NSD 140214
By: JEANETTE BERGSTRÖM
The first time I saw Helen Sjöholm was some 16 years ago at Cirkus in Stockholm in the musical Kristina från Duvemåla, she made an unforgettable impression on me and since then I’ve been following her, sometimes in a closer distance and sometimes from further away. She has never disappointed me. And that wasn’t the case last night either.
The great hall in the House of Culture was totally sold out last night and that is not strange at all. Helen Sjöholm has really done a deep dive into the Swedish song treasure and her own highly personal interpretations leave no one disappointed.
Helen Sjöholm is on tour with Martin Östergren, Jojje Wadenius, Ulric Johansson and Tomas Bergquist, and they offer a very diversed mix of ballads, pop and musical tunes. She finds it hard to make up her mind, she warns us already at the beginning of evening and declares that the songs during the evening will be a cavalcade of different musical styles. And sure, on the whole it might feel a bit sprawling. But Helen Sjöholm has a voice that without the slightest hesitation or bother swings between delicate ballads where the band together have made a deep dive into the archive of Swedish song tresures. And it’s enjoyable.
The evening’s first big round of applause she receives after her dramatic version of Staffan Hellstrand’s version of “Fanfar” and later an evocative version of “Vårvindar friska”. She has lovingly embraced Tomas Andersson Wij’s translations of Billy Joel songs. And when she sings the first tunes of Laleh’s “Vårens första dag” I get goose bumps of pleasure, and I ‘m also thrown back 16 years when she takes the first tunes of the song “Du måste finnas”; I get goose bumps from my neck down to my toes.
Helen Sjöholm has the ability to blend comedy and seriousness in her smalltalk between songs. The story of how an enjoyable skating excursion with her son ends in a crash and a broken knee and eventually a premiere visit to the gym to build up her body again, she concludes with a humorous twist.
When the tones of Gabriellas sång from “Så som i himmelen” fade out as the last song, we left the hall. Sadly we missed the encore but she receives a given four in the ratings, without a doubt.