LearnSweden Blog

Merry Making

 Are days are filled with crafting,baking,shopping, and music making. Most of this week has been spent in rehearsals and performances. It is always so great to see everyone. I want to thank one and all for coming out to hear us this week. There is nothing that sets the mood better than holiday music. It's one of my favorite times of the year.

Now the weekend is almost here. It's time to go to the market to get everything we need for the intense baking which will be done on Saturday and Sunday. We will show you proof of our efforts next week. Until then have a great weekend.

 

 

 
 
   

Living next door to Madonna

By Per Svangren

 

Two days and two concerts with Madonna in Gothenburg this summer. The town was Madonna wild. Everywhere you could hear her music from the restaurants, cafés and shops. All around people were wearing Madonna T-shirts and were waiting for the evening  concert.People were standing around everywhere, just waiting where they suspected Madonna would be. But she wasn't found in Gothenburg, except for the concerts.

 

The rest of the time she spent together with her children and Toyboy at the hotel.

We were lucky to stay at the same hotel, SAS Radisson in the town centre and not just that, we were staying next door to her suite.

The concert or better said ,The Show, was fantastic. Two hours of good music, a fantastic performance together with dancers, movies, pictures and lights. It was an unforgettable evening and an unforgettable stay.

The Boss

By Per Svangren

The Boss is in town. A friend of Sweden, Bruce Springsteen is visiting Stockholm, for three sold out concerts, at the Stockholm Stadium. Playing with him is the E-street band and also Nils Lofgren from Sweden.

     
Bruce is a frequent guest  here in Sweden, and he says it's because he loves Sweden and also because he has so many fans here. He showed us this by starting his concerts, with Ida´s summersong from Emil in Lönnerberga.

      
The first two concerts were done in the rain and the temperature was just a few degrees over zero, so it was just the music, the songs and the entertainment, that warmed the audience. And it really did, the visitors were so pleased with the concerts and the papers gave him such good reviews. We also liked what we heard from our balcony, 3 kilometers away.
So today, Sunday it was his last concert and the weather was a Swedish summer in the best way, warm and sunny. So we, my wife and I, decided to find some tickets. But we were not the only ones. So the quite cheap prices that were found outside the arena at the other two concerts, were raised and there were nearly no tickets to buy. So what to do?

       

     

    
Well what is the second best choice? It is to listen and not see. So we together with a lot others, sat outside the arena and enjoyed the music and were also enjoying a picnic. It was a lovely evening, listening to "Born to run" and all other great songs performed by the one and only, The Boss.

                         

                         

                                            

        

      

Let the Future Sing

     

How often do you have the opportunity to hear international children's choir music in Stockholm Sweden ? Well not enough. This whole week you can take advantage of this opportunity to participate as active listeners to Let the Future Sing. The festival is arranged by Adolf Fredriks School of music. You don't even have to plan ahead. You can buy your tickets at each concert.

Some of the performances this year are by:

Estonia

Romania

Hamilton Children's Choir of Canada

Pro Musica Girls Choir from Hungary

Eurovision

Saturday, most of Europe was sitting in front of their televisions to see the Eurovision Song Contest. This is a fifty year old tradition. Every year countries from all of Europe try to win the title of the Eurovision song contest. This year 42 contries were trying to win. After the semi finals, only 25 countries were left and were in the finals. For three hours we saw a fantastic show, live from Moscow, Russia, who were the winners last year.
This year Norway was the favourite and they won. They got votes from all 42 contries and won with such a high score, that it made hisotry with an all time high.

     

These were the results.
 
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People

1. Norge
Alexander Rybak
"Fairytale" 387 poäng
2. Island
Yohanna
"Is it true" 218 poäng
3. Azerbaijan
AySel&Arash
"Always" 207 poäng
4. Turkiet
Hadise
"Düm Tek Tek" 177 poäng
5. Storbritannien
Jade Ewen
"It?s My Time" 173 poäng
-----------------------------------------------
21. Sverige
Malena Ernman
"La Voix" 33 poäng

I didn't know if I should mention this but  it was not such a good night for us swedes. Or was it? Well our neighbour won, Iceland (my favourite and Nordic neighbour came second and the third country Azerbadjan did have a Swedish singer, Swedish dancers and a song written by a Swede. So we as a country, were proud, even though our Swedish song, sang by opera singer Malena Ernman, just came on place 21 of 25 could still make us happy.
If you want to listen to the winner, here is the link, to use. http://www.dn.se/webbtv/kultur-noje/overlagsen-seger-for-norge-1.867905

Inspired......Lisa Hannigan

This week sees both of us together in the US in the wonderful and enchanting city of Savannah. There we will take part in the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce e-days. We decided not to leave you wanting for more Learnsweden blogposts. In this week of our absence, we decided that we will share some of the things that have inspired us.

