30 April 2018 at 9:58pm
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus reveal special 'moment' from ABBA's shock reunion
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus relive their reunion. Credit: ITV News
ABBA may have stunned their fans with their first songs in more than three decades - but the return of the pop quartet surprised the band members too it seems.
In an ITV News exclusive, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus said getting together with Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad rekindled an instant chemistry.
"I had this moment in the studio, when there were the four of us plus the sound engineer and I was looking, you know, I remember this, this is so familiar," Ulvaeus said.
Abba record new music: ‘We may have come of age but the song is new’
Andersson added: "It's really like it says in the press release, it was like yesterday.
"And we all four felt ... it was like yesterday, although it was 35 years ago we were in the same studio."
ITV News Entertainment Editor Nina Nannar sat down with the Swedish duo and their fellow song maestro Sir Tim Rice to discuss another significant cultural revival: the hit 1980s musical Chess.
– När de kom till studion var det som att ingen tid hade gått, säger ABBA:s manager Görel Hanser till Kulturnyheterna. Foto: TT
Popgruppen Abba har spelat in ny musik. ”Vi kände alla att det, efter 35 år, vore kul att träffas och gå in i inspelningsstudion”, skriver Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus och Anni-Frid Lyngstad ett pressmeddelande.
– Det är fantastiskt bra ABBA låtar och du kommer känna igen dig, säger deras manager Görel Hanser till Kulturnyheterna.
Den svenska popgruppen Abba släpper ny musik för första gången sedan 1981 – då deras sista skiva The Visitors kom. Det bekräftar deras manager Görel Hanser.
– När Björn och Benny föreslog att de skulle gå in i studion och prova igen, så tyckte tjejerna genast ”åh, ja vad kul”. Och sedan när de kom till studion var det som att ingen tid hade gått, säger Görel Hanser till Kulturnyheterna.
Enligt Görel Hanser har gruppen spelat in två nya låtar, Don’t shut me down och I still have faith in you.
– I still have faith in you, kommer att finnas med i det tv-progam som NBC och BBC producerar och som kommer sändas i december. Och där är inte ABBA med i sitt verkliga jag utan det är deras digitala alter egon som kommer vara med där och framföra den här låten, säger hon.
Gör tv-show
Tidigare i april avslöjades att gruppen i höst återförenas i form av digitalt framställda ”abbatarer” i en tv-show i samarbete med brittiska BBC och amerikanska NBC.
I pressmeddelandet skriver bandet vidare att studioarbetet utmynnat i två helt nya låtar:
“Det resulterade i två nya låtar och en av dem 'I still have faith in you' kommer att framföras av våra digitala jag i en tv-special producerad av NBC och BBC tänkt att sändas i december. Vi må ha blivit gamla, men låten är ny. Och det känns bra.”
Björn Ulvaeus har tidigare uppgett att de digitala varianterna av abba-medlemmarna även kommer att ge sig ut på en turné.
Sålde 400 miljoner skivor
Abba sålde under sin karriär över 400 miljoner skivor mellan åren 1972-1982. Från 70-talets mitt och fram till dess att gruppen upplöstes var de en av världens mest framgångsrika popgrupper med närmare 70 singlar som listettor världen över och över 60 albumettor.
Det stora internationella genombrottet kom 1974 i Eurovision Song Contest i form av låten Waterloo.
1982 gjorde Abbba sin sista studioinspelning och har därefter uppträtt vid endast ett tillfälle tillsammans i tv-programmet Här är ditt liv – ägnat gruppens legendariske manager Stikkan Andersson 1986.
Abba reunited – have recorded new music
”We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it culd be fun to join forces again”
ABBA
FOTO: AP
ABBA
NÖJEfre 27 apr 2018
Swedish music legends Abba have reunited.
Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid have recorded new music.
”We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it culd be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio”, the group says in a joint statement.
The Swedish superstars in Abba have recorded two new songs, 35 years after calling it quits.
One of the songs, titles ”I still have faith in you” will be premiered in December performed by the Abba avatars in a tv special broadcasted by BBC and NBC.
In a joint statement Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad says:
”The decision to go ahead with the exciting Abba avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”
”The sound will be familiar, but also modern”
The group confirms that their studio work has resulted in two songs, one called ”I still have faith in you” which is to be released in December with a BBC and NBC tv-special to promote the new Abba avatar tour.
The Swedish supergroup also jokes about the fact that they now are 35 years older than when the group split:
”We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good”, they say in the joint statement.
Speaking to Aftonbladet Abba’s spokesperson Görel Hanser describes Abba’s new session in the studio: ”It was like old times. Easy as nothing, it did’t feel weird that they hadn’t been in the studio together for 35 years.”
Hanser also spoke of the new Abba sound: ”The sound will be familiar, but also modern”.
Hanser declined to comment on a releasedate for the second song and also confirmed that the group won’t reunite on stage other than as avatars in the new Abba avatar tour: ”No, you can not expect them to join forces on stage again. They will not do that” says she.
Bjorn: "I can tell you that the voice of the singer is in a very good shape. Somewhat lower maybe, but they sound very abba
la foto es solo para ilustrar la nota
Björn Ulvaeus avslöjar Abbas konsertbeslut
Publicerad 29 apr 2018 kl 07.19
Abba gör oväntad comeback efter 35 år.
Nu berättar Björn Ulvaeus om hur enkelt det var för bandet att hitta tillbaka i inspelningsstudion - men han utesluter en kommande liveturné.
– Vi turnerade faktiskt aldrig så väldigt mycket. Vi skrev låtar och spelade in dem, det är vad vi gjorde, säger han i en intervju med CNN.
För 35 år sedan splittrades Abba. Men nu har världsstjärnorna avslöjat att de har spelat in ny musik tillsammans.
Den nya musiken kom till efter att Björn Ulvaeus, 73, Benny Andersson, 71, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 72, och Agnetha Fältskog, 68, tackat ja till att göra en hologramföreställning. Showen görs tillsammans med Universal Music Group och Simon Fuller, mannen bakom tv-programmet ”Idol”.
”Beslutet att sjösätta det spännande Abba-avatar-projektet fick en oväntad konsekvens. Vi fyra kände att det efter 35 år kunde vara roligt att jobba ihop igen och gå in i studion. Så gjorde vi det. Och det var som att tiden hade stått stilla och att vi bara hade varit borta på en kort semester. En extremt glädjande upplevelse!” skriver de fyra Abba-medlemmarna i ett pressmeddelande.
Det är två nya låtar som har kommit till: ”I still have faith in you” och "Don't shut me down". Precis som förr är det låtskrivarduon Ulvaeus och Andersson som har skrivit text och musik.
”Vi trodde att vi skulle bli bortglömda, men så blev det inte”
För Abba-fansen är återföreningen efterlängtad. I en intervju med CNN berättar Björn Ulvaeus om hur beslutet fattades.
– Efter att tag väcktes idén: ”Vi kanske inte bara ska ha gamla låtar, utan även ett par nya”. Benny och jag blev inspirerade och skrev två nya låtar. Tjejerna kom in i studion och vi spelade in, säger han.
Trots att Abba inte varit i en studio tillsammans sedan 1982 hittade medlemmarna omedelbart tillbaka.
– Det förbluffande var att vi bara tittade på varandra - och det var som att ingen tid hade passerat alls. Banden mellan oss är så starka tack vare de upplevelser vi har gått igenom tillsammans. Då menar jag inte bara de tio år vi var aktiva, utan även åren efteråt. Vi trodde att vi skulle bli bortglömda, men så blev det inte, säger Björn Ulvaeus.
Enligt Björn Ulvaeus kommer lyssnarna känna igen bandets signifikanta sound.
– Jag kan berätta att sångerskornas röster är i väldigt bra form. Något lägre kanske, men de låter väldigt mycket Abba, säger han.
Ulvaeus om att spela live igen
De nya låtarna spelades in redan förra sommaren, men först i december kommer världen kunna höra dem.
Den stora frågan som många nu ställer sig är om det finns en chans att få se bandet liveturnera.
– Nej. Inte jag åtminstone. Det är ett hårt liv där ute, säger Björn Ulvaeus.
Enligt låtskrivaren är det en vanlig missuppfattning att Abba skulle ha turnérat ihärdigt mellan 1972-1982.
– Vi turnerade faktiskt aldrig så väldigt mycket. Vi skrev låtar och spelade in dem, det är vad vi gjorde. Under de tio år vi var aktiva var vi ute i sammanlagt sju månader. Det är allt, säger han.
The world sends an S.O.S. and ABBA answers It’s impossible not to feel happy when hearing “Super Trouper” or “Chiquitita.” So the news of new ABBA songs is exactly what we needed.
