I spent a few minutes today going through a book I bought last year in Sweden called, “Schlagerbog”. At its very core, it’s a book about modern gay life in Sweden. The title, however, says it all. Schlager is a type of Swedish pop song. Bog is a poof. In Australia, you would call the book Kyliequeens or something like that. Do you get my drift?
And the reason I picked it up was that late this afternoon I watched Andra Chansen, the penultimate episode of Melodifestivalen leading up to next week’s final at Globen in Stockholm.
A bit like Australian Idol, Melodifestivalen, however significantly pre-dates the modern television show as a way in which Sweden selects which song will represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest. Although years ago, they had a judging panel, it’s now voted for by the public through phone voting and SMS.
Still, they recognise the public doesn’t always get it right, and so some of the acts are given “another chance”.
And watching that is how I’ve spent the latter part of the afternoon.
I was a little disappointed BWO didn’t make it through, as their song has actually grown a fair bit on me over the past week, even if it does sound almost identical to the Sarah Dawn Finer song which made it through. The other song that’s been growing on me is Snalla Snalla by Caroline af Ugglas. From watching the show, I still can’t determine if she’s a wonderful free soul or as a mad as a meat-axe…
The final 11 who will now compete next weekend to represent Sweden at Eurovision in May at Moscow are…
På lördag (14/3) är det dags för final i Melodifestivalen 2009. Finalen avgörs i Globen, i Stockholm, och direktsänds i SVT1 kl 20.00-22.05. De elva bidrag som tävlar om att bli Sveriges representant i Eurovision Song Contest i Moskva i maj är:
Startordning:
1. Bidragets titel: Hope & Glory
Upphovsmän: Fredrik Kempe (t & m), Måns Zelmerlöw (t), Henrik Wikström (m)
Artist: Måns Zelmerlöw2. Bidragets titel: Snälla, snälla
Upphovsmän: Caroline af Ugglas (t), Heinz Liljedahl (m)
Artist: Caroline af Ugglas3. Bidragets titel: Love Love Love
Upphovsman: Anders Hansson (t & m)
Artist: Agnes4. Bidragets titel: 1000 Miles
Upphovsmän: Niklas Jarl (t & m), David Stenmarck (t & m)
Artist: H.E.A.T5. Bidragets titel: You’re My World
Upphovsmän: Emilia Rydberg (t & m), Fredrik “Figge” Boström (t & m)
Artist: Emilia6. Bidragets titel: Stay The Night
Upphovsmän: Anders Hansson (t & m), Mårten Sandén (t & m), Andreas Lundstedt (t & m),
Therese Merkel (t & m), Lina Hedlund (t & m)
Artist: Alcazar7. Bidragets titel: Moving On
Upphovsmän: Sarah Dawn Finer (t & m), Fredrik Kempe (t & m)
Artist: Sarah Dawn Finer8. Bidragets titel: Baby Goodbye
Upphovsmän: Erik Segerstedt, Mattias Andreasson, Danny Saucedo, Oscar Görres
Artist: E.M.D.9. Bidragets titel: Alla
Upphovsmän: Dimitri Stassos (m), Henrik Wikström (m), Irini Michas (m), Nina Karolidou (t)
Artist: Sofia10. Bidragets titel: Så vill stjärnorna
Upphovsmän: Ingela “Pling” Forsman (t), Bobby Ljunggren (m), Marcos Ubeda (m)
Artist: Molly Sandén11. Bidragets titel: La voix
Upphovsman: Fredrik Kempe
Artist: Malena Ernman
My favourites are 1, 2 and 6. And 11, for the marginal novelty value of an operatic voice doing a pop song.
Otherwise, there was a brief visit to work to get a few files off my computer, a visit to the supermarket to ward off starvation, and a bit of faffing about on the computer. And my washing machine is working again, so I’m hard at it with the Fisher & Paykel.
I’m also thinking about the coming week which includes Swedish class on Tuesday, the pub on Wednesday, Guys and Dolls at the Capitol Theatre on Thursday, and David Campbell at the State Theatre on Friday. And then hopefully a catch up with an old mate Merri-May who is performing a cabaret show at the Paddington RSL on Friday night. I’ll put my skates on after seeing David Campbell.
And then next weekend, schlager-wise, there’s lots of fun. In the ABBA Village, we have an overseas visitor, and then on the Sunday, I’m organising a big screen at a pub to watch the Melodifestivalen Final.
And yes, you may now officially call me a schlagerbog!
4 responses to “Schlager Sunday”
Hey James,
I met my first real Swede who actually lives here today. LOL it seems like every Southern Swede hates Stockholmers for some reason…
I learnt two more random words/phrases but not sure of spelling so I’ll spell what they kind of sound like “gegermeier” (slush said by little kids) and [something] “awning” which was “I have no idea!” (I think…)
BTW, how do can I discern a Swede? I find they are incredibly hard to detect…because their accent to me seems quite subtle. I also found that they have variable English…this Swede had BBC British English, the Stockholm Swede had very American soap opera English and the other Swede…lol I thought he was Aussie! And in terms of look unless they are blue eyes and blonde haired I really can’t see any particular common facial features- can you tell someone is Swedish at a glance?
Also I learnt that Peter is Per in Swedish, what is James in Swedish?
Cheers,
Zhen
Zhen – ever since I began to learn Swedish I hear it everywhere in Sydney. It’s kinda weird. Aside from the archetypal blonde/blue eyes, they’re a diverse group. I’m guessing the “i have no idea” phrase you’re talking about might be “Jag vet inte” (run all the words together and it kind sounds like awning).
‘Schlager’ I can cope with but ‘bog’ sounds a bit rough.
Victor – it’s pronounced berg… like the mountains, so it’s kinda nice actually. Well, as nice as “poofter” gets. :)