Today's inspired voice comes from Ireland. Lisa Hannigan literally mesmerizes me with her voice and her artistic ability. This video is one of the most unique and captivating music videos that I have seen in awhile. 

Please enjoy her video Lille from her newly released album Sea Sew.

Playing For Change

MidWinter Festival Day 4:

I can honestly say that I cannot remember a time when music hasn't been in my life. Before arriving at the gates of LearnSweden, I've spent a life in music, playing with my family, as a soloist, composer, teacher and as a Community Music School administrator. Music still continues to play a large part in my daily life as I share and enjoy my children playing and creating music. Happily,the tradition continues. As I write this my daughter Mimi is practicing piano getting ready for an upcoming concert.

           

         

During these dark days of winter why not brush off that guitar sitting in the closet and bring back the joy of music ? Perfection isn't needed just a ready heart. If playing music seems like a daunting task why not enjoy someone elses playing?

                            

Recently, I was introduced to the work of a wonderful inspired man named Mark Johnson. His is a journey which started in the streets of the United States and continued to travel over 4 continents;Europe,Africa, and Asia discovering how the power of music has to connect the world together.

Three years in the making Mark Johnson filmed spontaneous live music performances around the world. "Throughout the film, musicians from different locations that have never met eachother join together to re-create songs such as Stand By Me and One Love."

To learn more about Playing For Change and the Playing for Change foundation please go here. Money earned from the sale of this wonderful DVD goes to benefit the Playing for Change Foundation: "Building and Connecting Music/Art schools around the world."

For your enjoyment 'Stand By Me'.

                

                

Poster for the new DVD

                                

Jan Johansson

                                                       

 

November 9th marked 40 years since pianist Jan Johansson died at the age of 37 in a car accident. Though he is unknown to most of the world , he is celebrated in Sweden as one of it's largest and most famous jaxx musicians.  From 1961 to 1968 he produced a series of albums using famous swedish and European folk tunes interpreted in jazz arrangements.

Embracing jazz in all it's form as a composer, performer, and writing for film music, children's music and avantgarde. Jan Johansson left us a great repository of music but a life lived for such a short time.

                              

Swedish Radio (SR2) has a wonderful program to celebrate the live of Jan Johansson. You can have a listen to it here. It is in Swedish but has a great overview of his music.

http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/p2/program/amnessida.asp?programID=3015&Nyheter=&grupp=4408&artikel=2415875

For a further look into his life and music please visit his website where you can see some videos, and listen to some music.

http://www.janjohansson.org/      

It's a Swedish Explosion

 

Swedish music is hitting the airwayves like never before. It seems everytme I turn on the radio or open up my browser there is either a song or an interview with the next Swedish artist. After many years of hard work several Swedish bands and singers are signing onto international labels. Trailblazing the road this summer are Peter,Bjorn, and John's 'Young Folks" and from a previous blog post, Robyn with her incredible hit 'With Every Heart'.

The indie rock band Love Is All  will tell you that it isn't enough just to work hard and write great music; you must have an international label and attention outside Sweden to garner the attention you deserve inside Sweden.

Same is the story of the rock band Dungen.  They didn't become 'legitimate' in Sweden until fans abroad gave their staggering approval. The Concretes, also managed by Robin Sumpton, are having an explosive career now thanks to signing a contract with EMI. Once a local gig band, the newspapers took notice when an international label signed them.

This all said. It isn't enough just to be "Swedish".  To get airplay on radios you need to get the attention of the programing managers, which means your music must be original, interesting , and good.

Sweden in still producing new and innovative music with melodies being sung the world over.  Sweden is the third largest exporter of music in the world.

To find out more about what is happening with Swedish music this summer, why not check out these links:

www.peterbjornandjohn.com      Peter Bjorn and John

www.cardigans.com     The Cardigans

www.robyn.com   Robyn

www.dungen-music.com   Dungen

www.loveisall.se   Love Is all

www.theconcretes.com  The Concretes

www.metacritic.com

In focus: Swedish R&B star Robyn

                                                                           

This week live in the msn 'In concert' series,Swedish R & B star performs live from the Wiltern in Los Angeles.  Robyn's soulful 1997 single 'Show Me Love' established her as a world wide popstar. After many twists and turns, Robyn started her own record label, Konichiwa Records.  Looking to her friends Karin and Olof, she observed how they financed and released their own work.  Robin bought herself out of her contract and 6 months later released the single,'Who's that Girl'.  Reminiscent of her teenage years robyn wanted her music to be sparse, simple, but hard with really big emotions.

You can now see this international star for yourself, Live on MSN.  Enjoy the Live concert, a photo gallery, plus interviews and websites.

http://music.msn.com/robyn