satanic. Due to security and safety concerns, her show on Tuesday night was cancelled in addition to tonight’s performance at Saint-Eustache in France. “Yesterday night the far-right Catholic integralism won over art, but not over love,” von Hausswolff wrote on her Instagram. “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.”
She continued, “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. When different people try to overcome differences and barriers that’s when true healing begins.”
It’s a baffling situation that makes for a modern flare of satanic panic. The silencing of von Hausswolff is a result of misinformation and hysteria that leads to danger for others, in addition suppressing creative freedom. See her post below.
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