Björn Ulvaeus: one of us is lonely

After 47 years in the EU family, a divided Britain leaves for an uncertain future. Here voices from the other 27 states bid farewell




🇸🇪 Sweden
Björn Ulvaeus
Songwriter
One of us is lonely

I have a friend who loves his ex-wife very much. One evening, after they’d put the kids to bed and were sitting in front of the TV, she suddenly took the remote and switched it off. This was while they were still married, of course. She said: “I want a divorce.” Just like that, out of the blue. He had absolutely not seen that coming.

This is how I felt as I read the final result of the referendum back in June 2016. It hit me hard on an emotional level. The intellectual processing started later. Right then I had a totally irrational feeling of having been spurned. Like my friend felt he had been. I told him that his wife might regret her decision and come back. Something like this:

One of us is lonely

One of us is only

Waiting for a call

Sorry for herself, feeling stupid, feeling small

Wishing she had never left at all

She didn’t come back, but despite that they now have a great relationship. They’re both intelligent and sensible people, and they quickly realised that having three children together means compromise and collaboration.

For as long as I can remember, the Swedes have loved the UK. A one-way love? I don’t think so. I’ve always felt so incredibly welcome, ever since I had a summer job in an office at 1 New Oxford Street in London. I was 15 and the trad jazz clubs along Oxford Street were heaven for a small-town boy from Sweden.

And then Abba won the Eurovision song contest in Brighton in 1974. We were rushed to London and did Top of the Pops and went to No 1 in the charts with Waterloo. How could I not love Britain even more?

After the initial shock and sense of loss of 23 June 2016, I tried to make sense of the fact that a majority of British people wanted to leave the EU. Why? I read and heard the phrase “take back control” very often and I wondered why someone in Boston [Lincolnshire] would feel more in control if certain decisions were taken in London rather than Brussels.

For a while I toyed with the idea that I would actually go to Boston and find out. To have a drink in a pub with someone out of the 75.6% there who voted leave. Somehow that never happened.

I will never fully understand it and I’ve made peace with that. I know one thing: Britain will always remain a country I love. In or out of the EU. It took a while for me to realise that, as far as I’m concerned, if the UK and Sweden are divorcing it is a very amicable one. And my friends? They got legally divorced, but continued to have a happy parenting marriage. I find that comforting.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2020/jan/31/27-europeans-say-farewell-to-britain-brexit-bjorn-ulvaeus-nicola-coughlan-wolfgang-tillmans

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You must know I miss you... Touch my soul, you know how" #abba #fridalyngstad #annifridalyngstad #agnethafältskog

Artistikoner sluter upp för Taubes minne
PUBLICERAD 27 JANUARI 2020
Håkan Hellström, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson och Sven-Bertil Taube står alla bakom en nybildad stiftelse som ska främja minnet av makarna Evert Taube och Astri Bergman Taube.
– Det känns som att de unga generationerna inte vet vem han var, men för mig är Taube Sveriges största singer/songwriter genom tiderna, säger Björn Ulvaeus till Göteborgs-Posten via sms.

De fyra artisterna har gått in som stiftare och har bidragit till att trygga finansieringen. Sven-Bertil Taube ska ha tackat ja direkt, medan Håkan Hellströms medverkan krävde en månads sms-konversation, enligt tidningen.

Stiftelsen heter Taubes värld, och en av initiativtagarna är musikskribenten Martin Nyström, som bland annat skrivit boken Konsten att se långt om den svenske visdiktaren.

– Syftet är att man vill mobilisera kärleken till Taube, och sätta den i rörelse. Se till att det sker saker om och kring Taubes arv. Den tradition som Evert och Astri företräder, säger Nyström till GP.

2016 stängde museet Evert Taubes värld på Liseberg i Göteborg på grund av dåliga besökssiffror. Meningen är att den nya stiftelsen ska bygga vidare på museets arbete, men några konkreta projekt är ännu inte på gång.

