I was a bit taken aback when I looked at the morning paper on Monday morning. The entire front page was taken up by a photo of Hans Alfredson who had died the previous day. I knew that he was an important figure but hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. All the TV schedules were changed too, to broadcast tributes. And yet outside of Sweden, I suspect there was scarcely a single obituary. Working in Swedish, he was primarily an enormous local hero but not for export.
Of course I knew of him. His partnership with Tage Danielsson dominated Swedish comedy for many years. A real Swedish renaissance man: actor, director, novelist and even at the end zoo director!
And many of those who worked with Hasse & Tage achieved international success. The magnificent jazz singer and actress, Monica Zetterlund, who sung with many of the jazz elite of her day, most memorably on Waltz for Debby that she recorded with Bill Evans. Lena Nyman, the star of the notoriously explicit I am curious (Yellow), who went on to act in Bergman’s Autumn Sonata and become a stalwart of the Swedish stage. And several more besides. Locust was a big fan to put it mildly and she wrote this on the Nighthawks thread:
“With the exception of the younger generations I’d say that all Swedes LOVE “Hasseåtage”, and Hasse’s death (and Gösta Ekman’s earlier this year) shuts the door on that era of comedy; equal parts political satire and absurd silliness. Not all of it stands up today, but most of it actually do (but it helps if you know and remember the well-known people and issues of that time…)
They did so much, for a very long time; radio shows, comedy revues, films, albums, books; they wrote and acted and directed and they made us laugh more than any other comedians (and cry a little as well, when they did serious stuff!) Their films are among the ones I’ve seen the most times in the cinema, going back again and again and following the film when it moved from cinema to cinema, and seeing it again some years later when some cinema picked it up for a re-run (remember when they used to do that, just a year or two after the original release? Before the VHS and DVD and streaming…) I can quote tons of lines from everything they did, and sing the lyrics to lots of their songs (and I’m notoriously bad at remembering lyrics).
I only saw them live in the theatre once, unfortunately, for Fröken Fleggmans Mustasch. I still have the handkerchief that the program was printed on so you could blow your nose in case the play moved you to tears (of laughter).
Hasseåtage is our Monty Python, but better (oh yes, I said it…)”
I’m fascinated by local heroes like this. People, who even if they achieve international success, have a very special connection with a particular audience. When bossa nova maestro Tom Jobim died, the Brazilian government proclaimed a day of national mourning. Cap Verde had two days for Cesaria Evora!
A “local” hero need not be a national thing. It can also be within a sub-culture. Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine dies at the weekend. (Thanks to Sniffity for sharing that sad news). Flags were doubtless at halfmast in Comicland.
Any other local heroes who were honoured in a special way or ought to have been?
DuCool and I both wore metaphorical black ties when Jackie Leven passed away.
A friend told me about how the day after Otis Redding died, many kids at her school wore black arm bands to the great chagrin of the head teacher who insisted they removed them at once. Now perhaps, there is greater tolerance?
I’m posting a fine song by Monica Z from one of the H & T reviews. It questions what has gone so wrong in the country. Zetterlund was a friend of Olof Palme and did not want to sing it. A few years later both Palme and Tage Danielsson would be dead, and an era of innocence would be over for Sweden.
Kaisfatdad says
That mourning morning paper
Alfredson as zoo boss.
Kaisfatdad says
I had no idea but I bet Locust knew! Hans A was in the final part of the Swedish version of the Millenium trilogy. He’s the old bloke holding a gun in this trailer.
His final acting role was a cameo as a janitor in this rather charming kids film: The Ice Dragon.
From ice to the outback. By way of complete contrast, here is a new discovery for me, a singer who was a local hero in Oz, but little known elsewhere: Slim Dusty.
mikethep says
While I bow down to your knowledge of things Swedish, @kaisfatdad, it’s true to say that Slim Dusty wasn’t exactly unknown outside Oz. A Pub With No Beer reached no.3 in the UK charts in 1957, and I remember it very well from the time. He was the first Aussie to bother the UK charts, as well as being the first Oz million-seller.
The song’s history is amusing: “In December 1943, American servicemen from the 22nd Bomb Group passed through Ingham [Queensland] en route to Port Moresby, stopped at the Day Dawn Hotel overnight and drank all the beer. The following day Dan Sheahan rode his horse 30 kilometres to the hotel only to learn there was no beer. He had a glass of wine instead, sat in the pub and wrote the poem.” (Wikipedia)
It was quite popular elsewhere in Europe too.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for correcting me, Mike. There are several cover versions too.
