Mark Pentleton » swedish

347/365 Songs: Nu tändas tusen juleljus / Natten går tunga fjät

admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:05:21 +0000

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Today is St Lucia’s day and is a special day in Sweden, and indeed in other parts of Scandinavia and Northern Europe. St Lucia or St Lucy was sentenced to be burned, but the flames did not consume her. In Sweden a girl in each town is chosen to be Lucia and leads a procession. wearing candles in her hair which symbolise the fire that refused to burn her. The traditional Neapolitan song Santa Lucia is sung in Swedish, and the Swedish lyrics talk of the light which Lucia overcomes in the darkness. After this other Christmas carols are sung, so I’ve chosen to combine one of the most traditional Swedish carols, Nu tändas tusen juleljus (”Now let a thousand lights be lit”) with Natten går tunga fjät, or Santa Lucia.

328/365 Songs: Födelsedagsvals till Mona – Benny Andersson

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:17:51 +0000

This is a lovely little waltz written by Benny Andersson for his wife, Swedish TV presenter Mona Nörklit on her birthday. I’ve seen the Benny Anderssons Orkester play this live, and it’s one of those songs which the performers obviously enjoy performing.

274/365 Songs: Lycka – Anni-Frid Lyngstad

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:20:14 +0000

This gorgeous, simple song was first recorded by Benny and Björn in 1970, and then released by Anni-Frid on her solo album in 1971. The title of the song, Lycka, means “happiness” in Swedish and the lyrics tell the story of a couple who spend some time with each other after a busy day. There was a demo recorded in English called To Live With You, but the English lyrics aren’t great. Frida’s version is lovely – have a listen here.

164/365 Songs: Lätt som en sommarfjäril – Benny Anderssons Orkester

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:39:33 +0000

After my previous performances for Norway’s National Day on 17th May, I realised today that I’d completely forgotten Sweden’s National Day on 6th June. This song is therefore a belated dedication to all my Swedish friends – and Benny Anderssons Orkester fans everywhere! The song Lätt som en sommarfjäril (Light as a butterfly) was performed by Helen Sjöholm at the BAO concert last June in Stockholm. It’s a beautiful, simple song and if you’d like to find out more, here’s a YouTube version with an English translation of the Swedish lyrics.

104/365 Songs: Här har du mig igen (Kristina från Duvemåla)

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:01:34 +0000

Today I’m marking the première of the musical Kristina in the Royal Albert Hall with the final song in our Kristina series, and it’s one of the pieces from the show which combines a number of themes heard previously. At this stage Kristina has lost her child and her husband is a stranger to her. Kristina longs for her husband and is convinced that she should be together. He resists her until she uses the words she used to pledge her love so many years before (apologies for my poor translation!):

Jag hör ditt hjärtas jämna slag
Mitt huvud mot ditt bröst
i nattens timmar
Vi ska va tillsammans
när dag läggs till dag
För dit du går går också jag

“I hear the steady beat of your heart,
my head against your chest in the night hours.
We shall be together every day
For wherever you go I will go too.”

100/365 Songs: Hemma – Kristina från Duvemåla

admin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:05:49 +0000

This week I’m doing a series of songs from the Benny Andersson / Björn Ulvæus musical Kristina which premières next week at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Today we’re at the hundredth song of the 365songs project, and I’ve recorded the song Hemma (Home). By this time, Kristina and Karl Oskar have arrived in America. Kristina is sitting resting in Battery Park, quite overwhelmed by the journey and the family’s new life. She wonders when she’ll be able to call somewhere “home” again. I think this song really shows Benny’s folk roots as it’s very much in the style of a Scandinavian folk melody. (YouTube link from the Minnesota concert a few years ago – Swedish with English subtitles).

99/365 Songs: Stanna – Kristina från Duvemåla

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:51:24 +0000

Next Wednesday evening in the Royal Albert Hall the UK première of the concert version of Benny and Björn’s musical Kristina will take place. As I explained in a previous post when I performed Guldet Blev till Sand, the epic musical is based on Vilhelm Moberg’s series of books, Utvandrarserien, which tell the story of one family’s migration from Småland to Minnesota. In many ways it’s a Swedish Les Misérables!

I’ve loved the music from Kristina since I first heard it fifteen years ago, and I’ve decided to do a little series on 365songs over the next week in which I’ll record a few songs from the show. Today I’ve chosen to begin with Stanna (Stay). During the journey from Sweden to the New World, the title character Kristina who is pregnant with her fifth child has fallen ill to scurvy. Her husband, Karl Oskar, sits with her throughout the night. (YouTube link from the Minnesota concert a few years ago – Swedish with English subtitles).

68/365 Songs: Gabriellas Sång – Så som i himmelen

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:16:08 +0000

Today’s song is perhaps not very well known – but it deserves to be. It’s taken from the 2004 Swedish blockbuster Så som i himmelen (On earth as it is in heaven) and was sung by Helen Sjöholm in the film. The film tells the story of Daniel, a renowned conductor who, following health problems, returns to his village in the north of Sweden and eventually is convinced to help out with the local church choir. As a child he had endured a life of bullying and one of the choir members (Gabriella) is still suffering at the hands of one of these bullies. Gabriella’s song is about living the life she wants to live. The performance of this song in the film is extremely powerful – here’s the YouTube link, but it’s worth trying to get hold of the film to see the song in its original context. In some ways the ending of the film is tragic, making it unlikely to cross over into a Hollywood treatment! However, in other ways the ending is truly happy because the song’s final line, “Jag vill känna att jag levt mitt liv” (”I want to feel that I’ve lived my life”) is exactly what Daniel has done.

The film was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film in the 77th Academy Awards, and the song spent 68 weeks in the Swedish charts between 2004 and 2006. It’s one of those songs which is very well known in Scandinavia, often performed at Confirmation celebrations, but it’s still relatively unknown in the English-speaking world. As yet I don’t know of any English language version, but a translation of the lyrics is below. I hope you enjoy it!

Swedish

Det är nu som livet är mitt
Jag har fått en stund här på jorden
Och min längtan har fört mig hit
Det jag saknat och det jag fått

Det är ändå vägen jag valt
Min förtröstan långt bortom orden
Som har visat en liten bit
Av den himmel jag aldrig nått

Jag vill känna att jag lever
All den tid jag har
Ska jag leva som jag vill
Jag vill känna att jag lever
Veta att jag räcker till

Jag har aldrig glömt vem jag var
Jag har bara låtit det sova
Kanske hade jag inget val
Bara viljan att finnas kvar

Jag vill leva lycklig för att jag är jag
Kunna vara stark och fri
Se hur natten går mot dag
Jag är här och mitt liv är bara mitt
Och den himmel jag trodde fanns
Ska jag hitta där nånstans

Jag vill känna att jag levt mitt liv

English translation

It is now that my life is mine
I’ve got this short time on earth
And my longing has brought me here
All I lacked and all I gained

And yet it’s the way that I chose
My trust was far beyond words
That has shown me a little bit
Of the heaven I’ve never found

I want to feel I’m alive
All my living days
I will live as I desire
I want to feel I’m alive
Knowing I was good enough

I have never lost who I was
I have only left it sleeping
Maybe I never had a choice
Just the will to stay alive

All I want is to be happy
Being who I am
To be strong and to be free
To see day arise from night

I am here and my life is only mine
And the heaven I thought was there
I’ll discover it there somewhere
I want to feel that I’ve lived my life!