Taubes värld lanseras den 31 januari i Taubesalen på hotellet Park Aveny i Göteborg.

Håkan Hellström, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson y Sven-Bertil Taube están detrás de una fundación recién formada para promover la memoria de los cónyuges Evert Taube y Astri Bergman Taube.
- Parece que las generaciones jóvenes no saben quién era, pero para mí Taube es el mayor cantante / compositor sueco de todos los tiempos, dice Björn Ulvaeus al Gothenburg Post a través de sms.

Los cuatro artistas se han unido como fundadores y han contribuido a asegurar la financiación. Sven-Bertil Taube debería haber aceptado que sí directamente, mientras que la participación de Håkan Hellström requirió una conversación por SMS de un mes, según el periódico.

La fundación se llama el mundo de Taube, y uno de los iniciadores es el escritor de música Martin Nyström, quien, entre otras cosas, ha escrito el libro El arte de mirar lejos sobre el poeta sueco.

- El propósito es movilizar el amor por Taube y ponerlo en movimiento. Asegúrese de que las cosas sucedan y del legado de Taube. La tradición que representan Evert y Astri, Nyström le dice a GP.

En 2016, el museo cerró el mundo de Evert Taube en Liseberg en Gotemburgo debido al escaso número de visitantes. La intención es que la nueva fundación se basará en el trabajo del museo, pero algunos proyectos concretos aún no están en marcha.

El mundo de Taube se lanza el 31 de enero en la Sala Taube del hotel Park Aveny en Gotemburgo.

https://www.svt.se/kultur/artistikoner-sluter-upp-for-taubes-minne

Those were the days - 1979: Abba hit the road again and delight their Glasgow fans

Those were the days - 1979: Abba hit the road again and delight their Glasgow fans

By Russell Leadbetter

Abba in Glasgow, 1979

ABBA - Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad - hadn’t toured for some two-and-a-half years by the time they embarked on a long list of dates in North America, Europe and Asia, in September 1979.

There was no disputing their status, however, as the biggest-selling group in the history of recorded music, as their label described them. Tickets for all the concerts were at a premium, including the show at the Glasgow Apollo on November 13 (pictured).

The concert was of special interest to a group of pupils from the city’s Hillhead High School. Abba had decided that, this being the International Year of the Child, they would like to have children sing with them on stage. Thus did 25 Hillhead pupils rehearse for four weeks, at lunchtimes and after school, in order to sing a song with the Swedish supergroup.

Herald Diary

The concert itself, in front of 3,500 fans, got off to a slow start because of problems with the acoustic, but once the problems had been ironed out, the band really hit their stride.

Backed by a nine-piece band, they ran through all of their hits and introduced a sprinkling of newer songs. The song Super Trouper, with its lines, ‘I was sick and tired of everything/When I called you last night from Glasgow’, had, however, yet to be recorded; it would be the title track of their forthcoming album.

The Evening Times’s pop writer observed that one of the loudest cheers of the evening was when Frida wore a Scotland football top. Another highlight the Hillhead pupils joined the group on stage to sing I Have a Dream.

“It was three years since Abba’s last show,” he wrote, “but the group seem to have lost none of their appeal.”

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17826181.days---1979-abba-hit-road-delight-glasgow-fans/

https://www.facebook.com/legacy/notes/544544172938777/

Rune Söderqvist was Art Director at Polar Music

 Söderqvist, Rune was Art Director at Polar Music. Graphic designer of all record covers for ABBA albums and singles since the Best Of album Greatest Hits.

Söderqvists worked with ABBA in late 1975. He designed the cover for the Swedish version of the album Greatest Hits, which was released in late 1975. The following year he created the ABBA logo as a lettering with the upside down B. From then on, Söderqvist was responsible for all Swedish cover designs for the ABBA releases, both for the single releases and the LPs. In addition, in collaboration with the costume designer Owe Sandström, he designed the stage design for ABBA's Northern Europe and Australia tour in 1977 and the North America and Europe tour in 1979.