But from what I know, he was still a fairly one hit wonder in the rest of the world. Thanks to extraordinary marathon tours where he visited many places in Oz and a very extensive songbook, he was deeply loved in his home country. I’ve been listening to his trucking songs, full of Aussie place names.
Gosh. He was on the Wiggles show too.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for correcting me, Mike. There are several cover versions too.
But from what I know, he was still a fairly one hit wonder in the rest of the world. Thanks to extraordinary marathon tours where he visited many places in Oz and a very extensive songbook, he was deeply loved in his home country. I’ve been listening to his trucking songs, full of Aussie place names.
Gosh. He was on the Wiggles show too!
Kaisfatdad says
Another fine local hero: the late Michael Marra. Unless you are a Scot, an AW contributor or Patti Smith, who had heard of him?
Pushing my luck there. I stand ready to be corrected. Maybe he was enormous in Albania, Finland or Canada?
Neela says
I was saddened to hear about Hasse’s passing, aged 86. Way too young, for someone like him.
Having been a fan of Hasse & Tage (a Swedish Lennon/McCartney for books, music, movies, stage and everything else except tennis) for thirty years, 75 % of my life, it feels like losing a part of my childhood. A beloved uncle I’ve never met.
Hasse makes me laugh, think and sing. He could also move me to tears.
I’ve learned about Swedish political history through the revues of Hasse & Tage.
I used to listen to the adventures of the Lindeman family for hours at a time, laughing at the utter silliness and stumbling of those skits, improvised on stage in front of an audience. No one, not even Hasse, knew where he was heading during those minutes. Usually somewhere very funny, though.
Has any other comedian anywhere done something like that, night after night?
He was also a writer and director of serious and sometimes dark books and movies, where he asked interesting questions about, among other things, the evil of man and where it comes from.
It seemed as if he couldn’t sneeze without something worth while came out.
Even if I’m too young to properly belong to the Hasse & Tage generation(s), I’m so glad I found them. My life is richer because of them and I have gained so much from their work.
Rest in peace.
(And thanks to @kaisfatdad. Didn’t expect Hasse to show up at this particular corner of the net.)
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Neela. Another marvellous tribute to H & T. I do get a certain perverse pleasure in posting stuff that does not normally crop here. I learn a lot of interesting stuff.
Just been talking over dinner about H & T with Mrs KFD. She was an extra (Third Girl in the Field Picking Potatoes, I believe) in Bille August’s Jerusalem and Hasse was also in it and on set the same day as her. Blimey! Just looked at the cast list. There wasn’t a name actor in Sweden who wasn’t it!
She also pointed out that Var blev vi av? was a cover version of an American song: Where did they go? Much though I love Peggy Lee, in this case the Swedish version is an improvement. Monica’s voice and the far sharper lyrics about political disillusionment.
H & T emerged out of student reviews, so adding new lyrics to a popular song was something they had form in.
So what about local heroes in England?
Am I on the right track?
Ken Dodd in Liverpool?
Richard Hawley in Sheffield?
UB 40 in Birmingham? (no shortage of choice there)
Noel and Liam Gallagher in Manchester?
No it must be Peter Kay? Gosh! Just discovered that he was in Dr Who. The Gallaghers haven’t had that honour yet which is a shame.
Locust says
Holy moly, @kaisfatdad, are you trying to give Hasse Alfredsson some posthumous international fame? 😀
They were indeed local heroes, but the film Picassos Äventyr became a cult hit in Budapest and ran for years in the cinema there, apparently! A couple of familiar faces to the dominant AW nationality were also in it (spot the Beatles’ connection):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trS-BEUnaUg
Neela says
Picassos Äventyr was the first Swedish movie I watched with my foreign partner, who wasn’t even my partner at the time. Must have like the movie!
We watched it again when Gösta Ekman passed away.
Swedish comedies aren’t usually, well, funny, so it was a good place to start.
Kaisfatdad says
Another pair of local heroes from Down Under: The Finn Brothers.
In the rest of the world they are popular. At home they are gigantic and at least two tribute albums of their songs have been done by their fellow countrymen.
Here’s a song from one of them, She will have way, by Missy Higgins
I expect same can be said for the status of the Triffids and the Go-Betweens.
The Church cover the Triffs
Kaisfatdad says
Now I really must ferret around the DVD shops and try to find Picasso’s Adventure and Set the prisoners free- It’s spring.
I think they might be a better entry point into H & T than the reviews.
I suppose that they were shown at art house cinemas abroad. Must check the archives.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKoEzxd9zQ
One very enthusiastic review on IMDB.
