About My Blog

I created this blog to help share ABBA information with other fans and to show off my new collection items :)


Please note: Collection item photos are from my own personal collection. These are not stock photos. If you wish to use any of my photos elsewhere, please have the courtesy to ask first - Thank you :)

Friday 20 April 2018

ABBA Reunites With Avatars For TV Tribute Show !

ABBA reunites — with avatars — for TV tribute !

It’s the closest thing yet to an ABBA reunion: computerised avatars of Sweden’s legendary disco group will perform during a televised tribute to the quartet to be broadcast this autumn, ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus said Thursday.

Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like “Waterloo”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia” and “Super Trouper”.

The group, which has sold more than 400 million albums, has not sung together on stage since 1986.
The avatars will perform an as yet unnamed ABBA song during the tribute show, produced by British broadcaster BBC and US network NBC. Other top musical artists are also expected to perform.

“It’s a kind of ABBA tribute show, but the centrepiece … will be something I call ‘Abbatars’. It is digital versions of ABBA, from 1979,” Ulvaeus told AFP.

“It’s the first time it’s ever been done.”

In order to create the avatars, “techno artists” from Silicon Valley measured the heads of the four ABBA members and photographed them from all angles.

“With videos and lipsynching, they’ll create digital copies of us from 1979,” he said, referring to the year the album “Voulez-vous” was released.

Ulvaeus was in Brussels on Thursday to try to persuade European Broadcasting Union (EBU) member networks to sign on to the show.

The EBU is the broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, the competition that launched ABBA on the international scene when it won in 1974 with the hit “Waterloo”.

“I hope that some of them (European broadcasters) will join us and make this … a global programme at the end of this autumn,” Ulvaeus said.

The show is expected to go on tour the following year.

https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/abba-reunites-with-avatars-for-tv-tribute/

Bjorn was a keynote speaker at the EBU Media Summit in Brussels - and he talked about the ABBAtars and the upcoming ABBA Tribute Show.

This is a section of his speech below.

You can watch the video of his entire speech here:  Bjorn Speech Video

"I have stood on many a taped white cross on studio floors in TV studios all around Europe, miming to the latest ABBA single. Those were the days. You only had to appear once in the biggest local show and the next day everybody would have heard your song. My colleagues today have to work much harder.

Well, it seems I will visit your TV channels again. In digital form this time. We have a new project together. Well, at least some of you are already involved. I’m talking about a big ABBA tribute show this autumn with artists from all parts of the world.

Frida, Agnetha, Benny and I had visitors from Silicon Valley last June. Techno artists, they call themselves. They photographed us from all possible angles, they made us grimace in front of cameras, they painted dots on our faces, they measured our heads. Apparently, a cranium doesn’t change with age the way the rest of your body falls apart. The measurements together with old videos and photos makes it possible for these IT wizards to create perfect copies of ABBA 1979. We thought we looked good that year.

It’s still work in progress, but they’ve come a long way and what I’ve seen so far is simply mind-boggling. These ABBAtars will sing one of Benny’s and my songs. You’ll hear the voices of ABBA coming out of the mouths of the ABBAtars. Lip synch. And you won’t be able to see that they’re not human beings. It’ll be spooky, I assure you. But great fun and no one has done it before. There is an existential dimension to explore as well. What would it be like to be young again. The wisdom that we hopefully possess now in combination with the youth of the ABBAtars.

NBC in America in partnership with the BBC have both global reach and experience of managing projects on a huge scale and they’re distributing the show. The plan is to make it a global television moment and they are now reaching out to top national and regional broadcasters like yourselves, who can be part of making it a shared experience all around the world - with simulcast transmission wherever possible. I can’t help thinking – it would be a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest. It sounds incredible, but they say it’s absolutely doable.

And what will the ABBAtars sing? I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say, but let me give you something to talk about, a clue. The title could have been the heading for this speech. You’ll understand when you hear it."

Full speech text can be found here:

https://www.ebu.ch/publications/bjorn-ulvaeus-keynote-to-media-summit-2018 





Friday 13 April 2018

Record Store Day 2018 - ABBA Limited Edition Vinyl !




Record Store Day 2018

Saturday 21 April 

This year we have 2 fabulous vinyl records being released for Record Store Day.

First up we have this wonderful album from Agnetha which is being released on mint green vinyl !


The album was recorded in the same period as her bandmate Anni-Frid Lyngstad made her Swedish number one album Frida ensam - and both were recorded between sessions and a very busy promotion schedule for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA.
Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus was originally slated for release in 1973 but following Agnetha's pregnancy that year and later the unexpected success with ABBA it was postponed and not released until late 1975. By then, four years had passed since the release of her last Swedish solo-album, När en vacker tanke blir en sång.
Agnetha composed all but one of the songs herself with lyrics by Swedish writer, journalist and lyricist Bosse Carlgren. The only exception was the Swedish version of the ABBA song "S.O.S." which was written by Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson and Agnetha's husband at the time, Björn Ulvaeus. Agnetha's record company Cupol insisted on including a Swedish version of an ABBA song to increase album sales.

Plus we have this awesome Limited Edition 7" splatter vinyl of Summer Night City !
Limited to 2000 copies.


Artwork
 
Actual Vinyl


Don't miss out !


Check your local Record Store Day websites for participating stores in your area.


Aussies can check them out here: http://www.recordstoreday.com.au/



ABBA The Museum New Exhibition Coming In May 2018 ! After ABBA



The countdown has officially begun - new exhibition opening in May! Some music never dies - it multiplies!

ABBA The Museum has a new permanent exhibition coming !

The World Premiere will take place in May 2018.

The new Exhibition covers everything that came After ABBA - so the whole story will be told at the Museum.

"ABBA THE MUSEUM HAS EXPANDED!

THE MOST COMMON QUESTION WE HAVE HAD OVER THE YEARS IS: WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS?
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE MEMBERS WENT THEIR SEPARATE WAYS?
NOW, PREMIERING IN MAY 2018, WE ARE TELLING THE WHOLE STORY AT ABBA THE MUSEUM! "


Three of the masterminds behind the new exhibition.
Museum Director Caroline Fagerlind, Guest Curator Görel Hanser and Creative Director/Curator Ingmarie Halling.
Photo: Ivan da Silva för Zap PR

Will you be there for the Premiere ?

Follow updates here:  ABBA The Museum on Facebook

Sneak peak for the press of the new interactive exhibition
Creative Director/Curator Ingmarie Halling showing one of the new interactive features in the new exhibition! Here you can step in to the world of MAMMA MIA

Model of the new After ABBA exhibition
ABBA The Museum After ABBA exhibition, introduced by (from left) Bengt, Caroline, Görel and Ingmarie.
Here you can paint the Mamma Mia door with virtual blue color at the After ABBA exhibition
You can be the conductor of Chess
Ingmarie Halling presents Chess The Musical at the new After ABBA exhibition
A sneak preview of the new After ABBA section