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Swedish pop wonder ABBA is more current than ever.
A
reunion in the form of a digital Abba tour is underway, interpretations
for the new "Mamma Mia" film and Benny Andersson has just recorded a
new solo disc.
But when Benny Andersson looks back in his career there are moments from the band's long career that he can regret.
"We have done songs with Abba that we would not have done," he said in an interview with Aftonbladet.
Benny Andersson is constantly questioned when the pop group ABBA will be reunited.And lately he has been able to give a message.
In 2019, the premiere is scheduled for a digital Abba tour, which he is currently working on.
It's
about a tour where ABBA's music will be performed by a live band and
where digital versions of band members will be projected in front of the
audience.
"It will take some time, it takes time to digitize a face.It's fun that it's in that technical front end.It will be interesting, he has previously told Expressen.
The song will be from the group's old recordings, either from solo discs or from live concerts.
In an interview with Aftonbladet, the artist now says that he may not have thought he would work very much after 70's.
"I thought I could take it a little more calmly now that I've reached 70," he says.
And
in addition to the digital tour, the ABBA songs are current in the new
movie "Mamma Mia: Here we go again" there songs like "Dancing queen", "I
wonder", "Why did it have to be me", "Angeleyes" and"When I kissed the teacher" gets a new life.
"It's fun, for those who are not hardcore Abba fans, there may be some unknown songs," he told Aftonbladet.
But there are also moments in his career that he is not as proud of as he can regret ABBA's contention.
"In retrospect, we can see that we did things in the 1960s and 1970s that we could not resist.You are entitled to not be top notch.We have made songs with ABBA that we would not have done.We would have refrained from trying to be rock'n'roll like in "Watch out".But it felt right and fun then" he told Aftonbladet.
Benny Andersson's piano "Piano" release will be released on September 29th.The
disc includes "Thank you for the music", "The day before you came" and
melodies from both "Chess" and "Kristina from Duvemåla".
Forty years after they landed in Australia, the iconic foursome go on the record with Sunday Night.
Hear the personal stories behind their meteoric rise, heartbreaking
split - and the spectacular secret project that the world's been waiting
to see.
On Sunday at 8pm
Thousands of screaming fans greeted Abba as they touched down in Australia in 1977. ABBAMania had officially swept the country.
Were you there? What do you remember? We want to hear your stories –
and see your pics – to celebrate that incredible moment in music
history.
Catch the Abba extravaganza on Channel 7, Sunday Night at 8pm.
Nothing could have prepared them for this.
Touching down in Sydney in February 1977, the four Swedish superstars behind Abba were overwhelmed.
Australia
had been central in reviving their post-Eurovision dreams, when it had
seemed that the band would amount to little more than another ‘one hit
wonder’.
‘Mamma Mia’ was championed by an Aussie icon and by 1977 ABBAmania was not just sweeping Australia, but worldwide.
Frida, Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha didn’t believe they could live up to the
expectations of the huge crowds of adoring fans that turned out to
greet them.
“[I thought] this is going to be the last nail in the coffin… it's all going to blow up,” Benny Andersson told Sunday Night.
It didn’t. Fans danced in the rain in Sydney’s Moore Park and brought Melbourne city centre to a standstill.
Forty years on, the iconic foursome lay bare the moments behind the
music and the love stories that knitted them together, only to be torn
apart as fame took its toll on them all.
But it couldn’t stop
the phenomenal love for Abba’s hits - and finally, four decades after
that whirlwind Australia tour, comes the news fans thought they would
never hear.
Benny Andersson reveals the full story behind Abba’s unexpected return, on Sunday at 8pm on Channel 7.
Follow all the updates on their Facebook page here:
ExpressEN can reveal that ABBA is
planning a live tour where the legendary band's music will be performed
using digital copies of the members.
Anni-Frid, Agnetha, Björn and Benny are all involved in the project.
"It's fun that it's such a cutting edge," says Benny Andersson to Expressen.
