Tag Archives: Music
Slightly Obsessed
Previously on this blog, I’ve written about my slight obsession with Swedish pop star, Ola. I first discovered his work when he was an entrant in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish finals leading to the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2008. I thought the song, Love in Stereo was “okay”. A few months later I saw him [...]
Randwick Bells Are Ringing
It was so very sad to hear today of the death of an Australian musical legend. I’ve met him on several occasions over the last twenty years. It was probably 1990 (or maybe 1989) when I first witnessed his “magic” at the Barmera Country Music Festival in South Australia (I was living in Renmark at [...]
Melodifestivalen 2012 #4
Over the last few days I’ve been gripped by the “controversy” in the Swedish newspapers about one of the artists who could represent Sweden at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. At the centre of the controversy is the song, “Mirakel” by Björn Ranelid, a sixty-something former football player, and academic, who is one of Sweden’s [...]
Melodifestivalen 2012 #3
If you have any familiarity with Melodifestivalen – the Swedish finals leading to the Eurovision Song Contest – you’re probably aware of Eric Saade who represented Sweden last year. His song, “Popular” was a good song, performed well, though it was criticsed by some for being too derivative of of Boney M’s “Rasputin” and a [...]
Laleh
I have a new favourite Swedish pop star: her name is Laleh. With quite an interest in Swedish pop music, I don’t know how or why she’s slipped under my radar. But it wasn’t until about a week ago, when I checked out the Swedish Charts that I discovered her. Just a week or so [...]
Melodifestivalen 2012 #2
After an early night in bed – still recovering a bit from my cyst – I was up nice and early this morning to watch Episode 2 of this year’s “Melodifestivalen”, the contest which select’s Sweden’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Yes, this is my life my friends… I was reasonably excited by the [...]
Melodifestivalen 2012 #1
This time twelve months ago I was a little obsessed with the lack of Swedish language performances in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish competition which leads to the Eurovision Song Contest. Despite my concern there weren’t enough Swedish language songs in last year’s competition, it was actually the English language songs which I preferred this year. My [...]
What makes a “real” ABBA fan?
I’ve been meaning to say for a few days I had a fun time at the ABBA Celebration in Sydney on the weekend. It was lovely to see some people I haven’t seen for a while and to meet some new faces. Mind you, someone who I had previously thought was quite interesting, actually turned [...]
Michael K. Chin
One of the really terrific parts of my job is that I get to meet some really interesting people who I would otherwise not meet in my normal day to day life. Such is the case of Michael K. Chin. He’s a composer and DJ from Sydney who appeared at Parramasala on the weekend. He [...]
Ola är jättebra!
Today I would like to introduce you to my favourite Swedish pop star at the moment, Ola Svensson. I first discovered his work when he was an entrant in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish finals leading to the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2008. I thought the song, Love in Stereo was “okay”. A few months later [...]
On A School Night
“The last time I was here, it was a plate-breaking Greek restaurant called Dimitris”, I told my visiting interstate colleagues. I was referring to “Gardel’s Bar” at Porteño in Surry Hills. After years of plate-breaking, it’s now an uber-fashionable bar for the Surry Hills crowd. Along with the “Norfolk Hotel” which has also become uber-cool, [...]
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