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0073720/
Neela says
I agree the movies are a better place to start than the revues. But having said that:
A: The great 88-öresrevyn is on telly tomorrow. It’s one of their best. Many classic skits, too many to mention (“Spik i foten?!?”, “Roooger Mooooore!”) and with only Hasse & Tage plus the great Gunnar Svensson (the also great Esbjörn’s uncle) joining them on stage with his piano. Not to mention an almost Greta Garbo cameo, of course.
They were going for revenge – and keeping it low-budget – after the expensive failure (flop, their only) of Spader Madam.
B: Set The Prisoners free is, to me, one of their less funny films. The political point seems naive, especielly coming from someone as clever as Tage Danielsson.
Have you seen The Apple War/Äpplekriget, @Kaisfatdad?
Kaisfatdad says
No, I haven’t @Neela. In fact, I haven’t seen any of their films. I’ve got a lot of watching to do. I suspect I can find a boxset.
I don’t doubt that some of them will come across as past their sell-by date but no harm in that. I enjoy delving into Sweden’s cultural past. I suspect I won’t get any complaints from Mrs KFD that we watch something Swedish for a change.
Thanks for the tip about the TV show tomorrow. If I don’t manage to see it, I am sure it will be on SVT Play.
H & T have been compared with Monty Python, But they, by contrast, had a constantly changing cast of some of the most talented acting talent in Sweden.
Neela says
SVT 1 tomorrow:
14:35 Hasse Alfredson – ett porträtt (recommended)
15:35 Vi minns Hans Alfredson (haven’t seen)
16:35 88-öresrevyn (loads of fun)
And later…
21:30 Den Enfaldige Mördaren (award winning, one of my favourite movies, also with a brilliant Stellan Skarsgård. Based on one of the short stories in Alfredson’s book En Ond Man, also recommended. Just don’t expect any laughs or easy answers. )
Cancel all plans (just like me) and let me know what you think!
@Kaisfatdad
Kaisfatdad says
Amazing how SVT have made such major changes to their schedules to honour Hasse. I can’t think of anyone in British cultural life who would be awarded this kind of treatment by the Beeb. Sir David Attenborough perhaps? Is there anyone else?
I’m alone with my kids this weekend, @Neela, so won’t be able to cancel everything. But I will follow your recommendations on STV Play and let you know what I think.
Locust says
If you want to dig even deeper after that, there are plenty of Hasse & Tage on Öppet Arkiv.
(Along with other, stranger, things from the Swedish cultural past…I’d advice you to tread carefully! 😀 )
Neela says
Familiar with Hip-Hip? Highly recommended. Probably available on Öppet Arkiv. Recently found the DVD in Erikshjälpen. Good thing they are very cheap, at least they are ruining me slowly…
@Locust
Kaisfatdad says
I am an enormous fan of Hip Hip. Fast moving, topical, satirical, bursting at the seams with ideas and interesting characters and always very funny. So many hilarious story lines. The Swedish for Immigrants sketches are a particular favourite. So wonderfully well cast and acted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-5PPeQSECk
Neela says
I should show those to my partner, whose Swedish is now very good. SFI and Svenska Som Andraspråk worked wonders.
Have you studied SFI too?
Kaisfatdad says
Never did SFI. I got a job as an English at Folkuniversitet and then picked stuff up as I went along. My command of the language is not spectacular!
There are several more of those SFI sketches and they are brilliant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVdP68deRAI
Neela says
Picking things up as you go along is a great way to learn!
How long have you lived in Sweden? You sound like this?
(From Under Dubbelgöken, one of their best revues.)
Neela says
I had an entertaining (88-öresrevyn), moving (the documentary) and upsetting (Den Enfaldige Mördaren) Saturday with H & T.
Have also been listening to a lot – A LOT – of Lindeman. After the political climate of the last couple of years, it´s good to be reminded stupidy can be entertaining.
Kaisfatdad says
Tread carefully? I don’t know how to!
And wouldn’t want to.
Time for the Aw to hear Philemon Arthur and the Dung?
There was a band who knew how to write lyrics!
And while are doing idiosyncratic, why a little of this lot
Neela says
No one is ready for Philemon Arthur and the Dung. The Swedish Grammy Award (Grammisgalan) was cancelled for something like 25 years after they managed to win Album of the year.
bob hund are also a favourite band of mine. It was love at first hearing, see below. The video is lovely too. A good idea sometimes will defeat a big budget. Or no budget at all. And there´s a small tribute to Kraftwerk.