ABBA, one of Sweden's most successful bands, was split in 1982.
Since then, the band's members have been constantly questioned whether a reunion is in progress. The answer is always no.
But when Expressen interviews Benny Andersson before the release of his
new album "Piano", ABBA songwriter suddenly gives a hesitant answer to
the eternal question.
"From time to time, we have done a few
different things, and now we have a project ahead of us," says Benny
Andersson to Expressen.
Tour with digital ABBA members
It is
about a tour in which ABBA's music is performed by a live band, and
digital copies of band members, so-called avatars, appear on stage.
The tour is scheduled for 2019, says Benny Andersson - if the project becomes "tight enough", that is to say.
"It will take some time, it takes time to digitalize a face.
"It's fun that it's in the technical front. It will be interesting, he says.
ABBA music is heard on the new album
Among the tracks on the new album "Piano" are scaled-up interpretations
of ABBA classics, including "Thank you for the music" and "Happy New
Year".
The songs were chosen because they are so popular among the listeners, says Benny Andersson. "I'll never get rid of it," he says about the ABBA celebrity.
- I do not mind it. It's a big, very important part of my life, that's
what makes me sit here today.
Opportunity to do exactly what you like
instead of earning your rent.
Benny Andersson has been very busy lately promoting and presenting his new album 'Piano' which will be released on 29 September 2017 on vinyl & CD on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Read all about his appearances and watch some fabulous videos of Benny playing tracks from the album below 😀
For those wondering if the 'Piano' song book was coming. It is!
The book is currently still being finalised in terms of production
materials. It is due to be a Wise Publications release through Music Sales and the release should be on the same day as the CD. http://www.musicsales.com/
Benny Andersson plays Thank You For The Music at Radiopreis-Gala 2017 in Hamburg:
On German TV:
Benny Andersson at the German tv program Leute Heute (People today)
during his participation at the traditional meeting of Universal Music
Deutschland "Universal Inside 2017" on September 6th (Mercedes Benz
Arena, Berlin)
Deutscher Radiopreis 2017 (German Radioprice 2017)
Founded in 1972, ABBA began two years later with "Waterloo" and the Grand Prix victory.Benny
Andersson could never read, but hits: "SOS", "Winner Takes It All" and
"Dancing Queen" are just a few of the countless hit singles.380 million records have sold ABBA, three million are added annually.Today,
Benny Andersson is the musical director of the "Mamma Mia" production,
with 54 million visitors, one of the most successful musicals and the
world's best selling films.
Life story in the form of songs
This autumn, the Swede returns with a new album."Piano" means, and Benny Andersson presents his greatest hits exclusively on that instrument."It feels like I'm playing my memoirs," the exceptional musician describes the work on the new work.At
the Radiopreis-Gala, Benny Andersson presented a chapter from this
"life-work" on the piano: He played "Thank You For The Music" - and
everyone sang along.
On September 7th, Germany's best radiomakers have been awarded the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.About 1,300 guests celebrated the winners and the showacts in the new concert hall.
There
were also radio stations outside the Elphi: 62 radios broadcast the
show live, with stars like Peter Maffay, Nigel Kennedy, ABBA legend
Benny Andersson and Adel Tawil.On the net there was a Livestream, on Twitter the event under the hashtags # drp17 and #Radiopreis diligently commented.
The Radiopreis Gala 2017
Elphi-Chic and Star-Glamor: In Hamburg the German Radiopreis has been awarded. Enjoy the gala with Peter Maffay, Nigel Kennedy and Benny Andersson and many other stars. Time-delayed broadcasting on the TV
Barbara Schöneberger, a presenter with a spectacular gala show, has even been televised on television. All third-party programs of the ARD show a recording of the Radiopreis gala by the weekend.
The German Radiopreis was awarded for the eighth time and is the most important award in the industry. The best reporters, moderators, news editors or newcomers were sought in eleven categories. This year, 127 programs competed with more than 380 applications for the awards - a new record.