Run passed away on September 2014

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tags: abba logo - Söderqvist, Rune - notes

Björn talk about age discrimination

Björn talk about age discrimination. Article in swedish, translation by Google

Björn Ulvaeus ilska mot svenska åldersfixeringen

photo 2019


Björn Ulvaeus anser att Sverige är att de allra värsta länderna när det kommer till åldersdiskriminering.

I ett debattinlägg i Dagens Nyheter går ABBA-stjärnan nu till attack mot det svenska kulturlivet.

”Vi bor i ett land där man hänger upp sig på ålder mer än något annat land på jorden”, skriver han.

74-årige artisten, låtskrivaren och tidigare ABBA-medlemmen Björn Ulvaeus anser att det svenska kulturlivet är alltför besatt av ålder.

I ett inlägg i DN publicerat den 30 december skriver han om hur talanger på grund av sin ålder ofta ”offras på åldersdiskrimineringens altare”.

Den meriterade musikern, med erfarenhet från otaliga musikaler runtom i världen jämför i sitt debattinlägg med hur det fungerar på klassiska Broadway i New York.

”De som söker till en roll i en Broadway-musikal skriver aldrig sin ålder i sitt CV. Det är ett medvetet försök från både fack och producenter att inte låta 'ålderism' inverka på valet av skådespelare, bara utstrålning och skicklighet ska gälla. Antingen är människan framför mig rätt för sin roll eller inte”, skriver han.

”Hänger upp sig på ålder”
Enligt Ulvaeus blir åldern ofta en distraherande faktor i Sverige, som görs mer viktig än vad den egentligen är.

”Vi bor i ett land där man hänger upp sig på ålder mer än något annat land på jorden. Det kanske är en överdrift, men vi ligger i alla fall i topp”, skriver han vidare i sitt inlägg i DN.

Björn Ulvaeus fortsätter:

”Jag tror att vi har något att lära oss från Broadway. Vi offrar kanske massor med talanger på ålderismens altare. För det verkar vara något närmast heligt för oss, det där med ”ungt blod” i alla sammanhang.”

Expressen har sökt Björn Ulvaeus för en kommentar.

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Björn Ulvaeus anger against the Swedish age fixation
BJÖRN ULVAEUS Published 2 Jan 2020 at 05.00

Björn Ulvaeus thinks that Sweden cares too much about age.

Björn Ulvaeus writes about it in a debate post in Dagens Nyheter.

Björn Ulvaeus believes that Sweden is the worst country when it comes to age discrimination.

In a debate post in Dagens Nyheter, the ABBA star is now attacking Swedish culture.

"We live in a country where you hang up in age more than any other country on earth," he writes.


The 74-year-old artist, songwriter and former ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus believes that Swedish cultural life is too obsessed with age.

In a post in DN published on December 30, he writes about how talents because of their age are often "sacrificed on the altar of age discrimination".

The acclaimed musician, with experience from countless musicals around the world, compares in his debate post with how it works on classic Broadway in New York.

“Those looking for a role in a Broadway musical never write their age in their resume. It is a deliberate attempt by both trade unions and producers not to allow 'ageism' to influence the choice of actors, only radiation and skill should apply. Either the person in front of me is right for his role or not, ”he writes.


According to Ulvaeus, age often becomes a distraction factor in Sweden, which is made more important than it really is.

“We live in a country where you hang up in age more than any other country on earth. It may be an exaggeration, but we are at the top anyway, ”he writes in his post in DN.

Björn Ulvaeus continues:

“I think we have something to learn from Broadway. We may offer masses of talents on the altar of ageism. Because it seems to be something almost sacred to us, the thing with "young blood" in all contexts. "

The Express has asked Björn Ulvaeus for a comment.

https://www.expressen.se/noje/bjorn-ulvaeus-ilska-mot-svenska-aldersfixeringen/