Locust says
I distinctly remember posting this and some other PA&tD track on the AW a year ago or so:
That doesn’t, however, necessarily mean that anyone heard it…I often doubt that any of our Swedish videos gets clicked on by anyone apart from ourselves! 😀
Bob Hund is great, and apart from great music they also give some of the best mellansnack in the business.
About Swedish comedy: we’ve all argued at different times against its merits, but I’d argue that we’re good at sketch comedy, and we used to be good at feature film comedy (but it’s been a good while since the last one), but we’ve never mastered the art of the sitcom.
Neela says
bob hund´s mellansnack is great. Tomas Öberg is great with one-liners. “Känslan av att jorden krymper växer” is a favourite from his side project Sci-Fi Skåne.
Here´s a Swedish band doing a wonderfully sloppy version of a song most AW members will recognise. Träd, Gräs & Stenar usually ended their shows with a version of In Kommer Gösta.
RE sitcoms: you have a point. Svensson Svensson was very popular, but I don´t remember laughing. Maybe it´s just me.
Kaisfatdad says
No it is not just you! It was not funny. Well, not in way that the way that something like Seinfeld or Black Books is funny where there is a constant barrage of sparkling lines of dialogue. It bears a closer relationship to the Archers or Coronation Street. There ought to be a special word for this genre: a sitcom where the sit is a lot greater than the com which is so mild, you scarcely notice it.
But clearly the writers knew what they were doing. The audience loved it.
Neela says
Maybe the Sunday 8:00 PM slot doesn´t ask for something obscure and too creative.
I don´t think something like Seinfeld will ever happen here. Though, to be fair, Seinfeld is my all time favourite sitcom and it will never happen again anywhere. Great writing, great cast and terribly depressing/funny. What´s not to like?
However, I do like the early days of Solsidan. Probably the best Swedish shot at a sitcom I´ve seen.
Locust says
I only saw the first episode of Solsidan, hated it and never returned. Perhaps it was unfair of me, but I thought I could spot all of the embarrassing signs of yet another unfunny sitcom and I didn’t want to prolong the suffering! 😉
The only series I can think of that really made me laugh was Allting faller, but I’m not sure if you would call that a sitcom in the traditional sense. The episode with Börje Ahlstedt was a work of genius!
Neela says
Allting Faller was brilliant. But I say that as a huge fan of Henrik Schyffert.
Not sure if I found it funny though. More like moving. Male anxiety is fascinating. Still waiting for a second season, though hard to imagine Tv4, not too
keen on creative risk-taking, even gave it ONE chance.
Kaisfatdad says
I’m sure you did post Philemon, @Locust. Sorry to be such a pathetic copycat.
Believe it or not there are a few Bob Hund fans here on the AW. Their music does seem to transcend the language barrier but of course non-Swedish speakers will not understand their wonderful “mellansnack” (banter?).
An article in this morning’s Guardian should be of interest to you and @Neela. It touches on exactly what Sweden has been going through in the last week.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/17/popular-culture-celebrity-deaths-harry-dean-stanton-husker-du?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Neela says
bob hund, of course, tried a career in English as Bergman Rock (traditional Swedish name for the English band, traditional English name for the Swedish band).
When they played London with Bergman Rock they spoke English between songs until they realised the whole crowd consisted of Swedish expats. Legend has it someone shouted “prata svenska!”, which supposedly annoyed Tomas Öberg. The band thought they had attracted English Bergman Rock fans, not just Swedish fans of bob hund.
Very interesting article! I think it´s a fact some of us feel closer to certain artists, writers and musicians than we do to people we are related to. Make of that what you will. I agree with the Springsteen quote. The Beatles´ music means more to me than most people I´ve encountered in person. Also, they´ve been with me longer. In most cases I prefer books, Movies and music to people, anyway.
Locust says
Ha – feel free to post as many Philemon Arthur tracks as you want, @Kaisfatdad, but my point was that “the AW” probably isn’t going to listen to it! 🙂
I remember from the 90s when POP music magazine existed, that all the interviewed Brit pop artists seemed to love bob hund.
Neela says
We should keep this going until someone else steps in out of curiosity. “What the hell is this thread?”
I grew up with Pop!
Graham Chapman was a big bob hund fan. Think he did/does a cover or two live.
Maybe that was how the Swedish trend in England started.
Kaisfatdad says
I like your thinking, Neela.
All we need to do is slip in a few references to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, Steely Dan, The Beatles and they’ll come running.
I’ve just had a surprise. Monica Zetterlund’s most famous song was a cover of a tune written in 1931! Beppe Wolgers added some new lyrics about Stockholm and Georg Riedel’s Orchestra recorded it in 1962. I am gobsmacked.
