March 2021 – Page 3 – Watching the Swedes

Swedish icons 6: Ingmar Bergman

Posted on March 15, 2021March 20, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

One of the most influential film directors of all time, Ingmar Bergman was born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden. He directed over 60 films, such as the classics ‘The Seventh Seal’, ‘Persona’, ‘Smiles of a Summer Night’, ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ and ‘Wild Strawberries’.

His films were often experimental and very dark, melancholy and miserable and many of them required patience to watch. He was nominated numerous times for an Oscar and won three times for Best Foreign Language film – ‘The Virgin Spring’, ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ and ‘Fanny and Alexander’.

He developed a legendary company of actors whom he frequently worked with, including great names such as Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Harriet Andersson.

Ingmar Bergman lived a stormy life and was notoriously hard to work and live with. He was frequently accused of being overbearing and misogynistic. Married five times, and with many other romantic connections, he fathered nine children, one of whom is the prominent Norwegian writer Linn Ullmann.

Bergman died in 2007 aged 89 in his home on the small Baltic island of Fårö, where he is buried. On Fårö today, there is a cultural center called the Bergman Center that focuses on his life and artistic achievements. Every year, they host the five-day long Bergman Week filled with film, discussions, drama, music and lectures.

For more information see: http://www.bergmancenter.se

Swedish icons: Ingmar Bergman

Posted on March 14, 2021March 15, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

He developed a legendary company of actors whom he frequently worked with, including great names such as Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Harriet Andersson.

For more information see: http://www.bergmancenter.se

Sweden chooses its song for Europe

Posted on March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Finally, after six long weeks of televised qualifying competitions, Sweden voted for the song to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Called ‘Voices’, the song is about everybody’s right to be who they are and to be heard. The song won far ahead of its nearest competitor.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the winning song is actually the singer. His name is Tousin Chiza, but he is known as Tusse. In 2019, he won the Swedish equivalent of Pop Idol.

The 19 year-old singer came to Sweden as an unaccompanied child refugee, fleeing the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2009. He ended up in the small village of Tällberg in county Dalarna where he still lives today and has an adopted Swedish family. He has been widely criticized for his appearance, as he often wears non gender normative outfits.

This is a moment where the lyrics of the song and the artist are closely connected, which possibly explains its popularity and success in the competition. Tusse sings:

‘There’s fire in the rain
But we’ll get up again
We’re thousand miles apart
But we’ll overcome
I’ll never let you down
World is turning us around
But I feel it in my heart
Let’s make a brand new start
Can’t stop us now, forget the haters
Get up and live and make it matter
There’s more to life so go ahead and sing it out’

It’s certainly a song that is a product of its time and it remains to be seen if the message resonates with the voters of Eurovision.

On 22 May in Rotterdam, Sweden will get the answer, and we will see if Tusse is Sweden’s 7th winner. If so, Sweden joins Ireland as the country with the most Eurovision wins since the competition began.

Here you can watch the performance below.

Sweden chooses its song for Europe

Posted on March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Finally, after six long weeks of televised qualifying competitions, Sweden voted for the song to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Called ‘Voices’, the song is about everybody’s right to be be who they are and to be heard. The song won far ahead of its nearest competitor.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the winning song is actually the singer. His name is Tousin Chiza, but he is known as Tusse. In 2019, he won the Swedish equivalent of Pop Idol.

This is a moment where the lyrics of the song and the artist are closely connected, which possibly explains its popularity and success in the competition. Tusse sings:

It’s certainly a song that is a product of its time and it remains to be seen if the message resonates with the voters of Eurovision.

Swedish icons 4: Birgit Nilsson

Posted on March 13, 2021March 20, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

The diva of all divas, Swedish opera singer Birgit Nilsson was born 1918 in the county of Skåne in southern Sweden. She had an impressive global operatic career spanning decades, and was most known for her performances of Wagner and Strauss.

She had a belter of a voice – the New York Times referred to it as ‘a voice of impeccable trueness and impregnable stamina’. She was like an Olympian athlete, and with her enormously powerful voice, she became the most famous Wagnerian soprano of her time. During her career she played most of the significant roles for a soprano, such as Aida, Tosca, Electra, Brunhilde, Turandot and Salome.

Birgit Nilsson received numerous prestigious awards, one of which was Court Singer to the Swedish Royal Court. Once, asked what was her favourite role, she answered: “Isolde made me famous. Turandot made me rich“.

