Andante: A Happy Boat

 Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/andante.nu : "Andante: A Happy Boat – Book Launch on February 15th! This February, you'll have the chance to own the full story of Andante through our book".

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFINbUOoAT8/?img_index=1

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https://issuu.com/smakprov/docs/9789171266392_ac01c8d6746e98

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The Historic Island Spot Where ABBA Reunited

The Historic Island Spot Where ABBA Reunited

RMV Studio

Photo : Josefin Bakos

Riksmixningsverket — better, and more simply, known as RMV Studio — is “an impossible name, also for Swedes,” admits co-owner Ludvig Andersson. But there’s a good reason for its lengthy, official moniker. Ludvig’s father, ABBA’s Benny Andersson, who co-owns the Swedish studio, had wanted to use the name (a suggestion by ABBA’s former engineer, Michael Tretow) for the group’s Polar Studios, but was legally unable to use the word verket, meaning “institution.” “At the time in the ’70s, you weren’t allowed to call anything that wasn’t an actual institution or department that. But in this day and age, they don’t care anymore,” says Ludvig, who helps his dad with myriad aspects of ABBA’s business. Thus, the National Institutional Department of Mixing was born. “It’s a joke,” Ludvig explains, “and it sounds kind of nice.”

Housed in a 150-year-old former naval warehouse on the island of Skeppsholmen in the center of Stockholm, RMV overlooks the waters surrounding the city and features a restored Neve 8068 console from 1977, formerly owned by Max Martin. Since opening in 2011, RMV has hosted Coldplay, Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf), Daniel Caesar and many local acts — including ABBA, which recorded Voyage, its first album of new music in 40 years, there. “It’s in Stockholm, and I’ve done a lot of recordings in there with my band,” says Benny matter-of-factly. “So it was obvious. Why would we go anywhere else? Besides, the money stays in the family!”

Ludvig Andersson: Benny and I, both being musicians, had been saying for a while that one should really have a studio, shouldn’t one? I think we knew that it was going to be difficult to run it as a commercial, profitable operation. But we both love studios, and here was an opportunity to build one and to have our own.

Benny Andersson: To have a studio available when you need it is vital. Before [ABBA] built Polar Studios, we had to go to find time in the studios that existed in Stockholm, and sometimes, there was no availability. Obviously, RMV is open for booking for anyone, as long as they’re not Donald Trump fans.

Ludvig: I think our main selling point is that we’re not in a basement. We have big windows overlooking the inlet of Stockholm. We have daylight in this building that has a lot of character, and it has a very good soul. I remember when we had just opened, it kind of felt like that studio had been there for 200 years. It hadn’t, but it somehow married and matched with the existing building in a way that [gives] it a very welcoming, warm atmosphere.

Benny: It’s full of French doors all the way around. Normally, when you go into a studio, it’s down in a cellar somewhere. There’s no light because of the sound isolation. But we did that anyway, and it works, as long as there’s not a bus standing right outside — but then we just wait for a minute until it disappears.

Ludvig: What was fascinating [when ABBA reunited] was that they walked through the door, and from an outsider’s perspective, it was as if it was yesterday. There was no, “Oh, wow. How cool is it that we’re back together?” It was just like, “OK, hello, let’s have a coffee and do our COVID-19 tests and then get to work,” which was really lovely to see. [They were there for] a month and had quite reasonable working hours for 75-year-olds.

Benny: Yes, that’s absolutely true. Once the ladies came into the studio and we started recording and going through the songs and all that, and they went to their mics, all of us said, “Wow. It’s like no time has passed.” It’s just continuing from when we last met. It was quite amazing, actually, I have to say. And the fact that they can still sing.

Ludvig: Most of the time, not to say all of the time, it works because we’re very similar. [Benny and I] share the same sort of morals and values and views on what music and art is. He and I have a very good relationship, and it’s nice to see your father often.

Benny: It’s wonderful for me, too. Of course it is. And he’s right. He knows what I feel and think about everything. If he needs to, he can answer for me whoever asks him a question about what’s going on. That feels very comforting. —CHRISTINE WERTHMAN

https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-recording-studios-music-global-photos

Thanks Monique Hoevens - ABBA Newsflash on facebook

Benny at the ABBA Arena

 The 26th of September, Benny was at the ABBA Arena.

He was seen in the audience
source photo: ABBA Voyage

Happy 100th performance!

 photo ursula.tuca.milan

photo: israel003 instagram

ABBA Arena - ARCHITECTS OF ENTERTAINMENT

 ARCHITECTS OF ENTERTAINMENT

CHRISTOPHER BARRETTAUGUST 1, 2022

Stufish is well established as one of the industry’s most innovative and creative designers of live entertainment structures and productions. Access caught up with company partners Alicia Tkacz and Ric Lipson to gain an insight into the work that went on behind the scenes to create this year’s stand-out projects – the ABBA Arena and the Platinum Party at the Palace

Founded by the late Mark Fisher, Stufish has a rich history of designing and producing remarkable live performance environments and activations including U2’s 360 ° Claw, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s OTR II floating stage, and more recently stage architecture for Stormzy’s Heavy Is The Head and the Rolling Stones Sixty tours.

This year has seen two landmark moments for the company, the unveiling of its ground-breaking ABBA Arena and the acclaimed multi-stage creation for the Platinum Party at the Palace.

With an audience capacity of 3,000, the ABBA Arena is the world’s largest demountable temporary venue. Built by ES Global at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP), it has been designed to be as light as possible so that the structure can be packed up and transported to another location at the end of its five-year tenure in London.