Neela says
When I wrote Graham Chapman, I of course meant Graham Coxon.
I remember playing a lot of the original versions of songs Monica did when I first got Spotify, but I don´t think I´ve heard Nat King Cole´s version. Lovely!
Locust says
Oh, they used to do that all the time until the late 70s; write new lyrics (sometimes translations of the originals, sometimes a completely new idea) to successful songs in other languages; English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese – anything that was a sure hit. The record companies loved it of course: rather than trying to write new hits and failing 80% of the time, they could just cherry pick the already tried and tested and often well-known hits from around the world, give them lyrics that the general public could understand and identify with and give them to local stars to sing. More records sold, more money for the local musicians and record companies, fewer one-hit-careers. Win-win-win and Ka-ching!
Looking for an exemple I found this wonderful video from 1968, recorded in the Stockholm metro, with Siw Malmkvist performing to her hit “Mamma är lik sin mamma”. The original was apparently a hit in Australia in 1967, sung by John(ny) Farnham (yes, he’s the voice…) and called “Sadie, the Cleaning Lady”:
And of course the original is on YouTube as well, and Gosh! it’s appalling… He was certainly not the Voice back in those days, the original lyrics are bloody awful (the Swedish ones are funny and clever and VERY relatable to women) and the less said about this video and those poor dancers…jesus!
Kaisfatdad says
Here is a list of many songs that got this treatment.
https://gotiskaklubben.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/latar-du-trodde-var-svenska/
That community singing favourite Sånt är livet was originally: You can have her.
Neela says
Imagine my surprise when I realised that all those old Swedish standards was translations of English, American, Italian, German and French songs.
What do you mean Waylon Jennings did a cover of Anita LIndblom? 😉
And even if I´m not a fan of many of those songs I know every word. They are still played on the radio every day.
I like Sånt Är Livet, though. Heard it once when I was experiencing what the song is about and the seemingly happy song hit me hard. Well, done Stikkan Anderson, writer of the Swedish lyrics.
Neela says
Here’s a radio show called Snedtänkt I’ve been listening to a lot lately. This episode is about Swedish translations of songs.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/888424?programid=4747
Neela says
Hasse & Tage also led me to discover Monica Zetterlund. Here she is singing Olle Adolphson´s Trubbel.
Kaisfatdad says
Trubbel is such a magnificent song about jealousy and infidelity yet strangely no one sees to have tried a version in English or any other language. Oddly enough, I began to get interested in H & T thanks to Monica Z.
As regards Swedish sitcoms that I like, the nearest I can come is Kvarteret Skatan which had a more edgy black humour.
Yes, Neela, Seinfeld was in a class of its own but 30 Rock is a worthy competitor. Comic genius.
Neela says
but I like Kvarteret Skatan. But is it a sitcom? More like skits, no?
Btw, Johan Glans’ stand-up is really good. Highly recommended.
Have seen 30 Rock. Didn’t do anything for me. Weird. Just don’t ‘get’ Tina Fey. Can’t explain why. Of course, being Swedish, “is it because she’s a woman?” would have to be asked.
Locust says
Yes, kvarteret Skatan is a very good series of sketch comedy, of which there have been many. But sitcoms, not so much. I guess the closest to succeeding (even though I couldn’t stand them) was the Swedish version of Steptoe & Son; Albert & Herbert. I just found those characters so disturbing that I couldn’t find them funny at all! Anyway, as it wasn’t an original homegrown idea, I don’t think it counts.
Neela says
Think I was slightly too young to enjoy Albert & Herbert, but I remember watching it. Only two channels to choose between in those days. And it was Albert & Herbert or a two hour Romanian documentary on paint drying. So, it´s Friday evening and what should we watch? Sweden in the eighties was quite an experience.
Haven´t seen Steptoe & Son. Definitely heard about it, but not even sure it´s been on Swedish tv. Is there a DVD box?
Locust says
No, it was never on Swedish TV (afaik), and what clips I’ve seen of it it was even creepier than Albert & Herbert, but I’m sure it’s available on DVD if you’d like to torment yourself! 😀
For the first two years of my life there was only one TV channel…and before we bought a new TV I remember that we had to have an extra aerial on top of the TV set to be able to watch TV2. I bought my first colour TV with my own money when I was sixteen, before that we only had b/w TVs! Our next door neighbours would invite us over to watch the figure skating in colour once a year. Very exciting…
On the other hand every school classroom had a TV set which was used for two things: watching Ingemar Stenmark competing in downhill skiing, and watching an UR program called “Klotet”, with – ta-daa! – Tage Danielsson as one of the hosts:
Neela says
I´m starting to suspect you were born in Sweden, @Locust. Nothing wrong with that, of course. It could happen to the best of us.