By VINAY MENONEntertainment Columnist
Fri., April 27, 2018
ABBA is releasing new music and the world is a better place.
On Friday morning, amid a sudden burst of happy news from around the globe — “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles,” “North and South Korea vow to end the Korean War in historic accord,” “Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault” — the biggest jolt of pure delight came from Stockholm.
What? Are you kidding? ABBA has recorded two new songs?
I haven’t been this overjoyed since my kids were born.
The first track, the aptly named “I Still Have Faith in You,” is due in December. NBC and the BBC will broadcast the song as part of ABBA’s upcoming virtual tour, one that stars hologram versions of the band’s founding members.
“The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence,” the real members said in a statement on Friday. “We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”
For them and, eight months from now, for us.
Stop. No, no. Don’t even think about getting cynical in the face of this glorious news. This divided world needs ABBA more than ever. All these years later, the pop group still has the ability to slice across demos and unite people from all walks of life inside a thumping cocoon of sonic warmth.
To hear an ABBA song is to tap your foot and shake off your troubles.
ABBA is the soundtrack to coming together and forgetting our differences.
You know why you’ve never met anyone who absolutely hates ABBA? Trick question: it’s impossible to absolutely hate ABBA. It can’t be done. With their ridiculously catchy melodies, hypnotic chord-changes, timeless beats, soothing harmonies and universal lyrics, the group has transcended time and place.
I have heard ABBA songs in Barcelona cafes and Jaipur hotels. I have heard ABBA songs in German train stations and Mexican airports. I have heard ABBA songs at proms, birthday parties, weddings and every other ritualized celebration we soppy humans are hardwired to enjoy when we let our guards down.
In fact, not hearing an ABBA song is a great way to realize you’re not supposed to be in a festive mood. Visit a Service Ontario outpost and you’ll never hear “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” Get stuck in the hell of a customer service phone queue and the hold music will never include “S.O.S.” or “Chiquitita,” even if you’re calling Chiquita with a banana emergency.
Which is crazy because ABBA is musical Prozac. It lifts our spirits.
From road trips to doing the dishes, there is nothing ABBA can’t make better.
If you’ve never felt the blinding urge to jump up and dance upon hearing the first cascading bar of “Dancing Queen,” you may be dead inside. If you’ve never cranked up the volume when “Super Trouper” unexpectedly rumbled to life, you don’t know what it’s like to get truly lost in a moment of sheer musical bliss.
About 46 years after they formed in the glittering disco era of platform shoes and wide collars, that’s what ABBA is still about. This bubblegum pop sticks to our ears because it remains, first and foremost, about feeling good.
And feeling good is no easy thing these days.
We may disagree over politics, religion, culture, society and Kanye West, but start playing “Waterloo” or “Mamma Mia” and watch as the discord morphs into an impromptu dance party. You can be poor and still gleefully belt out “Money, Money, Money.” Even a loser like me can appreciate “The Winner Takes It All.”
Thank you for the music, ABBA, and for knowing me, knowing you.
“We may have come of age, but the song is new,” the band said on Friday, in a statement that should have come from the UN. “And it feels good.”
It does. But why stop at two new songs?
Since winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, ABBA has always been greater than the sum of its Swedish parts. The four members, whose names still sound suspiciously like Ikea test products — Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad — should stay in the studio and keep making new music.
What’s the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you?
Exactly. Now that you’re back, ABBA, we need you to stick around.
Abba announce first new music since 1982
By Mark Savage
BBC Music reporter
27 April 2018
Agregar leyenda
Pop group Abba have returned to the studio to record their first new music since the 1980s.
The Swedish quartet said the new material was an "unexpected consequence" of their recent decision to put together a "virtual reality" tour.
"We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the studio," the band said on Instagram.
"And it was like time stood still."
No release date has been set for the new songs - but one of them, titled I Still Have Faith In You, will be performed in December on a TV special broadcast by the BBC and NBC.
Abba's spokesperson Gorel Hanser told the BBC the atmosphere in the studio was "magic".
"It was like no time had passed at all," she said. "It was like the olden days. They were happy, it was easy and warm-hearted, and it was actually quite moving. I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes."
But she said said the group would not perform live, other than as holograms in the forthcoming Abba Avatar tour.
"It's a studio moment, I can promise you," she said. "Don't expect too much."
Image Copyright @BBCPM@BBCPM
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The band have resisted pressure to reform since they stopped recording together in 1982, despite a reported $1bn (£689m) offer to tour in 2000.
In an interview with the BBC in 2013, Agnetha Faltskog said she preferred to leave the band in the past.
"It was such a long time ago, and we are getting older, and we have our different lives," she explained.
News of the new material comes in a bumper year for Abba fans. An immersive exhibition based on the band's career is running on London's South Bank, while Chess, the musical Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson wrote with Sir Tim Rice, is being revived in the West End.
Will Abba's new music ruin their legacy?
Abba give first performance in 30 years
6 shocks from the Mamma Mia 2 trailer
Abba's Agnetha comes out of retirement
A sequel to the film version of Mamma Mia!, starring Amanda Seyfried, Lily James and Cher, will be released on 20 July.
Speaking to BBC News, Rod Stephen, founder of Abba tribute act Bjorn Again, described the new material as "a whole new beginning".
Image copyrightSHUTTERSTOCK
Image caption
Bjorn, Anni-Frid, Agnetha and Benny pictured at the Swedish production of Mamma Mia in 2016
"I heard about Abba releasing new songs and I was instantly, like everyone else in the Abba community, really excited to know what the songs were and how they're going to sound. Will it have that 1970s sound or will it be up to date?
"It's brilliant really, because we love Abba's music to death. I just hope they're great songs, I hope they're equivalent to Dancing Queen or Mamma Mia."
He added: "I know Benny and Bjorn wouldn't release something in this way unless they were good songs."
Speaking to the BBC's Adam Fleming last week, Ulvaeus had hinted that there could be new material. Here's what he said:
Media captionBjorn Ulvaeus hints there could be new ABBA material
How did the Abba avatar idea come about?
We were introduced to an idea by Simon Fuller who is, as you know, an entertainment entrepreneur - [creator of] the format of American Idol and manager of the Spice Girls and so forth.
He came to Stockholm and he presented this idea to us that we could make identical digital copies of ourselves of a certain age and that those copies could then go on tour and they could sing our songs, you know, and lip sync. I've seen this project halfway through and it's already mind-boggling.
What does it actually look like? Does it look like a younger you?
Yes. Real. And they say once it's finished you'll never see that it's not a human being. And what attracted me personally to this is of course I'm always curious, scientifically-curious and this is new technology and we are pioneers. So I thought, 'Yeah let's go for it,' and you know the other three went for it as well.
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What is the actual format of the tribute show going to be? Is it going to be these Abba-tars all the way though?
No, other people as well. And as for the format I'm not entirely sure what it's going to look like but some sort of tribute show with these Abba-tars for want of a better word as the kind of centrepiece.
Will you write new material for it?
We don't know what the Abba-tars will sing yet but there's lots to choose from of the old stuff and yeah, I'm not ready to say that yet.
So there could be new songs…
I'm… it's up in the air.
Stay tuned…
Yeah.
Why not reform and have a reunion? The real you, rather than the virtual ones.
Yeah, why not? Well… it never seemed like a good idea. It's not that we haven't had offers over the years. But somehow we always thought that the Abba that people have in their minds are the once-young and energetic group from the '70s. And we just never felt the urge to go on tour, I guess.
On the whole we toured very little. We had like 10 years together and of those 10 years maybe we toured, like, seven months. Not more than that. So to go on tour as a geriatric, I don't know!
Formed in 1972, Abba were essentially a Swedish supergroup, consisting of songwriters Ulvaeus and Andersson from The Hep Stars and singers Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who had scored success as solo artists.
But their joint project completely eclipsed their previous successes. After winning the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974, the band sold almost 400 million singles and albums around the world.
Mamma Mia!, the musical based on their hits and produced by Ulvaeus and Andersson, has been seen by more than 50 million people.
During their most successful period, the band survived marriage break-ups between Ulvaeus and Faltskog, and Lyngstad and Andersson, but they finally called it a day in 1983.
Their final recording sessions, in 1982, produced the hits Under Attack and The Day Before You Came, which featured on the compilation album The Singles.
Their last public performance came three years later, on the Swedish version of TV show This Is Your Life, which honoured their manager Stig Anderson.
POPMUSIK
Abba-Komponist Benny Andersson: "Ich bin sehr dankbar"
Benny Andersson hat ein Solo-Album mit Abba-Klassikern aufgenommen. Ein Gespräch über sein Leben als Pop-Großvater und seine Träume.