The ABBA Voyage show is performed under a 740-tonne roof which was lifted and installed as a single element, enabling a column-free view for audience members. The hi-tech building includes dance floors, audience seating and bars.

Stufish partner Alicia Tkacz began working on the project in March 2019. From the outset, she worked hand-in-hand with ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the show’s producers Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson, and the team at visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic.

“We talked a lot about how to develop the theatre of the building,” says Tkacz. “It’s a bespoke show in a bespoke building, so it was important for us that they were both worked on concurrently. With the nature of the show, the physical and digital spaces needing to be seamless, it was important to us that we were there in the team from the beginning.”

Tkacz spent the first few months looking at sites that had a big enough plot and that were easily accessible by public transport. Once the QEOP was selected, the next step was to design a structure that would not scar the land once it was removed.

She says, “We must give the land back as we found it, so we didn’t want to break ground too much. The structure has been designed so it only penetrates the ground in 18 places around the main arena. Other than that, we sit completely independently on top of the tarmac surface. So once the whole structure is taken down, we can give the land back pretty much as we found it.”

While the building may not be permanent, its location is surrounded by residential properties and so for all intents and purposes the ABBA Arena was designed with the same sound proofing considerations as a permanent structure.

Tkacz says that internally the whole structure, including all of the seating grandstands, is made out of timber and as a result it feels very much like a solid, permanent, structure.

“ABBA and the Swedish team were very keen to use as much timber as possible in the building,” she says. “Timber is structural, and it provides a beautiful finish, but then there is the sustainability part as well. We have built an inherently sustainable structure because of the material but also the fact it can be taken apart and used again. There’s the carbon footprint of moving it but that is offset by reusing materials rather than building another one from scratch somewhere else.”.”

https://accessaa.co.uk/architects-of-entertainment

Benny Plays Ode the Freedom at Konserthuset Stockholm

Charity concert of Kyiv Soloists, National chamber ensemble dedicated to Ukraine at Konserthuset Stockholm. The orchestra received Benny>

Benny on Twitter

 

Twitter @carrie_simmer

"So I met the most legendary person ever? 🥺 The sweetest man with the biggest smile as soon as he opened the door, he makes me happy every day with his music! Thank you Benny! ❤️ LYSM & see you soon! Ps.: I loved our quick chat eheh" https://t.co/No3C2IVFSl

ABBA are supporting this year's @bbccin appeal

 ABBA are supporting this year's @bbccin appeal, with prizes including ABBA Voyage Opening Night tickets and a copy of the new album signed by all four members!

Nov 19th, 2021

source ABBA Voyage

-Interview with Benny Andersson

 WDR 4-Interview with Benny Andersson

10.11.2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHIj7AIJVCg

Benny And Bjorn On Being Back In The Studio

Benny And Bjorn On Being Back In The Studio

4 nov 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkSAmWJhAI

"This is POP" Stockholm Syndrome

 

Full Program

This is Pop Stockholm Syndrome from abbaregistroallvideos on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/537505997

Benny at The Bakery kedvi Bröd

 

Benny at The Bakery kedvi Bröd Inauguration of Skedvi Bread on December 4th, 2014. Benny Andersson, offered accordion music together with fiddlers on harp and violin. It was also he who symbolically baked the first cake 

Full video: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxKuFVDv7ds

 

Benny Andersson is awarded the Swedish Academy's Royal Prize for the year 2020

Benny Andersson får kungligt pris 29 december 2020 Dagens 

 NÖJE Kompositören och producenten Benny Andersson tilldelas Svenska Akademiens Kungliga pris för år 2020. Priset instiftades 1835 av Karl XIV Johan, och delas numera ut för förtjänstfulla insatser inom något av Akademiens intresseområden. 

Pristagare de senaste åren har varit bland andra Stina Ekblad (2016), Marie-Louise Ekman (2017), P.C. Jersild (2018) och Leif Zern (2019).
Prisbeloppet är på 100 000 kronor.
Benny Andersson var medlem i popgrupperna Hep Stars och ABBA. Han har bland annat komponerat musikalerna "Kristina från Duvemåla" och "Hjälp Sökes" och haft musikaliska samarbeten med Orsa spelmän.

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PLEASURE The composer and producer Benny Andersson is awarded the Swedish Academy's Royal Prize for the year 2020. 

The prize was established in 1835 by Karl XIV Johan, and is now awarded for meritorious contributions in one of the Academy's areas of interest.
Prize winners in recent years have included Stina Ekblad (2016), Marie-Louise Ekman (2017), P.C. Jersild (2018) and Leif Zern (2019).
The prize amount is SEK 100,000.
Benny Andersson was a member of the pop groups Hep Stars and ABBA. Among other things, he has composed the musicals "Kristina från Duvemåla" and "Hjälp Sökes" and had musical collaborations with Orsa fiddlers.
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https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/a/GaPRJQ/benny-andersson-far-kungligt-pris

https://www.svenskaakademien.se/press/svenska-akademiens-kungliga-pris-2020

Happy Birthday Benny !!

 Happy Birthday Benny !! Sunny Girl Piano

December 16th, 2020

Anthem

Benny - Tommy Körberg
bomanshotell
july 10th, 2020

Tribute Concert for Josefin Nilsson

 Benny and Marie Nilsson Lind at Rival...
Tribute Concert for Josefin Nilsson and Marie Nilsson presented the book that Josefin started to write and Marie Nilsson Lind has completed
"En kväll för Josefin" One night for Josefin...

update: March 4, 2020