Slightly too young for Stenmark. Have some memories of watching him on telly with my mum, but by then he was passed his peak, Possibly same with Björn Borg. Though he was never much of a skier in the first place.
Klotet may well have been my introduction to Tage Danielsson, I too watched it in school. Ronja Rövardotter was one of the first movies I went to the cinema to see. This is before I fell head over heels for Lindeman. Not sure I even knew the connection at the time. Jim & Piraterna Blom was also an early experience, Hasse´s beautiful movie for children about sadness and loss.
H & T were all over the place and I didn´t have a clue what I´d stumbled into.
Kaisfatdad says
One of the many fascinating things I’ve learnt from this researching for this thread is that Ronja was directed by Tage D. I must rewatch it.
Another film that is a Who’s Who of Swedish Acting Talent.
(It’s blasphemy I know, but I feel Astrid Lindgren gets a little too much of the limelight in Sweden. A genius of course, but there are other children’s writers too.)
Locust says
@Neela: Yes I am. Sorry, I thought you knew that already! 🙂
My introduction to Tage may have been Herkules Jonssons storverk – another Julkalender! Written by and starring Tage as Herkules’ dad.
Gunnar Svensson wrote the music, and one of the tunes from the soundtrack, “Herkules Jonssons låt”, has been covered by Esbjörn Svensson Trio ! (among others)
The entertainment business of Sweden isn’t the biggest of ponds, and you can easily play “six degrees of…” with Hasse&Tage, or easier still; Gösta Ekman! Between Gösta the younger, Gösta the older, and especially Hasse Ekman, you can probably get to any famous Swedish – or foreign – showbiz celebrity in much less than six steps, and through more than a century.
If it’s any consolation @Kaisfatdad, I’m with you when it comes to Astrid Lindgren. Sure, lots of wonderful books (and mostly great film & TV adaptations) and an interesting life, but it does get a bit silly when people (still!) go on about her deserving the Nobel Prize for literature… And I always preferred Barbro Lindgren !
Hmm…six degrees of Gösta Ekman – Barbro Lindgren? Easy! Jojje Wadenius made the classic childrens album Goda’ Goda’ setting music to Barbro’s lyrics, he also did the theme song for animated TV series Kalles Klätterträd by Olof Landström & Peter Cohen, Landström also did the animated series Farbrorn som inte ville va’ stor – which was voiced by – Gösta Ekman…! (Actually, I could have cut out Jojje Wadenius from that chain, because Landström has illustrated some of Barbro’s books, but as we are on a music site and Jojje is a proper rock star (in Blood Sweat & Tears, but has also played with AW icons Steely Dan…so we can go from Barbro Lindgren to Steely Dan in two steps! 😀 )
Neela says
Ronja Rövardotter was one of the first movies I saw at the cinema. Think I saw it three or four times, being brought by different relatives each time.
Kaisfatdad says
“A nightclub queen with a scent of dressing room. A sprig of lingon in a cocktail glass. A blond Negress from the mythological forests of Värmland. Monica Zetterlund. A pascha of jazz, a song that pauses, halfway through, and cracks a joke about when Fröding sat on the mug. A tapestry woven of gold brocade and fairy floss. But see the sign of sadness in her lips: the characteristic of a Nordic singer, sorry in rose-coloured jazz.”
I hadn’t realised that it was Tage Danielsson who described Monica Zetterlund so poetically.
“En nattklubbsdrottning
doftande av logar.
Ett lingonris som satts
i cocktailglas.
En blond negress från
Värmlands huldraskogar.”
She was enormously in demand in the 60s and 70s. She sung for Sweden in Eurovision and did disastrously. Grossly unfair as it’s a lovely song.
Here is a combination of two of the great names of Swedish jazz, Zetterlund singing the great pianist Jan Johansson’s version of Visa från Utanmyra.
Lots of great Monica stuff here
http://www.digjazz.se/Artiklar.Monica%20Zetterlund.html
Neela says
There is/was a really nice 5 CD box set called Ett Lingonris Som Satts I Cocktailglas with, obviously, a lot of Monica´s best music. I have the two CD version. Needless to say it´s really good.
Monica sang poet Gustav Fröding as well. A Swedish murder ballad. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Raz6pO43zwQ
Locust says
The unsuccessful Spader Madame had a second life once the TV version and especially the album of the songs was released – when I grew up it seemed to be in every Swedish home, and we all sang along with Shubert’s music and the both funny and intelligent lyrics. Like this Monica Z number about how men and women are being judged differently…
And this Lindeman is worth hearing for the improvised folk song!
