Greatest Swedish artists of all time: Abba

All the members of Abba and the cast of Abba the musical.  Photo by Daniel Åhs Karlsson

Abba. All over the world simply the best known and best loved Swedish pop band. The only Swedish band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the greatest pop bands ever. So many incredible songs. So many bad outfits. But those voices. Those scintillating, crystalline voices. They will live for ever. Even Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) studied Abba song's to make his own songwriting better.

I can't help but listen to Abba in Sweden. You just have to. And watching their old film clips I can now understand more the atmosphere of Sweden in them. The reserve and seriousness is part of the culture. Though I'm sure it's a lot more relaxed than in the 1970's.

I've picked out a fantastic film clip of the beautiful Abba song 'The day before you came' (1982). The last song they recorded together. It's a superb film clip. Newly restored. And it's a really interesting song lyrically. Conjures up a whole world of longing and desire. There's also a  reference to the American feminist author Marilyn French. Remember 'The Women's Room' from 1977?



As an aside currently there's some serious electioneering going on in Sweden with the votes being cast on the 19th september. It's interesting that the great Benny Andersson, one of the main songwriters in Abba supports the Feminist Initiative, a political party here in Sweden. What a man!

And in other Abba news, Frida is part of a new album called 'Reconnection' by the Swedish composer and guitarist Jojje Wadenius. She's singing Cat Steven's 'Morning has broken'. Her voice is still perfection.

Hope you enjoy the clip.

 The official Abba website

Other Greatest Swedish artists of all time: Ingmar Bergman

Princess Victoria of Sweden's new pad at Hagaparken, Stockholm

Hagaparken is the 18th century english style, royal park that now has Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel living in its lush surrounds. I wanted to go there one Sunday to see whether we might be able to see their house close up. Pathetic isn't it? I've turned into a stalker after the royal wedding. We walked around this huge park looking for it, stopping for coffee (you have to) at the roman battle tent, then the butterfly and exotic bird house and then finally managed to discover their house. Of course it's completely surrounded by an old iron fence, thousands of trees and video cameras so we didn't see much but we had a good time anyway.

There are cafes absolutely everywhere in Stockholm and absolutely everyone is having a coffee and cake in one at some point during the day. It's a common sight to see tough looking groups of guys stuffing their faces with huge cream cakes at 4 in the afternoon.

Male Mute swan warming up.

Koppartälten, the roman battle tent designed by Louis Jean Desprez (1790) was originally used as stables but now has a cafe (of course) and a museum in it.

Barbequeing in the park on a Sunday.

Butterfly in the Fjärilhuset. Supposedly according to the Eyewitness travel guide to Stockholm there's hundreds of butterflies and birds flying freely. Well no. More like about 20 butterflies at the max and a couple of frustrated caged parrots and a quail. There's some large goldfish and tropical gardens too. It's charming if it was free but like most Stockholm attractions it's pretty pricey.

Getting personal with the large goldfish in the butterfly house.

This is it. Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel's residence. No you can't see anything.

The swan family en route to downtown Stockholm.

Stockholm travel tips: Hagaparken is 4 kilometres north of Stockholm. You can get there on the 515 bus.

Read about Princess Victoria's and Daniel's wedding.