03.10.2017, 18:38 Uhr
Marcel Anders
Benny Andersson (Abba) spielt seit Jahrzehnten Klavier – doch im Notenlesen ist er nicht der Beste.
Beste.Foto: imago stock / imago/Future Image
1
Berlin. Als Komponist von Welthits wie "Waterloo", "Fernando" oder "Dancing Queen" hat Benny Andersson 500 Millionen Alben verkauft. Jetzt meldet sich der Schwede mit seinem ersten Soloalbum seit 1989 zurück: Auf "Piano" interpretiert er Abba-Klassiker und persönliche Lieblinge als Instrumentals am Klavier. Ein Spaßprojekt, so der 70-Jährige, das er für seine Enkel aufgenommen habe.
Beim Treffen in einem Berliner Hotel zeigt er sich als zufriedener älterer Herr mit Vollbart, Brille und elegantem Anzug, der das ungebrochene Medieninteresse an seiner Person sichtlich genießt. Marcel Anders sprach mit ihm über sein Leben als Pop-Pensionär, akademische Titel, alkoholfreies Bier und Pianistenträume.
Wie denn, Sie trinken wieder Bier?
Benny Andersson: Keine Sorge, es ist alkoholfrei. Schließlich trinke ich schon ewig keinen Alkohol mehr, also bestimmt seit 15 Jahren. Nur: Es ist auf die Dauer extrem langweilig, immer nur Wasser oder Cola zu sich zu nehmen. Zumal es heutzutage richtig gute alkoholfreie Biere gibt. Da hat sich über die Jahre ja einiges getan.
Was ist das für ein Gefühl, dass Abba auch 35 Jahre nach ihrer Trennung noch so populär sind?
Andersson: Es ist der Wahnsinn! Ich bin sehr dankbar, was das betrifft – und sehr stolz. Auch wenn ich nicht wirklich nachvollziehen kann, was die Leute in uns sehen. Ich bin einfach froh, dass das der Fall ist.
Sie spielen seit Jahrzehnten Klavier und sind ein Fan der klassischen Musik. Trotzdem können Sie angeblich keine Noten lesen.
Andersson: Wenn Sie mir "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" ("Funkel, funkel kleiner Stern") vorlegen, würde ich das vielleicht noch hinkriegen. Aber mehr nicht. Ich könnte nie für ein Orchester schreiben.
Ist dieses Album so etwas wie Ihre formelle Bewerbung als Barpianist? So, wie Sie ihn im Musical-Film "Mamma Mia" gegeben haben?
Andersson: Absolut! Das wäre mein Traum – mit einem kleinen Schiff, einem kleinen Klavier und einem Hut auf dem Kopf.
Dann könnten Sie auch in altmodischen Grand Hotels wie diesem aufspielen.
Andersson: Ja, wie der Typ, der draußen in der Lobby spielt.
Hand aufs Herz: Werden sich Abba je zu einem Comeback durchringen? Agnetha betont in jedem Interview, sie wäre bereit – wenn Björn und Sie mitziehen würden.
Andersson: Schön, dass sie bereit dazu wäre (kichert). Aber Björn und ich sind es nicht. Deswegen wird das auch nicht passieren.
Woran arbeiten Sie denn momentan?
Andersson: An "Mamma Mia 2", der Fortsetzung des Musical-Films. Die Dreharbeiten sind in vollem Gange, und ich habe die letzten paar Monate damit verbracht, die Musik zu schreiben. Also für die Band, den Chor, die Backgroundsänger und die ganzen Künstler, die daran beteiligt sind. Das ist noch längst nicht fertig, auch wenn der Film ansonsten schon weit gediehen ist. Ende des Jahres müssen wir noch die Orchester-Passagen hinzufügen, und Anfang Mai 2018 soll alles fertig sein.
Werden Sie darin wieder einen Gastauftritt haben?
Andersson: Ich hoffe doch! Aber diesmal will ich Akkordeon spielen.
LA MÚSICA POP
Abba compositor Benny Andersson: "Estoy muy agradecido"
Benny Andersson ha grabado un álbum en solitario con clásicos de Abba. Una conversación sobre su vida como un abuelo pop y sus sueños.
03.10.2017, 18:38 h
Marcel Anders
Benny Andersson (Abba) ha estado tocando el piano por décadas - pero en la partitura no es el mejor.De archivo: imagostock / imago / imagen futura
Berlín. Como compositor de Welthits como "Waterloo", "Fernando" o "Dancing Queen", Benny Andersson ha vendido 500 millones de álbumes. Ahora el sueco regresa con su primer álbum en solitario desde 1989: En "Piano" interpreta clásicos de Abba y favoritos personales como instrumentales en el piano. Un proyecto divertido, según el niño de 70 años, que tomó por sus nietos.
En una reunión en un hotel de Berlín, se muestra como un anciano satisfecho con una barba, anteojos y un traje elegante, que goza visiblemente del interés ininterrumpido de los medios en su persona. Marcel Anders le habló de su vida como pensionista pop, títulos académicos, cerveza sin alcohol y salas de piano.
¿Cómo se toma cerveza de nuevo?
Benny Andersson :No te preocupes, es libre de alcohol. Después de todo, he bebido alcohol desde hace años, así que he estado planeando por 15 años. Sólo: Es extremadamente aburrido en el largo plazo, sólo para tomar agua o Cola a sí mismo. Sobre todo porque ahora hay buenas cervezas sin alcohol. Muchas cosas han sucedido a lo largo de los años.
¿Cuál es la sensación de que Abba sigue siendo tan popular 35 años después de su separación?
Andersson : ¡Es la locura! Estoy muy agradecido por eso - y muy orgulloso. Incluso si no puedo realmente entender lo que la gente en nosotros ve. Me alegro de que este es el caso.
Han tocado el piano durante décadas y son fanáticos de la música clásica. Sin embargo, no puedes leer notas.
Andersson :Si me dieran "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", podría ser capaz de hacerlo. Pero nada más. Nunca podría escribir para una orquesta.
¿Es este álbum algo así como su aplicación formal como barpianista? Tal como lo has dado en la película musical "Mamma Mia"?
Andersson :¡Absolutamente! Ese sería mi sueño - con una pequeña nave, un pequeño piano y un sombrero en la cabeza.
Entonces usted también podría jugar en los viejos hoteles anticuados como éste.
Andersson :Sí, como el tipo que juega fuera en el vestíbulo.
Mano en el corazón: ¿Abba llegará alguna vez a una reaparición? Agnetha enfatiza en cada entrevista que ella estaría lista - si Björn y tú irían con ellos.
Andersson :Bien, estaría lista (risitas). Pero Bjorn y yo no. Por eso no sucederá.
¿En qué estás trabajando actualmente?
Andersson :A "Mamma Mia 2", la continuación de la película musical. El tiroteo está en pleno apogeo, y he pasado los últimos meses escribiendo la música. Así que para la banda, el coro, los artistas y todos los artistas involucrados. Esto está lejos de terminar, incluso si la película ya está muy avanzada. Al final del año, tenemos que añadir los pasajes orquestales y todo estará listo a principios de mayo de 2018.
ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus on why the pop group will never reunite
The Associated PressPublished Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:45PM EST
Swedish singer's Bjorn Ulvaeus, left, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, of the pop group ABBA, pose on the red carpet ahead of the band's International anniversary party at the Tate Modern in central London, Monday, April 7, 2014. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP Images)
NEW YORK -- So their new photo book is the closest fans will ever get to seeing the band again.
"ABBA: The Official Photo Book" (Weldon Owen Publishing) chronicles the foursome's history through more than 600 photographs.
"I'm not a nostalgic person, but looking at these pictures really took me back," founding member Bjorn Ulvaeus said.
The authorized photographic biography, which features numerous photos from the height of the band's career in the 1970s, was released earlier this year in Europe, and just recently in the United States.
In an interview, Ulvaeus said that although the band never officially broke up, they won't tour again -- a sentiment he's echoed in the past.
"We took a break in '82, and it was meant to be a break. It's still a break and will remain so," Ulvaeus said. "You'll never see us onstage again."
And money doesn't talk, he said. The Swedish pop group -- which includes Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad -- reportedly turned down nearly a billion dollars for a reunion tour, and they have vowed to never write an autobiography.
"We don't need the money, for one thing," Ulvaeus said. "Usually the reason bands have reunions is that one of them is destitute and the others want to help. Fortunately that has not happened to us."
Fans around the world can experience the band's music through the award-winning musical "Mamma Mia." And Ulvaeus is proud of that, though he acknowledges being skeptical.
"For me it was like an experiment," he said. "Could you actually write a musical backward using the existing songs with the ground rule that you cannot change the lyrics?"
