Anthony Donovan founded Classwar Karaoke in March 2008, as a means to better maintain connection with creative friends, given his earlier relocation from the North of England to its East Midlands. Back then, the initial thought was to operate some kind of netlabel - much in the same vein as pioneering outlets like My Formica Table and Dadaist Audio, which had both provided digital release for several of his own early Murmurists offerings. The decision was taken, though, to instead create a structured series of compilations, to be called and operated in the manner of surveys, as opposed to albums. These would be released quarterly - with the first appearing in May 2008, establishing the pattern therefore of February, May, August and November.

 

The chosen platform for this inaugural release was to be the then peerless and ubiquitous Myspace; with the survey itself designed around that site's own features and limitations. As such, 10 tracks of no longer than 10 minutes apiece would comprise 0001 Survey, each with an accompanying image and some kind of text entry. Proceedings duly developed over subsequent surveys, as rudimentary mp3 players became available and able to be embedded on Myspace, from third party providers such as Reverbnation, Soundcloud and LastFM. Crucially, it was decided from the beginning that entries should, once invited to participate, be as un-curated as possible - arranged, neutrally and without any hierarchy, simply by alphabet, with all artists given equal priority and prominence, stranger and friend alike, with the former becoming the latter on numerous occasions for many of those involved, spawning new collaborations and associations. These became key defining characteristics of the politics of Classwar Karaoke. Its rubric was to be taken literally, therefore: no kind of pale imitation of the very things about the mainstream alternative cultures were said to be critiquing.

 

The earliest surveys developed by-the-by in this way, becoming ever-further populated on the back of Donovan's activity on Myspace and, by the following year, via his own direct involvement in the London improv and experimental scene. Classwar Karaoke's endeavours were not to stop at the serial release of materials, however. As little as a year after its inception, a first physical meeting was arranged, culminating in an evening of live performances staged in the North of England. Even this had an international flavour, as Colin Johnco brought an early version of his Dr(Dr)One project over, and Serbian artist Igor Jovanovic, known best as Lezet, only narrowly failed to attend because of annoying visa difficulties.

 

During 2010, Donovan took the decision to expand Classwar Karaoke, inviting Adrian Beentjes and Jaan Patterson to share equal curatorial duties. Beentjes, for his part, suggested the surveys could include short-films as well as music; and, after some experimentation with format, this became a feature until late 2015, when the film element was finally abandoned in favour of greater emphasis on developing outlets for the music. Moreover, with Patterson's technical expertise - with website design, methods of networking et al - the surveys and the whole look and feel of the project took on a greater degree of professionalism and aplomb. Importantly, Patterson connected Classwar Karaoke to Free Music Archive, whereafter, with that site's support, interest in the surveys increased exponentially, with unique hits going from the several hundreds to the tens of thousands, with some surveys eventually attracting well over one hundred thousand. Beentjes' contact with Classwar Karaoke dissipated over time, leaving Donovan and Patterson to take things forward in a more concerted way.

 

Donovan's short-lived live duo with Morphogenesis mainstay, Clive Graham, led to exposure to the work of Bob Ostertag. Ostertag had hitherto took it upon himself to make all of his own music free to download, and kindly allowed Classwar Karaoke to include several pieces over consecutive surveys. This meant that Ostertag collaborators like Fred Frith, Otomo Yoshihide and Joey Baron effectively made appearances; giving rise to the idea that others of such standing might be approached to participate. Surveys went on to include artists such as ex-Frank Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio, ex-King Crimson members Adrian Belew, Keith Tippett and Michael Giles, Einstürzende Neubauten's Jochen Arbeit, Geoff Leigh - ex of Henry Cow, Volcano the Bear's Aaron Moore, Martin Horntveth from Jaga Jazzist, Nate Young of Wolf Eyes, John Hyatt from The Three Johns, Improv giants like Lol Coxhill, Adam Bohman, Phil Minton, Peter Brotzman, Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Johannes Bergmark, Trevor Watts and John Russell, and such diverse practitioners as Scanner, Bryan Lewis Saunders, Jaap Blonk, Rhys Chatham, Zoviet France, Sifir, Pas Musique, Øystein Jørgensen, KK Null, Smegma, Sissy Spacek, Gino Robair, Heldon, Blood Stereo, Paddy Steer, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Astral Social Club, Torturing Nurse, Ludo Mich, Crank Sturgeon, Leif Elggren, AG Davis, Sharon Gal, Leafcutter John, Maja Jantar, Ergo Phizmiz, David Fenech, Jared C. Balogh, Guy Harries, Kommissar Hjuler und Frau, Steve Beresford, Jeremy Gluck and Anton Mobin. Some surveys by now boasted well over one-hundred participants.

 

More live presentations followed, most often under the banner of 'An Evening With Classwar Karaoke', some in collaboration with other promoters like My Dance the Skull, Minesweeper Collective and Outsider, occurring in the UK, in France and in Germany. There have been Classwar Karaoke radio specials. In January 2015, Donovan launched a crowdfunder initiative, in an attempt to finance a representative compilation CD, with artists donating full-length albums, offered for sale as digital downloads via a dedicated Bandcamp site. Both of these strands of activity are ongoing. A so-called 'Almanac Classwar Karaoke' is planned; being some kind of book-form compendium of writings, imagery, sources of information, likely with CDR attached.

 

By now, Classwar Karaoke has a roll-call in the many hundreds, with over two-thousand works released, attracting hits in the millions. Some artists and groups, often under several different guises, have remained with the project over many years .... along with Saunders, Jovanovic, Balogh, one sees repeat showings by Pixyblink, Sound Inhaler, Gurdonark, David Cunliffe, Robert Pepper, MaCu, Ayato, Thomas Fernier, Ruela Pinho, Qkcofse, Neal D. Retke, Chris Lynn, Zilmrah, Oblivian Substanshall, Jim Tuite, Anthony Osborne, Alexei Borisov, Daniel Heikalo, Mark Browne, Paulo Chagas, Stormhat, Berthelot, Matthias Boss, Michael Vick, Wilhelm Matthies, Ian Simpson, Juan Antonio Nieto, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Antonio de Braga, Philippe Gerber, Arthur Henry Fork, LIL, Paul Mimlitsch, Bonnie MacAllister, Chris Silver T, Drift of Signifieds, Patrizia Mattioli, Peter Thoegersen, Damien Olsen, Ronny Wærnes, Seth Guy, Carlos Ramirez .... and many more, too numerous to mention. A seemingly endless number of collaborations has been the result, not least those by and between Donovan and Patterson themselves - often around their Murmurists and suRRism projects, respectively, but also with sporadically appearing names like Lux P0GO and Viagra Mouth, and others still more hidden and nebulous. Whole projects have been given life via the surveys, notably Hopek Quirin's 6 or 7, and his PARAL-LEL with Kris Limbach, as well as Donovan's own 'Elements', which was itself a proving ground for many subsequent Murmurists' compositions.

 

The aim of Classwar Karaoke has always been, continues to be and will always be to provide a platform for creative friendships; a trusted quarterly port-of-call for great art, yes, but moreover a place, stable and fluid enough in equal measure, for like-minds and interested parties to gain some tangible sense of the great artists and great personalities out there, toiling away, without budgets and infrastructure, beyond the support and certainties of the mainstream.