What's left if you tear away bands, songs and effects from Abbas songs? It explores Benny Andersson on the new "Piano" record.I was a little surprised when I listened to the pre-recorded songs, he says.The "Piano" contains not only Abba material. The album contains music written between 1973 and 2006 - ranging from
movie music and songs from musicals to Benny Andersson's Orchestra
songs.I've been thinking about it over the years that it would be fun to make a record with me just played the piano. It's
for two reasons, the first is to investigate what happens if I, just
me, play these songs and remove everything that has been on them. Is there anything left then? Is that good music anyway? says Benny Andersson.And the other is that it's fun for the grandchildren to have something
to listen to when you're up in the hunting hunting fields.Benny Andersson has several hundred melodies on his conscience. Nevertheless, it was not too difficult to choose what would happen to the disc.What I did first was to remove everything that really needs a band to make it happen. I can not sit and play "Waterloo" myself, or "Dancing queen" or "Take a chance on me". It has no listening value. So, quite a few disappeared there."Same old man"The emphasis is on ballads.That's what the title "Piano" says. Cleverly? So it's low-melt, contemplative. But "Thank you for the music" and "Målarskolan" ... some are not so ballad but they have the same temperament. It's the same old man playing.The "Piano" will be released on September 29th. That it became a disc answers the question of whether there would be something left of the songs - "I would not have given it".But the end result also gave Benny Andersson a surprising feeling.When it was finished, I felt I'm part of this. A pretty comfortable feeling. It will be so clear this is my version of this music. Just mine."Mamma Mia!" - the sequelRecently, Benny Andersson has devoted to recording the music to the sequel to the success movie "Mamma Mia!".I was not going to do it this time. The first movie was great - pretty bad idea to make a movie. But the film company has asked and asked and finally we said "okay then". Then I thought it was just as good that I did it anyway because
otherwise I'll just sit and annoy me if it does not work out as you
like.The film will contain two to three songs that were also included in the previous one. The rest are other, more "unknown", Abba songs.It's fun because there are plenty of songs there that have not been heard if not a hardcore Abba fan. Then you have not heard "Angel eyes", "Why did it have to be me?" and "I wonder"."Mamma Mia! Here we go again" are expected to get biopremiary next summer.It's about time before and after the last movie. So this one comes in the middle of somehow. It's quite fun.Linus Brännström / TT
Benny Andersson in his workroom at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm."It's a pleasure to come here," he says.
Benny Andersson
has made a new solo album. 21 of his tunes like classical music. ABBA
pearls and "Anthem", but also less known pieces.
He plays some for us on the grand piano. But he will not do any solo tour as a concert pianist.
"There will be some wrong notes and tones here and there," says Benny
Andersson. You don't want to do that in front of an paying audience.
No "Waterloo". No "Dancing Queen". No "Du är min man". When Benny
Andersson chose melodies for his new solo album, he made a list of 40
songs.
"I removed everything that required drums," says Benny
Andersson. I sat at the grand piano in the studio and recorded when it
was available. It was fun and relaxed.
"Piano" is released on September 29th. Benny Andersson also took it easy when he recorded. Song for song grew forth.
There are melodies from ABBA and Benny Andersson's orchestra, from the
musicals "Chess" and "Kristina from Duvemåla" and instrumental acts as
"Tröstevisa" from 1989.
Did you find something new in the songs when you visited them again?
"When I listened to everything afterwards I was pleasantly surprised.
It's very homogeneous, whether it's from 1973 or 2016. It's going to be a
very special person who can say when they came in original. It's
substance in the music, although everything except the piano is gone. I
felt quite satisfied.
"Piano" is released by the classic label
Deutsche Grammophon, which built prestige for 120 years. Benny Andersson
sent three melodies without saying who they came from. The Germans were
moved by the beautiful music and wanted to release it.
Benny Andersson plays "Sunny Girl" from 1966, not featured on the record, and "Anthem" and "You and I" as samples.