Neela says
Spader Madame was, I think, both ahead of its time and not at all what the audience expected. It holds up really well, though. Didn´t know the album became such a big hit. Good news! Or maybe good olds…
Malta Lindeman is one of my favourite Lindeman sketches. The “folk song” comes from a very weird corner of Hasse´s brain. “Och de kunde ju inte se på spåren åt vilket håll han hade gått”.
Kaisfatdad says
Really enjoyed Donna Juanita. Schubert songs, eh? H & T were impressively versatile.
Reviews/variety shows were clearly their forte. Over in the UK, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennet, Peter Cooke and Jonathan Miller were doing something similar and kicking their careers off with Beyond the Fringe.
This sermon is still funny.
Locust says
I think I prefer Pastor Jansson:
Kaisfatdad says
Calling @DuCo01 and the other AW Giants of Jazz!
Was Monica the only Nordic talent to make major international waves back in the 60s and 70s?
Interesting to read that her most famous album, Waltz for Debbie with the Bill Evans Trio, was recorded in London rather than the US.
It came about because Bill had heard MZ’s vocal version of his Waltz for Debbie and was spellbound.
http://www.metafilter.com/149564/She-is-simply-amazing-Tell-her-that-I-love-her
Neela says
Sax player Lars Gullin from Gotland played with Zoot Sims, Archie Shepp, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan, among many other.
Won the best newcomer award in Down Beat 1954.
Kaisfatdad says
Superb! Lars Gullin is a real find. A really gorgeous melodic player. Top notch baritone sax players don’t grow on trees.
Here he is with Monica from 1960.
And now with an orchestra: another exquisite performance.
Just read that there was an incorrect suggestion that the saxophonist in the excellent Sven Klang’s Combo from 1976 is based on Gullin.
In fact it is inspired by alto player Rolf Billberg (no, me neither). Here he is in 1962 in Stockholm.
Sven Klang is a marvellous jazz film anyway: well worth trying to get hold of.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075293/
The most famous line comes from the uber-cool sax player:
“All Danes just play dixie.”
Savage!
And just to prove him wrong, a wonderful vintage clip from Copenhagen.
Beautifully filmed and some great playing from Gullin, Dexter Gordon and co,
Locust says
Well, Alice Babs of course worked with Duke Ellington on his Sacred Concerts:
Neela says
Some of these Gullins cuts I hadn´t heard berfore, or seen. Nice!
Still seems I can´t get used to hearing Monica sing in English though. It sounds lovely, but there´s just… I dunno.
Kaisfatdad says
I had no idea what a bunch of musical magpies the Swedes were in the 60s and 70s, Locust, so your comment about Sadie the Cleaning Lady was fascinating. And as you so rightly say, the likes of Beppe Wolgers and H & T were writing witty lyrics that were a great improvement on the original.
What a guy Beppe was! Another multi-talented Renaissance Man! Just as the Bonzos did kids Tv, so did he. And how!
Neela says
Beppe´s autobiography is hereby recommended.
Locust says
Speaking of musical magpies, the big breakthrough role for Alice Babs was in “Swing It, Magistern”, and here’s the title track and central scene for that film’s plot:
This is an original Swedish song, but the idea for it and for most of the plot seems to be pinched (by Hasse Ekman, entertainment genius and Gösta’s father) from a Judy Garland film called “Everybody Sing”, as you can see a glimpse of in this number:
Neela says
Hasse is now on the Most Commented (Last 7 Days) list. Go team Swedish Comedy!
Kaisfatdad says
Reg Varney is not a name you’d expect to be making an appearance on a Swedish comedy thread.
However, between 1961 and 63, the On the Buses Hitmaker starred along with Miriam Karlin in The Rag Trade, a sitcom recorded in front of a live audience about a clothes factory in the East End. Quite a trailblazer, as it featured feisty female characters who spoke their mind and were constantly threatening to go on strike. “Everybody out” became a catchphrase. It has aged rather well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4EMfwZ-FyY
30 years later that same clothes factory reappeared in Norway! Now, an ambitious Swedish boss (played by very popular comic actor Magnus Harenstam) was constantly harassed by the bolshy Norwegian work force.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBTd4QFejRo
Steptoe and Son, Locust, is one of the great jewels in British sitcom crown. It may take a few watches to get into the grubby, dusty rather disgusting world of the Steptoes but it is worth the effort.
https://youtu.be/YgO1k2F-ztQ
Just ran into my Jazz Neighbour. I sent him that wonderful clip of Dexter Gordon and Lars Gullin in Copenhagen and by coincidence he’d just been reading an article in which a Danish writer argued that Gullin was the most European jazz musician to come out of Europe. Put that in your pipe Mr Garbarek!
