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Music: the driving force of innovation in Sweden
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May 2016 Vol 87:04 $4.95
04 2016
61st Eurovision Song Contest Royal College of Music Swedish Sound Art
Lundsbergs Skola tradition
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Sweden’s foremost and oldest boarding school, founded in 1896, offers something quite out of the ordinary – a modern pedagogical approach based on a more than 100 years old tradition. We are very proud of the confidence placed upon the school by generations of parents over all these years. We are also especially honored to count several members of the Swedish Royal Family among the graduates from our school. Welcome to our INFORMATION MEETING
Church of Sweden New York, 5 East 48th Street Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sidney Lind is the ambitious young girl that smiles at you from the cover of our school’s information booklet. A few years ago, when she was still living in Chicago, she decided to reconnect with her Swedish heritage. She found out about Lundsbergs skola and thought it might be the perfect place for her to practice the language as well as acquiring a more profound feeling for the Swedish culture and society. After graduating from Lundsbergs skola, Sidney is now studying medicine at the prestigious Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Her goal is to become a pediatric surgeon and her dream is to work for MSF International.
www.lundsbergsskola.se
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+46 550 74 05 00 |
info@lundsbergsskola.se
Swedish Press is the world’s leading magazine on all good things Swedish. An authority on design, business, culture and travel since 1929, Swedish Press delivers insightful news and commentary in a visually striking format. With a nod to the past, and a peek to the future, Swedish Press is your go-to source for updates and inspiration from Sweden. SWEDISH PRESS (ISSN 0839-2323) is published ten times per year (Feb, Mar, Apr, May, June, July/Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan) by Swedish Press Inc, 862 Peace Portal Drive, Suite #101, Blaine WA 98230 for $39 per year. Periodical postage paid at Blaine, WA 98230-9998 (No. USPS 005544). US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Swedish Press, PO Box 420404, San Diego, CA 92142-0404 OFFICE: 9040 Shaughnessy Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 6E5 Canada US MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 420404, San Diego, CA 92142-0404 WEBSITE www.swedishpress.com E-MAIL info@swedishpress.com TEL +1 360 450 5858 TOLL FREE +1 866 882 0088 PUBLISHER Claes Fredriksson Claes@swedishpress.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Claes Fredriksson Claes@swedishpress.com ART DIRECTOR Joan Law Joan@swedishpress.com
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4 Letters to the Editor 5 From the Editor’s Desk 6 6 7
Global Swedes 16 Putting Sweden on the Map – At Home: Cecilia Rydinger Alin
Swedish Headlines Headline News: New legislation in wake of Brussels terrorist attacks News at a Glance Swedes in the News
Business 8 Business News 8 En lysande svensk ekonomi/men hel del balansproblem 9 Company File: Record Union
The new campus of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Photo: Manne Lindwall
Lifestyle 18 Top Sju 19 Theatre: Falstaff, Operan
Photo: Record Union
Feature 10 Sound Art in Stockholm Interview 12 Lotta Jakobsson – Safety is best when you can’t see it... 14 2015 Reader Survey Summary Heritage 15 A brief history of Eurovision
Hemma hos 20 Design: Martin Molin’s Musical Marble Machine 21 Treats à la Susanna 22 Lär Dig Svenska 23 Road to Community: Syrian band Svärd Lycka In the Loop 24 Landskapsnyheterna 27 Canada, US & Beyond 28 Calendar and Events 29 Ads and Info 30 Sista Ordet Sweden’s keyboardist/composer Stefan Nilsson returns with The Gift
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Swedish Press
Sweden Måns Zelmerlöw won the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Photo: Elena Volotova (EBU)
Cover image: (Top right) Frans representing Sweden at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Photo: Malin Lauterbach. (Bottom right) Renato Girolami in the main role of Falstaff at the Royal Opera. Photo: Micke Sandström. (Bottom left) Rock concert. Photo: donatas1205/123rf
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Sound Art in Stockholm By Lara Andersson
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n recent years, Stockholm has solidified its position as an international capital for pop music. With the prominence of Swedish songwriters and producers pioneering the music industry both at home and abroad (most notably Max Martin, who has worked with virtually every charting pop artist) and the country’s rich legacy of successful musicians (from ABBA to Ace of Base to the newer exports, like Tove Lo and Zara Larsson), the city is ripe with musical talent and production know-how. At times, though, it seems that Sweden’s tremendous success in A set of acoustic panels made the realm of commercial uniquely for EMS, housed in their largest studio complex. music overshadows other,