The show opened on London's West End in 1999 and became Broadway's ninth longest-running show after opening in 2001. In addition, "Mama Mia" has played more than 40 cities around the world, and was adapted for film in 2008.
Ulvaeus laughs off the idea of a sequel, but says anything could happen.
"You never know, it depends if there's a very good script," he said. "There have always been rumours, but nothing that I can confirm or deny right now."
Benny Andersson om återföreningsryktet som tagit fart igen: "Alla journalister tycker att det är roligt att skriva att "Abba ska återförenas". Det där som vi sa var ett skämt. Ironi. Det är inget mer med det." Foto: Peter Kramer
Benny Andersson om Abbas återförening: "Det var ett skämt"
NEW YORK. Det har gått 27 år sedan Abba beslutade sig för att gå skilda vägar. 27 år av rykten, spekulationer och hopp om att den spandexklädda popgruppen skulle kunna tänka sig att göra det igen. Men också 27 år av "inte en chans". Så vad är skillnaden den här gången? Kanske att det faktiskt var Benny Andersson själv som sa: - Det är ingen dum idé...
Fakta
Björn Ulvaeus, 64 år
Gör i dag: Arbetar fortfarande tätt ihop med Benny Andersson, mest intensivt med "Kristina" som musikalen heter i sitt engelska utförande. Han har också skrivit debattartiklar om fildelning och är motståndare till den olagliga spridningen av musik på nätet.
Benny Andersson, 63 år
Gör i dag: Arbetar för tillfället med "Kristina från Duvemåla" som i engelsk uppsättning har premiär i London i april. En musikal som många hoppas kan plockas upp även i USA, kanske på Broadway. Han har också sin Benny Andersson Orkester.
Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, 64 år
Gör i dag: Bor i Fribourg i Schweiz och är änka efter den adlige Ruzzo Reuss, som hon gifte sig med 1992 och som gick bort 1999. Hon har gjort enstaka framträdanden, bland annat i en videosekvens i 2004 års Eurovision Song Contest - 30 år efter att Abba vann - men håller sig allt som oftast borta från rampljuset.
Agnetha Fältskog, 59 år
Gör i dag: Har som bekant levt ett avskiljt liv på Helgö, men släppte 2004 coveralbumet "If I thought you'd ever change your mind" som sålde platinum. Hon är dock den som har sagt sig avsky uppmärksamheten och flera gånger stängt dörren till att återförenas med Abba.
Innan vi går längre med det här, och innan hoppet har skenat iväg hos alla er fans, ska vi slå fast att dörren som Benny sägs ha öppnat när han intervjuades i brittiska Times, på sin höjd är på glänt.
Det var i går som den ansedda engelska tidningen rapporterade hur duon Björn Ulvaeus och Benny Andersson, under ett samtal med reportern, helt plötsligt vände upp och ned på alla sina år av intensivt förnekande och istället valde en mer öppen replik på frågan.
Den ställdes inte utifrån perspektivet av en ny världsturné - det som kvartetten en gång tackade nej till att göra för sju miljarder kronor - utan utgick från upplägget av en mindre och mer intim spelning, med en orkester och med det mognare materialet från de senare skivorna.
"Ingen dum idé"
- Vi skulle kunna sjunga "The Way old folks do", ska Björn ha sagt sedan Benny hade funderat i banorna:
- Jag vet inte om tjejerna sjunger så mycket längre? Jag vet att Frida har varit i studion.
Vidare ska Benny ha konstaterat "Det är ingen dum idé faktiskt."
Ett svar nog för att hetsa upp de mest hårdhudade fansen - dem som har hört ryktet om och om igen och alltid sett samma tomhet i förlängningen.
- Hela min Facebooksida var full när jag vaknade i morse. Jag försökte bara lugna folk med "Det där ryktet har vi hört förr." Sen såg jag att Benny faktiskt h-a-d-e sagt något, säger Anita Notenboom, grundaren av Abbas officiella fanklubb.
"Finns enorm efterfrågan"
- Det skulle bli episkt, säger Michael Endelman, en av redaktionscheferna på det amerikanska musikmagasinet Rolling Stone, när Expressen pratar med honom.
- Om de gjorde en turné igen skulle det kunna bli en av de största i världen någonsin. Se bara hur stora de har blivit här i USA med "Mamma Mia!" på Broadway och som film.
- Det finns helt klart en enorm efterfrågan, säger han.
Men det är förstås inte alls så bra som det låter i Times när vi själva får tag i Benny. Han och Björn befinner sig just nu i London för att överse repetitionerna av "Kristina från Duvemåla", eller "Kristina" som musikalen som går upp i Albert Hall i april heter på engelska.
- Alla journalister tycker att det är roligt att skriva att "Abba ska återförenas", säger Benny med viss trötthet i rösten.
- Det där som vi sa var ett skämt. Ironi. Det är inget mer med det.
Och så var vi tillbaka på ruta ett.
"Vi blir inte besvikna"
Ännu ett nederlag för den inbitna Abbasupportern som inget hellre vill än att något att ryktena, någon gång, ska ha lite grund.
- Det är klart att vi vill. Men vi blir inte besvikna. Sedan vi grundades för 24 år sedan har vi hört det här pratet och vet att vi sannolikt aldrig kommer att få se Abba på scen igen. Och det är okej, säger Notenboom.
Men det är en sak att ha upplevt det i 24 år. En helt annan att ha förälskat sig i "Mamma Mia!" och veta att ens nya idoler fortfarande är - i viss mån - aktiva och få drömmarna nedskjutna.
- Vi har många yngre fans nu och visst... De kanske tar hårdare på det här. De är väldigt aktiva på internet och gräver efter alla artiklar som möjligtvis kan innehålla något om en reunion, säger Notenboom.
Men i hennes ögon finns också risken för fiasko - att Abba kliver upp på scenen till skyhöga förväntningar och raserar den mytiska bilden som många har av dem i dag.
Just det har dock Michael Endelman svårt att se.
- Det finns inte så mycket till myt att förstöra, i alla fall inte här, säger han och småskrattar åt vad man får för sig är hans bild av Abba - den i glittrande trikåer och allt det töntiga i hur modet var på den tiden.
- Jag vet att de är större i Europa och kanske vill minnas det som så, men Abba är inte som Led Zeppelin när vi pratar om myter, säger han och fortsätter:
- Police gjorde en lyckad reunion-turné som folk tyckte lät rätt bra. Van Halen är lite annorlunda, de har haft så många sångare, men gjorde ändå en grej med David Lee Roth vilket var häftigt. Led Zeppelin gjorde comeback i London, en show, men den ville folk se mer av.
- Men, tillägger han. Jag kan inte se att det skulle hända med Abba. Vi gjorde en intervju med Benny i samband med att de de valdes in i Rock'n'roll hall of fame. Där berättade han just om att de har sagt nej till en miljard dollar. Jag ser inte att de kommer att ändra sig.
Tror inte på bröllopssång
Anita Notenboom tror heller inte på ryktet som hon hörde om att Abba påstås överväga ett privat nummer under Daniel och Victorias bröllop.
- De är ju perfektionister. De skulle ha behövt börja repa för länge sedan redan och jag tror inte att de går upp och gör ett halvdant nummer. Det är inte Abba.
You Owe Me One
"I was taken by surprise
Now both of us are in a state of confusion
Hesitation in our eyes
Something unwanted has entered our existence
I think it's better to view it from a distance
Yes I really do"
-------------------------------------------------------- Integrante de Abba desmiente su reunión: "Fue sólo una broma"
Benny Andersson debió retractarse de sus declaraciones hechas la semana pasada con respecto a un regreso del mítico cuarteto pop sueco.
DPA
Miércoles 31 de Marzo de 2010 13:46
Foto: El Mercurio
ESTOCOLMO.- El ex miembro de Abba Benny Andersson se adelantó la semana pasada a las tradicionales bromas del 1 de abril cuando planteó la posibilidad de la reunificación del legendario cuarteto sueco: "era sólo un chiste, una ironía", dijo hoy al diario "Expressen" en Estocolmo.
La semana pasada, Andersson abrió por primera vez en casi 30 años la posibilidad del regreso de Abba en una entrevista con el diario británico "The Times". "No hay en absoluto ninguna intención", asegura ahora el músico.
Andersson y los otros tres miembros de Abba (Bjrn Ulvaeus y las cantantes Agnetha Fltskog y Anni-Frid Lyngstad) siempre descartaron categóricamente regresar a los escenarios.
