Frida, Benny and Björn in Finland '96-'97
At the beginning Frida (and Tomas) are handed Gold records for their new albums. I don't remember exactly how many copies you have to sell in Sweden to get it - it might be 50 000 copies. The head of anderson records, Marie Ledin is the hostess for the evening. The magazine claims that Tomas Ledin compositions were once recorded by ABBA - unbelievable! Raila Kinnunen, the reporter, must have mixed things up. Maybe she was referring to the girls solo recordings... It is also stated that the master of the house, Stikkan Anderson, does not show himself at the party. People are talking that the house is for sale. Stikkan is ill - some days better, some worse. But his wife Gudrun is present. "It's wonderful, that someone was courageous enough to give a middle-aged woman like me a break! And it's great to be back in the family", states Frida, looking as queenly as Queen Silvia of Sweden - one of her closests friends, by the way. Frida says that she is not after the same kind of success she enjoyed with ABBA, well, it wouldn't even to be possible and not nice, as she puts it. Could she think about even a small tour? - Yes, and I'm thinking at the moment. We are trying to come up with a human version of a tour, she laughs. Did she think of asking Benny and Björn to write a song for her album? - Frida gives a long look and answers politely: "Not for a minute."
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Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti 3.12.1996Princess and millionaire, Frida of ABBA in Helsinki: "Life has given me so much", reads the headline. Frida performed last night at Svenska Teatern's charity gala. She sang two songs from her new Djupa Andetag -album, Även en blomma and Ögonen. "ABBA is NOT going to record anything together. We are all so busy with our own lives and projects", she says."I did not marry a prince. I married a man I love. He truly is a fantastic person", "My 'class-trip' has nothing to do between a cottage and a castle but one's self esteem. I've changed from a looser into a person that has succeeded in her life." Life for her as a child was not easy, being a girl from Norwegian-German -parents, raised by her grandmother in Sweden. She tells she has grown to be strong through a lot of pain.
Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti 6.3.1997Björn came to Helsinki to promote the forth-coming CHESS in Concert happening. He made several interviews. He does not consider himself as pop-star anymore. Then what does he think about ABBA being still popular? - "It's extremely flattering. The only explanation is that it had to come back, like all the decades do from time to time. We made an enormous impact in the '70's." -"It may be my built-in modesty that's preventing me to say it, but we made so pretty good songs too...".-"Back in the seventies we were able to walk the streets in our hometown Stockholm without anyone bothering us. Nobody ever tried to push drugs or anythong to us." -"We never decided that this is the end of ABBA, it just happened. We were just going to have a break - and it became a constant one." Then Iltalehti describes the synopsis of Chess, but they get it all wrong as they mix the characters e.g. Florence into Svetlana...
Today the most popular Swedish pop in the U.S.A is played by Cardigans. Björn confesses he has not heard a single song by them. -"I don't really follow the pop-scene that much to be able to name some group or song." Björn comments Agnetha's book where she claims that he was a much of a father to their children, Linda (now 24) and Christian (now 19). -"Of course I read her memoirs. She describes me as a bad father. That I did not know, that was news to me. I was unfair of her and we have talked it over." -"Although Linda and Christian are grown-ups now, I don't wish to become a grandfather. Not just yet." For the last five years Björn has lived in Stockholm with his wife, Lena. They have two daughters Emma (15) and Anna (10). The youngest one has inherited some of her fathers musical genes, she's the only one of Ulvaeus children to be enthusiastic about guitar playing. -"All the children have liked ABBA's music and are even proud of it..." -"I wouldn't make a musical about ABBA, but about ABBA's music." He became a millionaire already in 1974. So money has never been the driving force to do things. -"At first we were so happy to get our own studio and everything, but it soon passed. What was left was the will to do things, to create something new. And of course the dare."
Helsingin Sanomat 9.3.1997Björn, Björn! What the hell have you done to my books!, reads the headline. Harri Uusitorppa reports his meeting with Björn or is it Benny, as he wonders. He goes on wondering who is who. In the 70's you could tell, because only one of them had a beard. Promoter Thomas Johansson leaves the room and it Björn who's left.Björn is ready to answer all kinds of questions, but most eager he is when the talk is about his and Benny's new musical Kristina från Duvemåla. -"The weak point in CHESS is the storyline. We decided if were to do another it would have to carry as a better story." They read through classics of the literature, but kept coming back to a Swedish classic Vilhelm Moberg's Utvandrarna. -"It seemed too much to take on, 2000 pages in all - how would you melt that down to two hours..." -"But Benny was hearing the music in it and I was captivated by the wonderful language of it." They concentrated on Kristina Johansdotter Nilsson and her husband Karl Oskar, who leave the little village in Småland and emigrate across the Atlantic to America. -"Kristina and Karl Oskar had no choice. They escaped from hunger and poverty as do many refugees and emigrants today. They too do not actually have any alternatives." CHESS was composed by Benny and Björn together, although Björn concentrated more on the lyrical side of things as was the case with all the ABBA songs. Kristina was devided in two, Benny was the composer and Björn the lyricist - or that was the plan. -"We met weekly and influenced a lot on each others doings." Well if it was painless, wouldn't it be time to think about ABBA? -"No", Ulvaeus answers, "You can write pop music when you live in and from it. Me let ourselves part from all that and if we were to try it now , we would sound horrible, like helpless adults. Now is time for the young people to do their thing". Björn is happy with his new "adult" career, especially now that he got rid of recurring nightmares, where Moberg beats him about the text of Kristina: "Björn, Björn! What the hell have you done to my books!"
Iltalehti 19.5.1997carried the only review/coverage of the CHESS in Concert happening that caught my eye. It was a shamelessly small article not filling 1/6 of the page.Old ABBA guys' Chess-concert draw the arena only half-full reads the headline... Abba-mens' Chess-musical draw only 5000 people to the Arena. Although that was less than expected, the audience present didn't mind. It applauded the musical that joined classical and pop music. To achieve an intimate atmosphere the stage was built in the middle of the the Arena. Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, men who wrote the musical, excitedly joined the cast to perform the encore. Andersson also played keyboards in the band and Ulvaeus MC'd, presenting the soloists in English. Anders Eljas conducted The Turku Symphony Orchestra and also Turku-based Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis -choir. Two concerts were originally planned in Helsinki, but the poor ticket sales cancelled the second one. Arena's capacity is, depending on the stage gear, a little over 10 000 spectators. Yes, that was it. All in all the emphasis seemed to be on the POOR ticket sales. The article carried a picture from the concert (below). Tommy Körberg, Lars Risberg and Björn Ulvaeus at the encore singing Merano. Well another mistake in that: caption in the paper claims the man in the middle to be Anders Glenmark, but it is not.
©Kari S. 1997 |
There might still be some friction between her and Agnetha, although Frida says of their relationship: "We are friends in the way that you are friends with someone you spent 10 years with." Their rivalry she considers to have been only natural and that it only made both of them sing better and try harder.
Chess was performed in Prince Edward Theatre, London, for four years. After that the Concert -version has been played in different parts of the world. Last year before Christmas it played in Oslo, where 52 000 people saw it.