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lesser-known forms of music production. Compared to the sea of studios geared towards churning out pop-hits, there are very few spaces in Stockholm dedicated exclusively to the exploration of more esoteric musical traditions. Very little example of the type of attention is directed towards An synthesizer that once dominated the dissemination of such electronic music. creative efforts. Elektronmusikstudion (EMS for short), tucked into the lower level of München Bryggeriet in Södermalm, has been active in Stockholm since it’s inception in 1964 as the center for electroacoustic music and sound art. Run as an independent part of the Swedish Performing Arts Agency, EMS originated at a time when music production truly was a science—entire rooms housed large computer complexes and producers tinkered with chords and cables to generate as-of-yet unheard sounds. Concurrent with the likes of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who pioneered minimal music in the mid to late 1960s, early EMS musicians developed tracks based on sound samples and audio loops. EMS, explains studio administrator Ylva Skog, “was primarily a space for introverts, hunched over their equipment all day to create the antithesis of pop music.” It was and still is, in many ways, “for those who aren’t interested in making typical melodies or following in ABBA’s footsteps.” Though the number of electromusic enthusiasts was small, the studio’s membership remained relatively steady as the years progressed, moving to its current Södermalm
location in 1985. As electronic music became more and more commonplace and less avant-garde, however, the organization’s existence was jeopardized. In 2004, the Swedish Performing Arts Agency, responsible for funding EMS, posed an interesting and still very relevant question. “They wondered,” says Skog, “Do we really need to allocate our funds to a group of loners, primarily men, who showcase their music by placing an audience in front of two large speakers?” After extensive deliberation, it was decided that EMS would remain intact but, in order to stay relevant, it would have to broaden its horizons. Since 2004, the studio has opened up to a wider range of producers as well as several partner organizations. As Skog notes, “we will never be a space for the production of pure pop music because we don’t want to compete with more commercial studios. But we are encouraging music that is not as strictly experimental as it once was.” Since most productionrelated fields are maledominated, EMS is also making a pointed effort to bring women into the studio and transform their locale into a gender-neutral space. “Our walls,” explains Skog, “used to be covered with photos of influential music producers. But they were, of course, all men. So we took them down in favor of a more neutral aesthetic.” In 2014, EMS partnered with Popkollo – an organization that introduces underrepresented demographics (women, trans-people and asylum seekers) to the basics of music production and boasts the support of musical artists like Grammy-nominated
Robyn – for a microphonebuilding workshop. EMS continues to host events in its locations and, as of now, is consistently booked for classes and workshops, where visitors can enjoy six fully-equipped studio spaces, rare synthesizers and an extensive collection of reading Tara Transitory aka One Man Nation. and listening materials. Located just one flight of stairs above EMS is Fylkingen, an organization launched in 1933 as a forum for new music and intermedial art. Since its move to München Bryggeriet in 1987, Fylkingen and EMS have enjoyed a close relationship, with many EMS producers presenting their music in the Fylkingen auditorium. Every week, Fylkingen hosts performances, which range from music, to video, to dance and sound-text composition. It is here that many of Stockholm’s most active sound artists perform their works, in a receptive and encouraging artistic environment. Amidst many others in Stockholm’s tight-knit community of sound artists, sisters Nadine and Tanya Byrne are exploring the intersections of sound, film, transcendence and ritual in their performance duo, “Ectoplasm Girls.” Yet another artist, Tara Transitory, is producing work that investigates transgender history in South-East Asia as well as the crosssections of gender, noise and catharsis. Stockholm’s sound art scene may be lesser known than its pop counterpart, but it is rapidly expanding, opening its arms to new voices and curious minds. Photos on page 10: Elektronmusikstudio. Photo below: Benoit Daoust
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Safety is best when you can’t see it…
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ll my life I have worked on the mechanics of how much impact the human body can take before it breaks, so we can help prevent both accidents and people getting hurt. An old lady’s femur for example, will break with only 3 kilonewton force, vs. a young man’s femur which can be exposed to 15 kN before breaking. Different parts of our bodies are stronger than others. An accident can come from any direction, which is why the seat belt is designed the way it is, across the hip and chest, our bodies’ strongest parts, to protect most of us in most cases. The three-point seat belt was invented in 1959, and though we would like to, we have never come up with anything better, but we are working on it. ”
Integrated booster cushion for a child and the three-point seat belt.