El cuarteto se separó en 1983, con una histórica batería de exitos de pop de la era discoteque como "Dancing Queen", "Waterloo" o "Take A Chance On Me". El matrimonio Fltskog y Ulvaeus, así como Andersson y Lyngstad emprendieron ya caminos en solitario durante los tiempos de la banda.
Görel steps into the fray! ABBA reunion is never going to happen
March 26, 2010
After The Times and then the rest of the world's press got all caught up with Benny's casual remark about an ABBA reunion, Görel Hanser ABBA's super-woman behind the scenes steps in and publicly admits to telling Benny off and quashes the rumour.
UK Telegraph piece by Murray Wardrop: Fans of the Swedish pop quartet were offered a glimmer of hope when former band member Benny Andersson said they could reunite for a one-off show.
However, the group has now apologised for raising fans’ expectations and admitted that the comment had been nothing more than a “joke”.
Speculation over a comeback mounted after Andersson and former band mate Bjorn Ulvaeus were asked if they would consider a one-off ABBA performance that could be beamed around the world.
Despite having previously turned down a raft of lucrative offers to reunite, including a £600 million tour deal, Andersson replied: “Yeah, why not?”
During the interview with a newspaper, he continued: "I don't know if the girls sing anything any more. I know Frida (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) was in the studio," adding: "It's not a bad idea, actually."
Referring to the last song on the group's Super Trouper album, The Way Old Friends Do, Ulvaeus quipped: "We could sing The Way Old Folks Do."
But in a blow to millions of Mamma Mia! devotees, the band have swiftly backtracked on the idea.
Görel Hanser, the group’s manager, said: “It’s simply not true.
“It was a passing comment Benny made, almost as a joke – nothing more than that.
“I’ve spoken to Benny and given him a stern telling off. I have told him not to make such ridiculous suggestions anymore.
“There is no prospect of ABBA getting back together – it’s never going to happen. I think the fans know that deep down but we’re sorry if we got anyone’s hopes up.
“It was great in the good old days but we should remember them as they were.”
The band, who split in 1982, previously dismissed any suggestion of a reunion, insisting they would never take to the stage again.
In 2000 they rejected a $1 billion (£600 million) offer to play a 100-date world tour.
At the time Ulvaeus, 64, said: “This is the budget of a small country so we had to give it some thought.
“In the end we decided that, whatever offer was on the table, it would be stupid to re-form and utterly ludicrous to change the images people all over the world have of us.”
And two years ago Ulvaeus said: “We will never appear on stage again. There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were — young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition.
“I remember Robert Plant saying Led Zeppelin were a cover band now because they cover all their own stuff. I think that hit the nail on the head.”
Andersson has also previously dismissed talk of a reunion, saying: “We’d need a good reason to re-form and I just don’t see one. We could never recreate the old days. I’d rather be remembered for the way we were 30 years ago."
The group, whose hits include Dancing Queen, Take a Chance on Me and Money, Money, Money, has sold 370 million records.
Famed for the spandex costumes, they have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, helped by the success of the film version of Mamma Mia!, the musical based on their songs.
However, it remains to be seen whether former female band mates Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog would support the idea of a reunion.
Lyngstad, 64, who married a German nobleman, said in an interview in 2005 that she had no interest in returning to a music career.
Fältskog, 59, has enjoyed a solo pop career since ABBA split but has not hinted at a reunion. Staffan Linde, her spokesman, said that Fältskog was not aware of Andersson recent reunion suggestion.
Andersson and Ulvaeus are promoting their new musical Kristina which opens at London's Royal Albert Hall on April 14.
You Owe Me One
"I was taken by surprise
Now both of us are in a state of confusion
Hesitation in our eyes
Something unwanted has entered our existence
I think it's better to view it from a distance
Yes I really do"
March 26, 2010
Abba to re-form? ‘Yeah, why not?’
Abba
Abba in their heyday
Pete Paphides
A reunion? Don’t talk to Abba about a reunion. Except, of course, that it’s hard not to. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are aware of the protocol. “Don’t worry, I know you have to ask,” says Andersson, a baby-faced 64, when he sees me edging towards the question. The last time I edged uneasily towards the question, in May 2002, Ulvaeus said flatly: “There’s no amount of money in the world that could persuade me to do that.”
Since then they’ve regularly been politely rebutting requests to re-form , not only from fans who weren’t born when Abba imploded, but from promoters who, according to Ulvaeus, offered “crazy” sums for a farewell tour — in one case $1 billion (£600 million). Every time the thought of “the looks on the faces in the audience as they realised we had grown old” meant that Abba had long faced their Waterloo.
Eight years later there’s no reason to believe that Ulvaeus and his songwriting foil of four decades might react any differently. And yet, for one extraordinary moment at the end of our encounter, a realisation stirs into life that there may be a way to turn the longed-for reunion into a reality.
However, obliging as they are when it comes to talking about their pop star years, that’s not the reason they are here. Andersson and Ulvaeus are in London overseeing rehearsals for the UK premiere of their most ambitious project. Abba fans might want to take a raincheck on Kristina when it comes to the Albert Hall next month. On the face of it, Vilhelm Moberg’s 2,000-page epic about Swedish emigrants in the 19th century isn’t the most obvious of contenders for musical theatre treatment. Nevertheless, in 1995, when Kristina opened in Malmö, Swedish reviewers greeted it with a fervour that eclipsed anything that Andersson and Ulvaeus had achieved with Abba.
Quite what British audiences will make of it is another matter. “We’ve cut the play down from three hours to two,” Ulvaeus says. “And I approached Herbert Kretzmer, who did Les Misérables, to translate the lyrics into English.”
Kretzmer obliged — although even he couldn’t do justice to one of the few gags in the original version, a bilingual joke predicated on the similarity of the word “speed” and the Swedish term for breaking wind. “It’s probably for the best,” says Ulvaeus, his 65-year-old frame a slip of what it was when he squeezed into that satin jump suit on the night of Abba’s Eurovision triumph. “We wouldn’t dream of making a fart joke at the Albert Hall.”
Be that as it may, newly retitled highlights such as Burial at Sea, I Am Reconciled to My Fate and Miscarriage confirm that Mamma Mia 2 is very much not on the cards. To Andersson it’s a chance to show a British audience what he and Ulvaeus have been up to. “One reason we never cared about breaking America,” he says, “is that the English people treated us like their own.” Ulvaeus adds, though, that “it did make us spoilt. With Top of the Pops you could reach all of Britain. But in America you reached a tiny audience doing silly TV shows we didn’t want to do anyway.”
I suggest that some members of the group showed their reluctance a little more readily than others. Anyone who persists in believing that blondes have more fun might care to read Agnetha Fältskog’s 1997 autobiography As I Am. “No one who has experienced facing a screaming, boiling, hysterical crowd,” she wrote, “could avoid feeling shivers up and down their spine. It’s a thin line between ecstatic celebration and menace.”
Was it really that bad? As her ex-husband and father to her two children, you’d think Ulvaeus would know, but he sounds unsure. “She didn’t seem unhappy at the time. It’s strange the way that history sometimes becomes rewritten and it becomes the truth.”
He’s not just talking about Fältskog here. Such revisionism, he feels, also extends to the place Abba hold in the collective memory. “It’s not just people wanting to hear the songs. It has more to do with people wanting to be in some kind of mood that is fictitious. A mood of ‘the Seventies’ that Abba represents but is not rooted in reality. For instance, we never thought in our wildest dreams that we would be gay icons.”
I put it to him that Fältskog might have had something to do with the whole gay icons thing. “But why?” Ulvaeus counters. “She’s a very heterosexual woman. I know.”
That’s not how it works, I tell him. “How does it work, then?” he asks. Well, it all goes back to her not looking happy. You could tell that she was suffering inside, but she carried on in the name of showbiz. Ulvaeus remains unsure: “Hmm. It could be the outfits and the Eurovision.”
At times, Ulvaeus’s perspective on Abba’s legacy is so unknowing that it’s a struggle not to leap across the coffee table, where his fishcakes have just been delivered, and hug him. How could he and Andersson have written Hi-NRG hymns to physical desire such as Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) and Lay All Your Love on Me and not think it might play out well with their gay fanbase? “We didn’t realise it. We were just releasing another song, that’s all." Play Abba’s albums in chronological order and the effect is something akin to having your emotional dimmer switch turned slowly down. With the bulk of 1980’s Super Trouper album written after Ulvaeus and Fältskog’s divorce, the group’s music changed to mirror their personal situations. The Winner Takes it All was written in a red wine-abetted stupor of self-pity. “Usually it’s not a good idea to write when you’re drunk,” Ulvaeus says, “but it all came out on that one. By the time I wrote ‘The gods may throw their dice’ the bottle was empty.”
