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Midsummer magic: music and dance with loved ones
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En Hel Massa Lasse Interview with Staffan Scheja Swedish Folk Music
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CONTENTS ( June 2016 )
ART DIRECTOR Joan Law Joan@swedishpress.com
ADVISORY COMMITTEE Björn Bayley, Peter Ladner, Brian Antonson, Christer Garell, Anders & Hamida Neumuller
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Swedish Press
Musicians playing at the Folk Music Festival in Bingsjö, Sweden. Photo: Rolf Svedjeholm
Feature 10 The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music Interview 12 Lasse Holm – En Hel Massa Lasse Heritage 15 Vi Ska Leka och Sjunga
Hemma hos 20 Design: The delights of Stockholm Art Week 21 Treats à la Carina 22 Lär Dig Svenska 23 Road to Community: A united invitation to dinner In the Loop 24 Landskapsnyheterna 27 Canada, US & Beyond 28 Calendar and Events 29 Ads and Info 30 Sista Ordet The Early Years 31 Press Byrån
Cover image: HRH Prince Carl Philip, HRH Princess Sofia and HRH Prince Alexander. Photo: Photo Erika Gerdemark, The Royal Court, Sweden
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The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music By Lara Andersson
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n recent years Sweden has been recognized as one of the world’s most impressive pop-music contributors, with its musical artists and producers dominating the contemporary pop landscape at home and abroad. With so much attention given to Sweden’s stake in the future of music, it seems high time that we take a glance back at the origins of the country’s musical sensibilities. We hope to better understand what “music” in Sweden meant before the days of ABBA and Max Martin. Early Swedish music was primarily constituted by ballads and kulning, or herding calls. Kulning is a song typically sung by women for the purpose of calling sheep and cows down from the hills upon which they graze. Evidence suggests that its use dates as far back as the domestication of animals in medieval times. Kulning’s vocalizations are marked by many quartertones and halftones – which are often referred to as “blue tones” – leading to a haunting, ghostly effect. When not out in the hills, Swedes played melodies on instruments like the nyckelharpa and the fiddle. The nyckelharpa, or the “key fiddle,” is a traditional
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instrument that employs key-actuated tangents to change pitch. Traces of the instrument’s existence on a church relief in Gotland date the instrument to 1350. Though it was widespread in the 15th and 16th centuries, it wasn’t until the early 17th century Eric Sahlström with his nyckelharpa, 1985. that the nyckelharpa truly took hold, particularly in the province of Uppland. Much like the nyckelharpa, but more streamlined in construction, the fiddle came to Sweden in the early 17th century and quickly became the instrument of choice for many musicians. It is arguably the paradigmatic instrument of Swedish folk music, enabling jaunty polska songs as well as leisurely “gånglåtar” or “walking tunes.” Folk musicians were known as “spelmän” (men who play) and were integral to dances and ceremonies in rural Swedish towns. Jämtland’s Lapp-Nils, Bingsjö’s Pekkos Per and Malung’s Lejsme-Per Larsson were all beloved, virtuoso fiddlers, though they were sadly never recorded. Despite a wave of religious fundamentalism that reached Scandinavia in the 19th century and posited music as sinful, folk musicians continued to entertain their small towns through lilting melodies and dexterous playing. Still, the folk A fiddler at the music festival in music tradition was diffuse Bingsjö. Photo: Conny Sjöström and songs weren’t well documented. It wasn’t until the formation of Götiska Förbundet in 1811 that Sweden’s musical tradition was examined and treated formally as an essential part of the country’s cultural heritage. Götiska Förbundet, or the Gothic Society, was formed shortly after Sweden’s 1809 transition to a modern
constitutional monarchy. Nostalgic for a bygone era, a group of Scandinavian academics started the society to advance literary and poetic studies, with an eye towards contemplating Scandinavian antiquity. They saw the early Swedish agrarians as uncomplicated, untainted and originary and hoped to better understand them through analyses of their cultural output. Swedish folk music traditions, consequently, were studied and archived. Though the society was short-lived (it dissolved after a decade long dormancy in 1844), it managed to shine a light on the country’s musical traditions with Arvid Afzelius’s groundbreaking anthology of folksongs: “Swedish Songs from Antiquity.” Included in Afzelius’s anthology of songs were some from Sweden’s extensive ballad tradition. Equally as much a part of Sweden’s musical heritage as instrumental folk music, Swedish ballads were known for their poetic, narrative quality. The genre originated at the end of the 18th century with Carl Michael Bellman, who delivered songs that ranged in tone from romantic to satirical, from humorous to elegiac. Swedish troubadours such as Bellman briefly fell out of fashion in the 19th century, but the 20th century welcomed one of Sweden’s most beloved troubadour musicians: Evert Taube. With his first performances in the 1920s, Taube sang tales of his time abroad in Argentina and at sea, often representing a yearning for the romantic landscape of the Swedish archipelago. While the popularity of Taube’s ballads endured into the mid-20th century, interest in folk music waned and musicians began to meet in informal settings to
learn from one another and develop their skills. Fiddling had theretofore been a solitary practice, but in the second half of the 20th century such informal music sessions led to the formation of amateur musical groups, Young fiddlers at midsummer or spelmänslag. These festival in Bingsjö. Photo: Conny music groups were Sjöström primarily located in Dalarna and typically considered outdated. That all changed, however, when the youth of 1960s Sweden brought about a roots revival. Inspired by the wave of folk music spreading throughout the United States, many young Swedes took up the nyckelharpa, fiddle and accordion and created their own spelmänslag. They played on mainstream TV and radio channels, giving new life to a dying tradition. The beginning of the 1970s ushered in a taste for jazz, rock and pop and the folk music tradition slowly faded from the foreground of the Swedish music scene. Now, we can find traces of both the ballad and the folk music tradition in all corners of the country. Musicians like Lars Winnerbäck are our contemporary troubadours, broadening the scope of ballad texts to include political musings and social critique; and in The dancers in the Skansen folk many cities there exist folk dance group. Photo: Trevor Mofflet societies such as Folkmusikhuset in Stockholm, where guests are encouraged to fiddle and dance. With the summer season upon us, it is the perfect time to turn on some Taube and sink into a wave of Scandinavian nostalgia.