Volvo really dominated the safety pick awards of IIHS crash testing in 2016 in all but one category. How come Volvo and Sweden are so good at making safe cars?
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By Birgitta Lauren expectingfitness.com
Lotta Jakobsson, a professor, Ph.D. and a 27-year veteran at Volvo Cars in Sweden, is the senior technical leader on injury prevention. She spoke with Swedish Press about past, present and future trends in the car safety innovation of Volvo cars. Volvo started prioritizing safety in the 50s, to protect the individual, before Sweden even changed to right -side driving in the 60s. We have always been so good at safety that the concept gives us extra energy to do even better. We are a small company, which improves our tactics across departments. It’s a ‘culture’ and a mindset. We don’t wait for safety
organizations to tell us what they want. In 2013, they started a new category called “small overlap crash” to see safety in crashes involving say only 20% of the front side corner of the vehicle instead of a full frontal crash. Since Volvo had already worked on this since the 90’s, we did very well, while everybody else failed miserably. We do our own crash testing and did it so well, pushing everybody else to work that much harder. This did cause some concern. We were also first in creating safety measures for whiplash safety in the 90s, and being 10 years ahead of international whiplash safety standards has given us an edge and a great reputation for safety. There are so many details, but we are happy every time we succeed. All in all, the important thing is: lives are saved. How do you blend safety with design and still make a beautiful car? Safety is best when you can’t see it. Children must be in the safest position. The belt must be well designed both for comfort and aesthetics, so that
‘The Excellence Child Seat Concept’ with a safe rearward facing seating position.
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it gets used. But we do try to hide everything, while ensuring everything is there when you need it. There are many dimensions to keep in mind. We also have the lowest child car passenger fatality rate in the world due to our unique design having children ride facing the rear. Tell us about Volvo’s Vision 2020. Volvo’s concept for “Vision 2020” is to have our cars so safe that no one will die in a Volvo in an accident after 2020. It’s our guiding star, our
The City Safety system in the new Volvo XC90 features Cyclist detection with full auto brake, day and night.
single focus and mindset: that all people matter. The question is how to technically solve all safety issues for all people. We identify who gets hurt how, address these issues in new cars and we now have totally unique safety details for “off-roading”. 50% of all US auto accident fatalities happen when a car goes off the road. It’s a large area of concern, since there are so many different ways of going off road. The biggest issues have been the impact on the human body when bouncing around during off-roading and the impact from the bottom of the vehicle hitting the ground which could cause back injuries. To minimize back injuries our belts now tighten during off-roading for better protection, and our seats
soften the blows just like a technique in helicopters. This is unique for Volvo. Our ambitions are to control and minimize impact in all collisions and eventually prevent collisions. Now we have the ability with selfbraking cars to control left hand turns, and preventing collisions with objects from cars, to pedestrians and bicycles. There are however many other situations we are working on. We have just invented a mechanism for detecting and auto-brake for large animals with long legs, such as elks, and deer, so they don’t end up in the front window. They are dangerous and it is very difficult to construct a brake system for them. We are the only ones with any brake system for animals and traffic crossings. In Europe we also have a system that makes a Volvo blink with rear warning lights in case a car is coming from behind with too much speed to warn the oncoming car, as well as tightening the belts of people in the Volvo, for better neck protection.
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But rules in America in regards to the color of the blinking lights are preventing us to include this mechanism in Volvos in the US. We hope this will soon change. Volvo also has new more comfortable chairs. Our chairs still lead in injury protection which has halved whiplash injuries. Women in particular are at risk for neck injuries. To make our cars safe in all driving environments we have to study how people drive in different countries. In Sweden people drive rather responsibly in an organized fashion but some countries drive more relaxed like in China. We do a lot of research on this, filming traffic so we can understand traffic in other countries.
Volvo S90
To make a difference in the world is very gratifying. My work is to save people’s lives, which is fun and makes me proud. I get to work with doctors, scientists, physical therapists, and other engineers, which fuel my passion and give me total work satisfaction. What is your favorite Volvo? I drive a V60. Technology is fun and I always want to have the latest, so my next car, which is not available yet will be the V90. Otherwise I really love the old C70 coupe, but its very old fashion. My son wants us to have the new XC90.
Close-up Volvo S90 seat Made by Sweden.
All photos: Volvo Cars
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