Birgitta Nilsson was often called ‘La Nilsson’ and, although she wasn’t considered difficult, she was notorious for her assertiveness, directness and her wit. When asked what it was like to sing Isolde with an unattractive male colleague, she responded : “I just close my eyes and think of Plácido Domingo.” When answering a question about her rival Joan Sutherland and if her bouffant hair was real, she gave the iconic response: “I don’t know, I haven’t pulled it yet.’’

Birgit Nilsson died in county Skåne in 2005, at the grand age of 87. She had no children but left an huge musical legacy behind her.

Swedish icons 3: Greta Garbo

Posted on March 13, 2021March 20, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

I can’t write a series about Swedish icons without mentioning Greta Garbo, perhaps the most famous Swedish film star of all time.

Born Greta Gustafsson in Stockholm in 1905, she first rose to international fame in the silent movies of the 1920’s. In 1930, she made a successful transition into talkies, in the film Anna Christie, which was marketed under the slogan ‘Garbo talks!’ Her first line was an iconic ‘Give me a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy baby’, which was delivered with a deliberately heavy and husky Swedish accent.

She appeared in classic films such as ‘Queen Christina’, ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘Mata Hari’ and ‘Camille’. Noted for her flawless beauty, cool persona and melancholy, she retired from the screen aged 35. For the rest of her life, she lived as a recluse, which passingly echoed her most famous film line from Grand Hotel – ‘I want to be alone’.

Garbo died in 1990, and her ashes are interred in Stockholm. In the Stockholm neighbourhood of Södermalm, there is a square called Greta Garbo Square, not far from where she was born.

Swedish expression: ‘to suspect owls in the moss’

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

In English, when we suspect something isn’t quite right we ‘smell a rat’. In Swedish, they suspect ‘owls in the moss’.

The expression – ‘att ana ugglor i mossen’ – has Danish origin. The original saying dates to the 1600’s and was ‘det är ulve i mosen’ which translates as ‘there’s a wolf in the moss’. The expression makes sense and was used when a dangerous situation was suspected.

So, how did a wolf turn into an owl? There are two theories. One theory is that it happened as a mistake. The sound of the Danish word for wolf ‘ulve’ was misheard as ‘uggla’ the word for owl – and the creature hiding in the moss became a wise bird rather than a viscous predator.

Another theory is that the saying was consciously changed when wolves disappeared from Denmark. The wolf was replaced by an owl because it hoots a warning at the presence of danger.

Confusing Swedish time

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

One of the differences in languages in the way people tell time. There are a few differences between Swedish and English that can be confusing.

The biggest difference is how Swedes say half past the hour. They actually say ‘half to’, so they refer to the hour that’s coming and not the one that’s gone. So, half past five (5.30) in English is called ‘half six’ in Swedish. You can imagine the confusion. This is probably why Swedes usually apply the 24 hour clock in writing – ie 17.30.

As an extension of the ‘half to’ concept, the time between 5.31 and 5.44 is also interesting. In Swedish 5.35, for example, is explained as ‘five past half six’. Once the clock hits 5.45, it becomes a recognizable ‘quarter to’.

Another interesting concept in Swedish time is that she is female. What is the time is ‘hur mycket är klockan?’ (How much is the clock?) but it can also be ‘hur mycket är hon?’ (How much is she?). The answer is ‘hon är klockan tre’ (she is three o’clock).

Finally, Swedes write dates in the year-month-day format, which can also be confusing at times. Today’s date, for example, is 21-03-12.

Swedish icons 2: Ingrid Bergman

Posted on March 11, 2021March 20, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Swedish actor Ingrid Bergman is considered one of Sweden’s best, and most famous, actors ever. Born in 1915 in Stockholm, she moved to USA in 1939 and took the world by storm. Her poise, her beauty and her talent were showcased in classic films such as Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Notorious and The Bells of St Mary’s.

The mother of actor Isabella Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman was highly decorated, winning three Oscars for best actress in Gaslight and Anastasia and for supporting actress in Murder on the Orient Express. She has been described by the American Film Institute as one of the world’s Top 50 most significant actors throughout history.

Ingrid Bergman died of breast cancer in 1982 in London and she is buried in Stockholm.

Swedish expression: ‘to walk like the cat around hot porridge’

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Given the historical relationship between humans and cats, it’s not surprising that there are lots of expressions using the cat as a metaphor. ‘Att gå som katten runt het gröt’ literally translates as ’to walk like the cat around hot porridge’ and refers to the fact that a cat does not want to eat the porridge before it has cooled. But what does it mean as a saying?

The idiom was first documented in 1641 and means to avoid speaking or acting directly about something – to skim the periphery. The English equivalent is ‘to beat around the bush’, which is a hunting reference, or ‘pussyfooting about’ which also refers to the tentative nature of the cat’s gait.