By the time they recorded their last song together, The Day Before You Came, “we were really in the dark”, Andersson says. Abba’s swansong seems to harbour a pop mystery as enduring as the identity of the subject of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. What happened after this guy “came”? Ulvaeus smiles enigmatically, but he’s not saying. “You’ve spotted it, haven’t you? The music is hinting at it. You can tell in that song that we were straining towards musical theatre.
“We got Agnetha to act the part of the person in that song. In retrospect, it might have been too much of a change for a lot of Abba fans. The energy had gone.”
For the remainder of the 1980s, Ulvaeus felt that “our music had fallen so out [of fashion] that people looked down on it”. In the early 1990s, when tribute bands such as Björn Again popped up, they merely compounded the uneasy feeling in Ulvaeus’s mind that people were laughing at Abba. “I heard that they spoke with a Swedish accent between the songs, which made me pissed off. But then I spoke to people who went to the shows. They said that it’s a happy feeling and that people are enjoying themselves immensely.”
Years later, of course, we know that irony is merely the first step on the way to critical and commercial rehabilitation. It isn’t irony that has sold 28 million copies of Abba Gold and — thanks to Mamma Mia!’s passage from Broadway to Hollywood — that finally broken them in America.
When Brian Higgins — the producer-writer behind Girls Aloud — set up his Xenomania hit factory, he said that “SOS was the benchmark song we aspired to reach melodically”. “Funnily enough,” Ulvaeus says, “that was also the song that Pete Townshend mentioned when he came up to me in a restaurant one time. He said he thought it was the best pop song ever written.”
If challenged to do so, could Andersson and Ulvaeus sit down and write a song like that now? “I’m not sure,” Ulvaeus says. “Look at the hookline of Poker Face by Lady Gaga. That could have been written in the Seventies, but the way the song is put together is different. Do I like it? I love it.”
“I haven’t heard it,” Andersson says.
“Oh, it’s fantastic!” Ulvaeus says. “You’re the only one.”
In 2010, our sense of what a great pop song should be tallies more with the qualities found in Abba’s music than any other group. If someone doesn’t “get” Abba they seem to be rooted in a less enlightened era. A few years ago, I suggested to Roger Waters that Pink Floyd’s Animals bore certain thematic similarities to Abba’s final album The Visitors. Taking umbrage at the notion, Waters sniffed: “From the first ‘my’ on Waterloo I was an ex-listener.”
“Well, he missed a lot of the good stuff,” Andersson says. “At least he knows it starts with ‘my’ — that’s something. Dark Side of the Moon is not bad. They made some wonderful records.” Ulvaeus seems rather more put out by Waters’s comment. “It’s a bit pretentious, isn’t it? That attitude of: ‘I wouldn’t stoop so low.’ ”
Over at Earls Court, a mile from here, the presence of Abba World confirms that the imperious former Floyd frontman finds himself in a shrinking minority. Such is the love for Abba that thousands of fans a week are paying £21 each to see an exhibition that, among the karaoke opportunities and replica Arrival helicopter, seems to revel in the defiantly workaday environs — the re-creation of their manager’s office springs to mind — that spawned deathless pop such as Dancing Queen and Take a Chance on Me. “It was a chance to clear out some stuff from the attic,” Andersson says. “Have I been to see it? No. I lived it the first time.”
No point then in asking if he would want to live it again. Probably not. But footage of Fältskog at Abba World, talking with surprising affection about her contribution to the group’s biggest hits, is fresh in my mind. Reunions can take all sorts of different forms. A lucrative world tour might be out of the question, but what about something more low-key? I float the idea of an intimate, one-off performance for invited guests and families, perhaps with a small orchestra, focusing on some of the more “mature” material from the later albums. The whole thing could be filmed and the rights licensed out to TV stations around the world.
Alluding to Super Trouper’s final song The Way Old Friends Do, Ulvaeus’s first response is seemingly in jest: “We could sing The Way Old Folks Do!” Andersson, by contrast, seems deeper in thought. “Yeah, why not?” he nods. As if working through the logistics, he adds: “I don’t know if the girls sing anything any more. I know Frida [Anni-Frid Lyngstad] was [recently] in the studio.”
And on her most recent solo album, five years ago, Fältskog was in fine voice. “If you can sing, you can sing,” he concurs. Then, a little later, “It’s not a bad idea, actually.”
Alas, though, as the door to a reunion appears to open ever so slightly, so does another one. Andersson and Ulvaeus have to rush back to the Albert Hall, where rehearsals are under way. In two weeks, Kristina has its premiere. And then what? Like the song goes: “If you change your mind . . .”
Kristina is at the Albert Hall, London SW7 (020-7589 8212), on April 14
------------------------------------------------- 2010-03-26 ”ABBA kan återförenas”
”Ingen dålig idé” Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid
”Ingen dålig idé” Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Reuss och Agnetha Fältskog har bara sjungit en gång sedan ABBA officiellt splittrades 1983.
Foto: AP
Benny Andersson gillar idén.
Benny öppnar för ett nytt framträdande
LONDON. Fans över hela världen drömmer om ett återförenat Abba.
För första gången öppnar nu Björn och Benny för tanken.
– Det är faktiskt ingen dålig idé, säger Benny Andersson.
År 2000 tackade ABBA nej till en miljard dollar för en återföreningsturné med 100 spelningar över världen.
Enda gången Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Reuss och Agnetha Fältskog sjungit tillsammans sedan gruppens splittring ska ha varit på mångåriga medarbetaren Görel Hansers 50-årsdag 2003.
Svaret på den eviga frågan om en återförening har ständigt varit nej. Tills i dag.
Den brittiska tidningen Times får svaret som ger en liten glimma hopp till fansen.
”Frida var i studion nyligen”
På frågan om man inte skulle kunna tänka sig ett intimt engångsframträdande, kanske tillsammans med en orkester, en spelning som skulle kunna tv-sändas över hela världen, kommer det oväntade svaret.
– Ja, varför inte? Jag vet inte om tjejerna sjunger längre. Jag vet att Frida var i studion nyligen, säger Benny Andersson till Times.
Invigde ABBA World
Lite senare under intervjun ska Benny Andersson också ha lagt till:
– Det är faktiskt ingen dålig idé.
När Aftonbladet träffade Björn Ulvaeus och Anni-Frid Reuss under invigningen av ABBA World-utställningen i London i januari förnekade båda att det fanns några planer på en återförening.
Torbjörn Ek
Ex integrantes no descartan reencuentro del grupo Abba
08:53 AM Estocolmo/Londres.- Después de 27 años, Abba cambia de tono ante la posibilidad de una reunificación: "Sí, ¿por qué no? No sería mala idea", dijo Benny Andersson, ex miembro del legendario cuarteto sueco, citado hoy por el diario británico "The Times".
Hasta ahora, Andersson y los otros tres miembros de Abba (Björn Ulvaeus y las cantantes Agnetha Fältskog y Anni-Frid Lyngstad) siempre descartaron categóricamente regresar a los escenarios.
El cuarteto se separó en 1983, tras éxitos como "Dancing Queen", "Waterloo" o "Take A Chance On Me". El matrimonio Fältskog y Ulvaeus y Andersson y Lyngstad emprendieron ya caminos en solitario durante los tiempso de la banda, destacó DPA.
------------------------------------------ RTVE.es/REUTERS - MADRID 26.03.2010 - 12:45hEn 2000 una jugosísima oferta de 1.000 millones de dólares (746 millones de euros) no fue capaz de reunir a los componentes de ABBA para una gira mundial.
Diez años después y el continuo aumento del mito gracias al éxito del musical Mamma mia!, los cuatro artistas suecos podrían volver a juntarse para tocar tras casi 30 años separados.
"Sí, ¿por qué no?", fue la respuesta de Benny Andersson, uno de los dos componentes masculinos del cuarteto, cuando fue interrogado sobre la posibilidad de una gira con una orquesta en una entrevista para The Times, con motivo de la promoción del musical Kristina, que se estrena el Londres el 14 de abril.
"No sé si las chicas [en referencia a "Frida" Lyngstad y Agnetha Fältskog] siguen cantando. Sé que Frida estuvo grabando", añadió el músico. "Realmente no es una mala idea", subrayó.
Björn Ulvaeus, por su parte y en la misma entrevista, hizo un guiño a la idea al afirmar que "podríamos cantar como en los viejos tiempos ("The Way Old Folks Do", dijo)", en referencia a la canción del álbum Super Trouper.
Los expertos han considerado siempre que hay demasiados obstáculos para ese posible reencuentro, entre otros la vida de ermitaña que lleva Agnetha Faltskog.
Frida Lyngstad estaría dispuesta
Sin embargo, los seguidores de ABBA pueden albergar aunque sea una brizna de esperanza. También Andersson and Ulvaeus se negaron a reunir el grupo anteriormente.