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Beloved Swedish singer, songwriter and pianist Lasse Holm never set out to be a musician. It just happened. Today, Holm has released more than 700 songs, including 70 songs on Swedish radio hit list “Svensktoppen” and five winning contributions to Melodifestivalen. This summer the savvy musician tours Sweden along with a full collection of fine artists, including Magnus Carlsson, Jessica Andersson and Thomas Di Leva. By Sofie Kinnefors Please tell us a little bit about your background. I grew up in Stockholm and attended private school Ehrenborg & Åkermarks preparatory coeducational school. Because high grades were required to enter secondary school I once again ended up at a private school amongst upper class children (school for naughty boys) called Kungsholms Enskilda läroverk. Photo © Peter Knutson
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When/why did you decide you wanted to work in music? I never made that decision. It came naturally. I played in various bands during my teens and after military service I told myself that I would give music a chance for a year. It’s been 54 so far...! You have been a member of groups such as Doug and the Millsmen, Chips and Rankarna. What do you like most about being part of a pop/rock group? I got a taste of fame early on when record label Sonet wanted to invest in me at the age of 17 under the name of Larry Moon. However, I felt uncomfortable in that role and chose to return, after releasing two singles in my own name, to my band The Moonlighters. I like the feeling of being with a group of people with different thoughts, ideas and camaraderie. I have continued to work in varied groups all my professional life. You have had more than 70 songs on Swedish Radio’s hitlist “Svensktoppen. Hits include “Canelloni, Macaroni”, “E’ de’ det här du kallar kärlek” and “Växeln hallå”. Where do you find inspiration? Writing songs comes from a call within. When I create a catchy interval that makes its audience feel good then I feel happy. That is my driving force.
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Seeing a song taking form from start to finish, hopefully ending up on a hit list, is total happiness. You have also written 18 songs for Swedish song contest Melodifestivalen. With hits such as “Dag efter dag” by Chips, “Främling” by Carola Häggkvist and “Eloise by Arvingarna”. Why do you think you have done so well as a songwriter for Melodifestivalen? I was invited in 1978, after a number of songs on the Swedish charts, with the song “Miss Decibel”. The song did very well and came in close second after Björn Skift’s “Det blir alltid värre framåt natten” in the competition. The whole thing turned into a business where one success triggered the other. I have always written songs that I liked and not ones that I thought the audience would like.
Do you still like pizza? I was offered free pizza all over the country during my tours, but still managed to stay in shape!
You had a big hit as a solo artist with “Canelloni, Macaroni (Pizzeria Fantasia).” Please tell us more about the song. I had written a song, that on my demo had a so-called “dummy lyrics” (total nonsense just to add some rhythm to the performance). I felt the English language had more swing to it, but when I sent the song to a colleague, he pointed out that it had a more Southern European image and insisted that it would be presented in Spanish or Italian. I had lived in Mexico for two years and spoke some Spanish, but Italian felt better. I rode down to the pizzeria in my home town – was given a menu – cycled home again and sat down at the kitchen table and wrote down the lyrics in 15 minutes. The song is about the fact that one can never get enough pizza. It remained on the Swedish charts for a couple of months.
You have hosted TV shows such as Sikta mot stjärnorna, Melodifestivalen 2000, Pictionary och Diggiloo. What do you like most about hosting shows? And which show did/do you enjoy hosting the most? Why? Let’s say becoming a TV host was like returning to school all over again. Learning that “where, when and how” are keywords when conducting an interview. I made many mistakes in the beginning. I hosted Sikta mot Stjärnorna for four years and it was by far my most enjoyable time on TV. Sikta mot Stjärnorna was an embryo to today’s popular shows, such as Idol and The Voice. I had decided to quit TV after 10 years and so I did. I also got involved in a couple of artists’ careers. Henrik Åberg, who won the final as Elvis, and I wrote a song together with Lasse Berghagen. It became a hit and sold 65000 albums.
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You founded the popular summer music event Diggiloo along with Torgny Söderberg (Diggiloo-Diggiley) and producer Patrik Krall. Please tell us about the event. The whole thing was an experiment, which we launched in Båstad in 2003, with 12 artists and a great band. We asked ourselves “Could Lill-Babs, Siv Malmkvist and other established legends see themselves in a collective with much younger and less experienced artists?” (Where everyone’s time on stage is similar, where one would have to put his or her ego aside and go into different configurations.) Diggiloo was a success and we are now going on 14 years! I make a temporary comeback this year along with Oscar Zia, Ace Wilder, Magnus Carlsson, Linda Bengtzing, Jessica Andersson, Per Andersson, Linda Pritchard, Magnus Johansson, Medina and Thomas Di Leva. The music ranges from pop to jazz – musicals to rock – humor to madness – a show for three generations with clowns and bouncy castles for the younger crowd. What other projects are you currently working on? There are thoughts of a musical, possibly premiering in 2018. You have released approximately 700 songs. Which is your all-time favorite hit? It must be “Främling” written by myself and Monica Forsberg and arranged by Lennart Sjöholm. The song was performed and recorded by, then 16-year old, singer Carola Häggkvist. “Främling” is my favorite because of nostalgic reasons and because the album sold about 1 million copies in Sweden, which is still a record.
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