Team Swedish Comedy are just getting started, Neela!
Neela says
I remember Fredrikssons Fabrik. Not very good then, even worse now. I recall all the episode more or less using the same script.
It seems every Swedish generation born since the sixties grew up with Magnus Härenstam. First the movies and skits with Brasse and Lasse Hallström, then Fem Myror and then Jeopardy.
I´m impressed by your knowledge of Swedish Culture, @kaisfatdad! How long have you been living in Sweden?
duco01 says
Kaisfatdad and I arrived in Sweden just after the death of Kung Erik läspe och halte.
Kaisfatdad says
Good Kind Erik. What a guy! But I still l remember that trip over on the longship. DuCool. Bloody choppy!
Fem Myror is the Astrid Lindgren of kids TV, i.e. constantly being reshown and praised as the best TV show in the history of the universe.
But it is very good and has aged rather well. Our daughter loves it. Had no idea Magnus had done Jeopardy. Not really a career high!
The Duke and I are strange, culturally amphibious creatures, Neela. As familiar with Wilmer X as we are with Generation X. As knowledgeable about Lena Willemark as we are about Sandy Denny.
As up to speed with Icona Pop as we are with Top of the Pops.
Neela says
I’ve been here since the current king was here, which is quite long but not that long.
Eriks’ father was also named Erik, which often resulted in the mother/wife Bettan thinking they were talking to themselves, when they were in fact talking to each other. True story.
– How was your day, Erik?
– Hunky dory, Erik. How was your day?
– Are you talking to yourself again?
– No Bettan, I’m talking to our son Erik. Right, Erik?
– That’s right, Erik.
And so on…
Wilmer X? Now we’re talking. None of them were called Erik, though. But they had two guys called Jalle.
I’ve never read any Astrid Lindgren. Tintin was my early reading companion. And the cassettes!
But the tv version with all those Lindgren kids just annoyed. The awful accents didn’t make it any better. Emil’s “småländska” is almost as bad as Liv Ullman’s in Utvandrarna.
Kaisfatdad says
Royal families show an amazing lack of imagination when it comes to naming their sprogs. We had four King Georges in a row in the UK
Wilmer X! The pride of Skåne! A really exciting live band too. This song is a corker.
Teknikens Under (The wonders of technology)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipbxjfueEs
Neela says
I´ve seen Wilmer X/Nisse Hellberg solo live more times than any other artist. You could say I´m a bit of a fan.
Teknikens Under was, according to Hellberg, an attempt to combine Muddy Waters and Kraftwerk. Result!
And they know the one and only Peps! The dialogue is a highlight if you can understand it.
Four King Georges in a row? Where is Oliver Cromwell when you need him?
Kaisfatdad says
As the writers of Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, Galton and Simpson are giants of British TV comedy. Here is a great article with them about the history of their partnership and the big problems of relocating a comedy series to another country. The US was ne big headache.
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/19821/interview-galton-simpson
At the end of the article is this quote:
“The Dutch show quite a British sensibility in terms of their humour though, don’t they?
AS: The point of all this is that it depends entirely on your translator [laughs]. And every time we’ve been lucky to have a very good one. Our Swedish translator is the last person you’d think would be able to do this, but does it beautifully. He takes our vernacular and turns it into his vernacular without losing anything.”
So who was the translator? As far as I can make out, it was theatre director, Bo Hermansson, who not only translated the Galton and Simpson scripts but also directed them all.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Hermansson
The Scandinavian version of Steptoe, Albert and Herbert, became so popular that in 1982 the characters did the children’s Xmas Calendar on TV. A major event in Sweden.
Can you imagine Albert and Harold Steptoe doing a special kids Xmas programme? That would not be a good idea.
Locust says
TBH, I was one of few who thought it was a really bad idea to turn Albert & Herbert into the TV Christmas calendar…I tried to watch it but quickly gave up, making it one of very few Julkalendrar that I didn’t follow.
I just couldn’t stand the dynamics between the dad and the son, dad always using emotional blackmail to get what he wanted – it made me furious. Even as a child it never made me want to laugh, it made me want to give Albert a slap in the face!
Neela says
1000 År Till Julafton was the first one I watched in close to thirty years. I enjoyed it very much.