Hace dos años, Ulvaeus aseguró que "nunca nos subiremos a un escenario otra vez; no hay motivos para reunirse. El dinero no es un factor y nos gustaría que la gente nos recordase como éramos: jóvenes, exuberantes, llenos de energía y ambición".
Lyngstad se casó con un príncipe alemán y vive en los Alpes suizos. Se cree que estaría relativamente bien dispuesta al reencuentro, según The Times.
La última vez que el cuarteto se juntó públicamente fue en 2008, en el estreno en Estocolmo de la película Mamma mia!, basada en el musical del mismo nombre.
------------------------------------ Mama mía, ¿vuelve Abba?
Redacción
BBC Mundo
Bjorn Ulvaeus, Annifrid Frida Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson luego de ganar el concurso Eurovisión en 1974
El grupo sueco Abba ingresó al Salón de la Fama del Rock and Roll a mediados de marzo.
¿Qué fan de Abba no sueña con vestirse como en los años 70 y acudir a un último concierto del grupo para cantar "Chiquitita" o "Mama Mía"? Treinta años después de que la exitosa banda sueca se separara el grupo podría reunirse de nuevo.
Pese a que sus componentes siempre negaron la posibilidad de reagruparse después de la ruptura, las últimas declaraciones de dos de sus integrantes -Benny Andersson y Bjorn Ulvaeus- en el diario británico The Times han proyectado un pequeño rayo de esperanza para todos los seguidores de Abba.
Cuando se les preguntó sobre la posibilidad de hacer un último espectáculo que pudiera retransmitirse a nivel mundial, Andersson respondió, "sí, ¿por qué no?".
Andersson aseguró, sin embargo, que no sabía si las chicas del grupo seguían cantando y que "de hecho, no sería una mala idea" hacer un concierto juntos. Incluso, Ulvaeus propuso, "podríamos cantar The Way Old Folks Do", haciendo referencia a una de las canciones de su disco Super Trouper y que quiere decir algo así como "a la manera de los ancianos" .
Las declaraciones de los chicos de Abba no han dejado indiferente a nadie, sobre todo porque en el pasado siempre habían contestado negativa y rotundamente frente a esta posibilidad.
"Nunca apareceremos en los escenarios otra vez. No hay motivación para reagruparse. El dinero no es un factor y nos gustaría que la gente nos recordara como lo que fuimos: jóvenes, exuberantes, llenos de energía y con ambición", explicó Ulvaeus hace dos años.
Aunque algunos creen que las declaraciones de Andersson van más dirigidas a hacer publicidad y promoción, Mark Beaumont -periodista especializado en música- le dijo a la BBC: "No me sorprendería para nada que se reunieran. La gran mayoría del público lo pide tras el musical y la película de Mama Mía. Abba nunca había estado tan presente".
El fenómeno Abba
Benny Andersson y Ann-Frid Lyngstad durante la ceremonia de ingreso al Salón de la Fama del Rock and Roll
Los hombres del grupo Abba no descartaron un regreso a los escenarios.
La posibilidad de una vuelta a los escenarios está en el aire pero los más fieles seguidores del grupo siempre han pensado que hay demasiadas barreras para que la banda vuelva a tocar junta. Entre ellas el estilo de vida de reclusión que lleva Agnetha Faltskog, la cantante rubia de Abba.
El cuarteto estaba compuesto por las dos parejas sentimentales que formaban Ann-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad con Benny Andersson y Agnetha Faltskog con Bjorn Ulvaeus.
Abba se catapultó a la fama después de ganar el Festival de Eurovisión en 1974 con el tema "Waterloo". Tras una década llena de éxitos profesionales el grupo se disolvió debido a la ruptura de ambos matrimonios.
Vendieron 370 millones de discos y dejaron temas que han dado la vuelta al mundo como "Dancing Queen", "Take a chance on me" o "Money, Money, Money".
Actualmente, "Frida" está casada con un príncipe alemán y vive en los Alpes Suizos. Según apunta el diario inglés, estaría relativamente de acuerdo con volver a reunir al grupo.
Por su parte, Ulvaeus y Andersson están promocionando su último musical "Kristina", que se estrenará en Londres el próximo 14 de abril.
Y mientras se disipan las dudas de un posible regreso a los escenarios, los dejamos con una muestra del trabajo de Abba.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ohM0HymaYU
+------------------ Faith Hill performs "The Winner Takes It All", with Benny Andersson on piano, at ABBA's induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, 15 March, 2010.
Benny Andersson (keyboards; born December 16, 1946),
Björn Ulvaeus (guitar; born April 24, 1945),
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (vocals; born November 15, 1945)
ABBA rose out of Sweden in the Seventies to become one of the most successful and beloved pop groups in music history. Their success gave a more international flavor to popular music, broadening it beyond the English-speaking countries of origin. ABBA truly was an international phenomenon, topping charts and breaking records in England, France, Italy, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia. For a few years ABBA ranked second only to automaker Volvo as Sweden’s biggest money-making export.
The group has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. In the U.K. alone, these Swedish superstars charted 19 Top 10 singles (including nine that went to Number One) from 1974 to 1982. America proved somewhat more impervious to ABBA mania, as the group cracked the U.S. Top 10 only four times and hit Number One exactly once (with "Dancing Queen," in 1977). However, America got belatedly on board when the "jukebox musical" Mamma Mia!, based on the songs of ABBA, became a Broadway sensation. In December 2009, it became the 12th-longest-running Broadway show in history as it closed in on its 3,400th performance. Mamma Mia!, which premiered in London in 1999, has played around the world to an estimated 40 million people. A film version and accompanying soundtrack were released in 2008. All of this further fueled ABBA mania, which remains in high throttle three decades after the group’s breakup in 1982.
The seeds for ABBA’s decade of infectious, effervescent pop were sewn in 1966, when Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus met. The two were already rock stars in Sweden, where Björn played guitar with the Hootenanny Singers and Benny was keyboardist with the Hep Stars (referred to in their homeland as "the Swedish Beatles"), They made some records as a duo, using the name Björn and Benny. In 1972 they recorded one of their songs using Björn’s wife, Agnetha Fältskog, and Benny’s wife-to-be, Anni-Frid Lyngstad ("Frida," for short), as backing vocalists. Cut in a studio in Stockholm in March 1972, "People Need Love" was credited to "Björn and Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid," as the ABBA acronym had not yet been devised. (Technically, the first "B" in ABBA is backward, according to the band’s copyrighted logo.) "People Need Love" became a Swedish hit and was issued in America on Playboy Records (an offshoot of the magazine), which peculiarly amended the credit to "Björn and Benny (with Svenska Flicka)" – meaning "Swedish girl."
ABBA’s breakthrough came in 1974, when their song "Waterloo" won the Eurovision Song Contest. It topped the charts in many countries, including Britain, and even hit Number Six in the U.S. With its ringing harmonies and surging melody, "Waterloo" recalled the tuneful, high-energy songs of the girl-group era and the British Invasion at a time when infectious pop songcraft was in short supply. There was much more to come from ABBA in this vein. A year after the success of Waterloo," they scored again with "SOS," reaching Number Six in the U.K. and Number 15 in the U.S. ABBA became a fixture on the world charts.
Their mounting success resulted in sustained chart feats of Beatles-like proportions. Over a six-year period, from late 1975 through early 1972, ABBA released 17 consecutive singles that placed in the U.K. Top Five. Eight of those were Number One hits: "Mamma Mia," "Fernando," "Dancing Queen," "Knowing Me Knowing You," "The Name of the Game," "Take a Chance on Me," "The Winner Takes It All" and "Super Trouper." The singles "Does Your Mother Know" and "I Have a Dream" just fell short, reaching Number Two. Four others stopped at Number Three:
"Money, Money, Money," "Angeleyes/ Voulez-Vous," "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man after Midnight)" and "One of Us." All are driven by the soaring, harmonized lead vocals of Agnetha and Anna-Frid and the songwriting and production of Björn and Benny.
From 1975 to 1980, ABBA spent 35 weeks atop Britain’s album charts – a feat equaled by no one. By contrast, the group only topped the American album and singles charts once: in April 1977, when "Dancing Queen" hit Number One for a week. For this reason, as Billboard wrote, "the members of ABBA consider America to be their only failure." Even so, they placed 20 songs in the Hot 100 and have seen eight of their albums certified gold or platinum by the RIAA.