Musician colleague Göran Arnberg has written notes based on Benny
Andersson's 21 recordings and made a notebook that can be bought. From
there, the concert pianist Julia Sjöstedt plays "Stockholm by night",
from "November 1989".
Benny Andersson is moved.
"It's like
hearing someone else's music," he says. It could be an idea. We can go
on a concert tour where pianists like Julia play my songs. Then I can
sit in a chair like Claes Eriksson in the "Galenskaparna" and do the
storytelling. We'll see.
21 tracks on ”Piano”
”I let the
music speak”�”You and I”�”Aldrig”�”Thank you for the music”�”Stockholm
by night”�”Chess”�”The day before you came”'”Someone else´s
story”�”Midnattsdans”�”Målarskolan”�”I wonder (departure)”�”Embassy
lament”�”Anthem”�”My love, my life”�”Mountain duet”�”Flickornas
rum”�”Efter regnet”�”Tröstevisa”�”En skrift i snön”�”Happy New year”�”I
gott bevar”
Deutsche Grammophon and Benny proudly present the 'Piano' album in Stockholm.
Benny in Hamburg
Official photo session with Lang Lang, Universal Frank Briegmann and Clemens Trautmann
ABBA legend with a striking performance at the Radiopreis
Hamburg. The German Radiopreis stands for continuity. Since 2010, the award has been awarded every year in Shed 52. Since 2011, Barbara Schöneberger has been hosting the festive gala. Almost 1,000 invited guests are constantly pouring out prizes, with
top-notch pop stars each time, and each year at least one special prize.But apart from the fact that the Schöneberger moderated the Radiopreis in 2017, this year was different. This was the first time that the radio broadcast was awarded in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. And
because the (after a stage reconstruction) 1300 visitors on Thursday
night, the gala followed more invited guests than ever. There was no red carpet, but anthracite-colored outfit, on which stars and starlets posed for the photographers. The award of a special prize was waived. Obviously, the members of the advisory board had not found a cheap candidate.More classic to popThe
Genius loci was responsible for the fact that this year, in the musical
program of the radio spectrum, there was not only pop. Already at the entrance to the Great Hall, a string quartet received
guests and laudators, among them Mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD), presenter
Günther Jauch, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Princess Gloria
von Thurn and Taxis.At
the beginning, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover played together with
the musicians Johannes Oerding, Adel Tawil and Wincent Weiss, which was
more habituation-demanding for the classic fans than for pop fans. The classic highlight was the electronically unreinforced performance
of the violinist Nigel Kennedy, who came in the FC St. Pauli T-shirt.The viewers were quick to respond with the slightly modified concept. And
also the host, NDR radio director Joachim Knuth, was satisfied: "I
liked the combination of classical music and modern pop, which has
pulled reliably through the evening," he told the Abendblatt. "That fits both: the concert hall and the radio."But NDR-Radiochef, too, had Knuth Grund's delight: one of the eleven prizes went to his station. The NDR youth wave N-Joy won in the category "Best Program" with its
multimedia campaign "Head up, the mobile phone can wait", in which the
radio people warned against using the smartphone at the wheel of a car.Radio Hamburg awardedAnd
another prize went to Radiomacher from the Hansestadt: The category
"Best morning broadcast" won "Mission Aufstehen! The Radio Hamburg
Morningshow" with the moderators John Ment, Birgit Hahn and André
Kuhnert. Shortly before, by the way, Günther Jauch had given the best of not
allowing Morningshows, especially those "in whom four, five people are
roaring in the background."ABBA legend Benny Andersson (70) played "Thank You For The Music"ABBA legend Benny Andersson (70) played "Thank You For The Music"Photo: Daniel Reinhardt / dpaThe ABBA legend Benny Andersson (70) "Thank You For The Music" played on the concert wing - and the whole hall sang.The private-radio duel against private radio was decided by the private by seven to four. Radiometropolis Hamburg, Berlin and Munich won two prizes each. And in 2018, the radio industry meets again in shed 52 - then without classical music.
