Medlemsblad - The Danish Club in Brisbane, Australia

Scandinavian Book Club UpdateNext meeting:Friday 23 April 2010 at 7.30 pmDanish Club – mezzanine level (library)Austin Street Newstead.Phone Amanda 3266 4538Amazon has a profusion of biographicalScandinavian texts, while council librarieshave a smaller collection. You will howeverfind titles on the Royals and Musical orSporting figures readily available:Some ideas to whet your appetite availableat Council libraries:Veronica Buckley’s story of QueenChristina of SwedenPrincess Mary of Denmark.” Somethingabout Mary”Music: Abba – quite a few availableCelebrity:Greta Garbo – an enigmatic character tosay the least.Authors: Hans Christian AndersenIf you like History, try:Queen Emma and the Vikings : a history ofpower, love and greed in eleventh-centuryEnglandby Harriet O'Brien.Or…Fishing in Utopia – Andrew Brown (Sweden inmodern times)Here is a review from Amazon about the book“ABBA – unplugged”“This is a good read and not the sycophanticdrivel one usually gets in pop biographies. It'sreally a review of the music (which, after all, iswhat's important) and quite informative forsomeone like myself who knows nothing aboutABBA. Karl French writes well and with dryhumour. The book outlines the history of eachmember of the band and how they cametogether. Their background does affect theirpersonalities, marriages, and family relationshipswithin the group.Benny and Bjorn met in 1966. Benny started outwith The Hep Stars. Bjorn played with TheHootenanny Singers. ABBA's career waslaunched when they won the Eurovision songcontest in 1974 with Waterloo. They went on tosell more records than anyone except ElvisPresley and The Beatles. Some fine musiciansplayed with ABBA. Lasse Wellander and JanneSchaffer laid down guitar tracks. RutgerGunnarsson played bass. Ola Brunkert playeddrums.The group was managed by Stig Anderson (norelation to Benny). Michael Tretow served astheir perennial engineer. Later recording wasdone at Polar Studios, and the company formedto handle their business was known as PolarMusic International. Their records werereleased by Atlantic. Benny and Bjorn went onto collaborate on two musicals. They wrote Chesswith Tim Rice.I found the book interesting but a few too manydissections of the music, for my liking. However,for someone interested in the music theory andhistory, it is more than just tabloid tales. Somethings were surprising: Abba had a large numberof closet fans, including members of the SexPistols. Mamma Mia the movie and musical hasintroduced Abba songs to a whole new generationand for this reason alone, they will endure foryears to come.Happy reading,Amanda Mclaughlin