In fact, much of ABBA’s American success came belatedly, after their 1982 breakup. Internal tensions stemming from the divorces of the two couples recalled similar turbulence within Fleetwood Mac during the making of that band’s Rumours. Agnetha and Björn separated in late 1978, and Benny and Anni-Frid split up in early 1981. They recorded their final album, The Visitors, before disbanding in 1982. Benny and Björn thereupon set about working on the musical Chess with Tim Rice, while Agnetha and Anni-Frid embarked on solo careers. ABBA has never regrouped.
An ABBA revival in the Nineties was sparked by the incredible success of Gold – Greatest Hits, which has sold 26 million copies worldwide, including six million in the U.S. A comprehensive box set, Thank You for the Music, was released in 1994. The musical Mamma Mia! came at the end of the decade and carried the ABBA revival into the new millennium. In 2002, Universal Music remastered and reissued ABBA’s eight studio albums in expanded versions. An even more exhaustive box set, The Complete Studio Recordings, appeared in 2005. With ABBA’s 2010 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ABBA mania will continue for years to come.
UN GRUPO SIEMPRE PRESENTE Abba llegó al Salón de la Fama
Se separaron en 1982, pero sus hits perduraron en la voz de otros cantantes, el cine y el teatro. Ahora forman parte de la selección del rock. Fotogalería.
11:30 |
16.03.2010
Benny Anderson y Anni-Frid Lyngstad, ex miembros del cuarteto que inmortalizó hits como Mamma Mía o Chiquitia, asistieron a la ceremonia que posibilitó el ingreso de la banda al famoso museo en Cleveland. (EFE)
Click fuera del recuadro para salir
Los suecos de Abba pertenecen desde este martes al ilustre círculo de celebridades musicales que integran el Salón de la fama y del rock and roll, en el que figuran grandes nombres como Elvis Presley, los Beatles, los Rolling Stones, James Brown, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Queen o U2.
Benny Anderson y Anni-Frid Lyngstad, ex miembros del cuarteto que inmortalizó hits como Mamma Mía o Chiquitita, asistieron a la ceremonia que posibilitó el ingreso de la banda al famoso museo en Cleveland (Ohio), que celebra la obra de más de 600 representantes del mundo de la música.
Este acto supuso el reencuentro de los dos cantantes, que se casaron en 1978 y se divorciaron en 1981, un año antes que la banda decidiera disolverse definitivamente. Los otros dos miembros de Abba, Björn Ulvaeus y Agnetha Fältskog, que también fueron pareja, no estuvieron en la ceremonia ya que la relación entre los distintos ex compañeros no es la mejor.
El grupo parece estar rodeado de una magia especial, ya que a pesar de que desde 1982 no volvieron a grabar juntos, sus pegadizos temas quedaron en la memoria colectiva de un público que lo sigue acompañando y que gracias a otras celebridades del rock pudieron ampliar fronteras. Por ejemplo a fines de los´80 Erasure lanzó un EP con versiones electrónicas de sus canciones, el cual llegó a la cima de las listas británicas en la primavera de 1992.
El cine también fue culpable de su omnipresencia ya que dos producciones australianas, Las aventuras de Priscilla, reina del desierto y Muriel's Wedding, reinstalaron al grupo en lo más alto del reconocimiento del público allá por los noventa.
En el teatro también fue suceso, sobre todo con la obra escrita por Benny y Björn que fue estrenada en 1999 y vista por más de 30 millones de espectadores en todo el mundo acompañada luego por su posterior adaptación cinematográfica, protagonizada por Meryl Streep y Pierce Brosnan que a pesar de no haber conseguido muy buenas críticas obtuvo gran repercusión.
Los integrantes de la banda, que grabó ocho discos de estudio, siempre aseguraron que jamás volverían a reunirse a pesar de que cada reedición o recompilación que ofrece la discográfica dueña de los derechos de la música es un verdadero éxito. "Se separaron en 1982, pero los álbumes de homenaje al grupo y el éxito del musical Mamma Mia los mantiene permanentemente expuestos", dijo un portavoz del Salón de la Fama, quizás este sea uno de los argumentos para que, amén de no subirse a los escenarios, siga siendo una banda de culto.
OTROS RECONOCIMIENTOS. Once son los nuevos miembros del mítico museo, entre ellos la banda británica Génesis, el grupo de rock estadounidense The Stooges, liderado por Iggy Pop, y el cantante de reggae jamaiquino Jimmy Cliff.
Här skriver Abba musikhistoria igen
NEW YORK. När Benny satte sig ner vid flygeln strax efter klockan fyra i morse skrev Abba ny musikhistoria.
För första gången hade icke engelskspråkiga artister valts in i prestigefyllda Rock hall of fame i USA.
I salongen jublade Frida, lika stolt och glad som sin exmake.
- Det här är jättehäftigt. Vi är så stolta, säger båda till Expressen i natt.
Över 30 år har gått sedan storhetstiden. Och alla medlemmarna har lagt Abba åt sidan. Med nattens ceremoni gjorde den svenska succcégruppen ett nerslag i nutidshisorien.
– Det är ett oerhört fint erkännande. Jag är stol och hedrad. Det känns mycket speciellt, säger en avslappnad och Benny till Expressen några timmar innan han tog plats på scenen inför 100-tals andra pop- och rockstjärnor.
Benny spelade ”The winner takes it all”, tillsammans med ett tiomannaband under ledning av Paul Shaffer (David Lettermans bandledare) och flerfaldigt Grammy-belönade Faith Hill.
"Otroligt att vara här"
En lång rad artister underhöll, bland andra Eric Burdon från Animals, ett band jämngammalt med Hep Stars där Bennys karriär började.
– Sett ur ett Hep stars-perspektiv är det otroligt att vara här i natt, säger Benny.
– Men framförallt är det ett erkännande att vår musik har inspirerat andra. Precis som vi har inspirerats av så många i det här gänget, säger Benny och nämner namn som Chuck Berry, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, och Lennon/McCartney.
– Möjligen saknar jag mina klassiska inspirationskällor, Schubert och Bach, skrattar Benny.
– Tänk vilka fantastiska pop- och rockikoner som är invalda i Hall of fame. Och tänk på alla låtskrivare som inspirerat oss under åren, de är också med i det här gänget. Stort.
Gillar Kraftwerk
Benny Andersson kan inte förklara varför Abbas musik står sig fortfarande.
– Jag vet faktiskt inte. Om någon har ett bra svar - ring mig!
I går hade Benny en trevlig pratstund med bröderna Barry och Robin Gibb, som i natt installerade Abba och presenterade Frida och Benny.
– Vi har ju inte setts på 31 år. Otroligt roligt att träffa dem igen.
Benny känner det som en speciell ära att Abba är första icke anglosaxiska artisterna som blir invalda. På frågan om det finns några andra som kan platsa nämner han tyska Kraftwerk.
– De förtjänar en plats här, tycker han.
"Agnetha lika stolt som jag"
Annifrid Lyngstad, som valde att hålla sig salongen i stället för att uppträda i natt, säger till Expressen at det är överväldigande att ha valts som kvinna.
– Lite research visar att vi är 25 kvinnor av cirka 180 medlemmar. Agnetha hälsar och säger att hon är lika stolt som jag.
Det tog tid för Abborna att fatta sig egen storhet. Först när de alla satte sig ner, ett par decennier efter uppbrottet, och sammanställde första Abba-boxen förstod de vad de skapat.
– I dag har jag mod att säga att jag är stolt över Agnethas och min prestation, backade av Björn och Benny förstås, säger Frida, som ibland blir lite nostalgisk och lyssnar på de gamla låtarna på nätterna.
Frida pratar också om sina förebilder i Rock hall of fame. Nämner Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Gladys Knight med flera.
– Samt allra mest Dusty Springfield, tillägger hon.
Roxette skulle platsa
Hon kan tänka sig få sällskap av fler svenskar i det illustra sällskapet. Tycker att Roxette nog skulle kunna platsa.
Frida avslöjar också, lite hemlighetfullt, sina musikaliska planer.
– Jag sjunger ihop med en musiker på en platta som kommer så småningom.
Mer om detta spännande projekt fick Expressen inte veta vid pratstunden på Waldorf Astoria strax före konserten i natt.
Dessutom hade allt fler Abba-fans hittat oss och det var dags för halva Abba att smyga undan och förbereda sig för nattens musikfest.
Att Abba skulle stå på scen tillsammans igen finns inte på kartan för någon av dem. Den svenska succégruppen håller regelbunden kontakt och Frida och Benny hade roligt i vimlet på det klassiska New York-hotellet. Ivrigt uppvaktade av fans som köade för autografer och bilder.
Kommande musikfester med Rock hall of fame tackar Benny gärna ja till.
– Om jag blir bjuden. Och om de behöver nån vid pianot, säger han med ett ödmjukt leende.
