The Story of ABBA: Uncovering Their Hidden Melancholy / Jan Gradvall

 news / Jan Gradvall

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A

article https://booktrib.com/.../books-looks-podcast-the-story.../

TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS:

([00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A)) Introduction to ABBA's Hidden Story

([02:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=129s)) ABBA's Eurovision History: From 'Ring Ring' to 'Waterloo'

([07:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=450s)) Clashing with the Culture: ABBA vs. Sweden's 'Progg' Movement

([10:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=626s)) Before the Supergroup: ABBA's Roots in Swedish Folk and Rock

([12:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=764s)) Melancholy Undercover: The Swedish Soul of ABBA's Music

([14:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=883s)) Decoding 'Tourist English': The Charm of ABBA's Lyrical Style

([16:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=1010s)) More Than an Image: The Overlooked Musical Talents of Agnetha Fältskog

([30:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=1809s)) A Hiatus, Not a Breakup: ABBA's Unofficial Split and 90s Revival

([34:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=2095s)) The Mamma Mia Phenomenon: From a Daring Idea to a Global Sensation

([40:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A&t=2439s)) The Enduring Legacy: The ABBA Museum and the 'ABBA Voyage' Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZPJzakRE0A

Giles Smith on his book My MyABBA Through the Ages

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA90drBa9RA

interesting

books2024 - abbavoyage

From Word In Your Ear: "Giles was 12 when he watched Abba win Eurovision in 1974 and was instantly besotted – and thus required to spend the next 20 years wrestling with The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name. His thunderingly funny, fond and illuminating book – My My!: Abba Through The Years – traces their story, looks at the snobbery and critical mauling they endured and figures out how they made records so universally popular and which still move him to tears 50 years later. It’s also the best example of any book we’ve read that can explain the mechanics of music to a non-musician. It’s highly recommended"

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Vemod undercover - Jan Gradvall

https://www.albertbonniersforlag.se/bocker/291178/vemod-undercover/Benny/

Jan Gradvall publica un libro sobre ABBA... Tristeza encubierta

"Parece que todo lo que he escrito sobre música ha llevado a este libro", dice Jan Gradvall según Albert Bonniers Förlags sitio web.

Allí, el libro se describe como el lector se reunirá ABBA "más allá de los disfraces y las leyendas penetradas". "Es un libro que permite que los detalles, en la música, en el destino humano, en los tiempos contemporáneos, expliquen el todo, desde los primeros pasos de la banda como algo así como un supergrupo sueco a principios de la década de 1970, hasta la última grabación. Vemod Undercover es un mosaico de historias únicas sobre ABBA, pero sobre todo una declaración de amor desenmascarada, firmada por uno de los principales periodistas musicales de Suecia, que nos hace ver la banda y el tiempo con nuevos ojos."

Andersson explica que incluso las canciones más alegres del enorme catálogo de canciones de la banda son fundamentalmente tristes. "Hicimos melancolía encubierto", dice para describir la música de la banda.

El libro se publicará el 13 de octubre.

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Vemod undercover - Boken om ABBA Författare: Jan Gradvall

Vemod Undercover är titeln på nöjesjournalisten och författaren Jan Gradvalls kommande bok om ABBA.

AV JIM KNUTSSON

07.07.2023 / 09:07

"Det känns som allt jag skrivit om musik har lett fram till den här boken", säger Jan Gradvall enligt Albert Bonniers Förlags hemsida.

Där beskrivs boken som att läsaren kommer att möta ABBA "bortom förklädnader och genomtröskade legender". "Det är en bok som låter detaljerna – i musiken, i människoödena, i samtiden – förklara helheten, från bandets första steg som något av en svensk supergrupp i början av 1970-talet, till den sista inspelningen. Vemod Undercover är en mosaik av unika berättelser om ABBA, men framför allt en osminkad kärleksförklaring, signerad en av Sveriges ledande musikjournalister, som får oss att se bandet och tiden med nya ögon."

Benny Andersson förklarar att även de gladare låtarna i bandets enorma låtkatalog är vemodiga i grunden. "Vi gjorde vemod undercover", säger han för att beskriva bandets musik.

Boken släpps den 13 oktober.

 https://gaffa.se/nyheter/2023/juli/jan-gradvall-ger-ut-bok-om-abba

Note: Festfolk

 

From: abba-theconcerts.de

1970/71 – Festfolk

In late 1970 and in the spring of 1971 Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Björn toured with a cabaret show, Festfolk, accompanied by the dance band The Lolas. This show was about 45 minutes. ‘Festfolk’ means ‘party people’. There also was a joke about this name because when written as ‘Fästfolk’ it means ’engaged couples’. Rehearsals for this show began in September 1970 at the hotel (?) Sankt Jörgen.

Before the start of the tour they appeared on the radio show Våra favoriter (taped September 29, broadcast October 3) where they performed Frida’s Barnen sover, Agnetha’s Som ett eko and Björn & Benny’s Hej gamle man! from their upcoming solo album. On October 21 or 22 the TV programme Five Minutes Saloon was taped (broadcast December 13) with them performing on the songs Red Roses For A Blue Lady (chorus only) and California Here I Come. And on October 29-30 this was followed by the TV show I stället för Tarzan (broadcast October 31) possibly performing Hej gamle man!.

They usually performed on or around the weekends. According to Frida the audience varied from 14 to about 400. Especially the Festfolk shows were pretty disappointing and are remembered by the ABBA members as a big desaster, with people ordering their meals and raising their glasses to each other during the show.

"This is the low end of the collaboration between the four of us. [...] Because we were not doing what we were supposed to do. We were singing other people’s songs in a kind of cabaret act. Benny and I were doing a number where we supposed to be two little boys. [...] It was embarrassing, but it was after that tour that we realized, our own songs that's we should do"

Björn in Sunday Night Show Special: Agnetha speaks, Channel 7, Australia, May 2013

"Luckily, the show was never recorded. This was when we learned exactly what we should not be doing".

Björn, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows 2014, p.150

https://www.facebook.com/abbaregistro/photos/a.559117164436772/1285491978465950/