Mitt i Nacka-Värmdö 140715
By: ÅSA GÖRNERUP FAITH-ELL
It’s been 20 years since Benny Andersson discovered Helen Sjöholm and made her Kristina från Duvemåla. People still pinch the 44-year-old in her cheek because they think she seems so sweet. But at first she didn’t dare to really focus on the music – she was afraid to fail.
Helen Sjöholm is a bit late, and comes rushing in jeans shorts that end just above her knees. Her bare feet she has put into a pair of blue and yellow work slippers. The shoes she has received on a scholarship from the Slipper Academy – as a reminder that one can only go forward.
She has only a little mascara on her lashes, and gives a natural, undisguised impression.
– People come and pinch my cheek. They think that I seem so ordinary. Like an older sister, and that‘snothing that disturbs me.
Helen sits down at the Diesel workshop café in Sickla, where she enjoys hanging around with her family. This year marks 20 years since Helen was on audition for “Kristina från Duvemåla”, which became her big breakthrough. It all began when Helen appeared in Enskedespelet. In the audience sat Benny Andersson.
– Benny Andersson must have liked it, since he called me two years later and asked me to sing demos for “Kristina från Duvemåla”. It was completely insane. When I just like many thousands auditioned for the role as Kristina, I had a head start.
Benny Andersson was looking for new talents and wanted a simple voice based on a folk song tune, but that also could be dramatic. That described Helen perfectly.
– Also, I think I looked a bit like a peasant woman, she says with a laugh.
The character is “pretty close” to Helen herself, a grounded person with a great need to belong somewhere. For Helen, that‘s Alnön outside Sundsvall where she grew up.
– It’s beautiful there, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s the scents and the memories that appear there. I’m not an adventurer who wants to go out into the world and experience things. My adventure is the journeys in my work, the challenges there. I want to look back.
Especially her grandmothers, both of them gone, meant a lot to her. Her maternal grandmother came from a farming community and her paternal grandmother from the town. Helen can also identify with them: the paternal grandmother who had something drastic, crazy in her, while the maternal grandmother was more of a security seeker and closed doors.
– I have enormous needs to shield off in certain situations to cope.
Helen describes it like she can be social to a certain limit, when she must go away. She has also experienced a duality to her work.
– I have not quite gone into the bubble. When you have children you get an exceptionally clear domestic sphere, which doesn’t have anything to do with your job. It’s probably good in a job where you can easily become cocky.
In her family it wasn‘t a reality that you could chose an artistic profession. Instead, she lived out her singing fantasies in her father’s sheet metal workshop, which had fantastic acoustics.
– Everything has taken some time for me. I haven’t taken any education and I haven’t been so sure. I didn’t dare to give it a go and was a little bit afraid to fail. Things have been pretty easy for me and if I get too much resistance, I usually give up. Only when I as a 25-year-old had played “Kristina” for a while, I felt “this will be good”. Now I carry on.
After nearly five years with the musical Helen beame strongly associated with Kristina and in both “Chess” and “Fiddler on the Roof” there was something sad in her characters.
– It‘s not for nothing that I have been given these roles. It doesn‘t sound fun, but I’m probably sentimental and have a touch of melancholy inside.
You don’t get tired of Benny Andersson and BAO? “You are my man” was in the Swedish charts for five years.
– I’ve been on some lovely trips, which has been extremely important to me. I will not let this cooperation go, but it’s been a dream for me to try my wings in other directions.
Helen became Guldbagge-nominated for her role in the movie “Simon and the Oaks” and also starred in the hit film “As it is in Heaven”. But she will not take part in the sequel.
– I move on to Jonas Gardell instead.
In September the musical “Livet är en schlager” (Life is a hit song) premieres at Cirkus. Helen has the lead role as pop crazy Mona in Gardell’s story, which was previously adapted for the screen. Musical debutant Jonas Helgesson plays music talent David. Like his character, Jonas Helgesson himself has cerebral palsy.
– In each ensemble, it’s about becoming relaxed with each other in the interaction. I want to be open-minded and I’m pretty open. But with Jonas you had to listen to the end and let things take their time. It has made me realize how stressed we are. To stand there with your characters, key signatures and what clothes we should have becomes a bit petty when you’re working with someone who has made the trip he has done.
Did you forget his disability?
– Completely. But it took a while before I got past my expectations and the prejudices I hadn’t even thought I had. Jonas is patient with us all.
To empathize with the role Helen retrieves her childhood sense of artist stars and the need to daydream to cope with everyday life.
Now you are the star.
– Yes, it’s strange. But I’m also a stressed mother of three with poor self-esteem. I can never really feel like I’m there. But when I play, I’m in the place I love to be.
Right now she is grateful to be working on home ground. Son Ruben is seven and a real big brother to two-egg twins Johanna and Samuel, who are two and a half.
– As soon as something happens, they call for the other so they won’t miss anything. Imagine that I get the possibility to experience this rather late in life. We were not even sure it would work, and then we got two.
Helen and her husband David Granditsky met at a 50th birthday party. Nowadays they mostly meet in the hall, passing over the children. Right now the focus is on solving practical things, while both have fun, demanding jobs. They have a lot of time with the kids, but no time with each other.
– It’s tough with the relationship, but I’m glad we make it. It will be solved, it better, Helen says with a belly laugh.
What will you do this summer?
– Nothing. Just recharge by the sea with our kids. We are pretty active and work at not having plans. It’s not easy. I see it as a challenge to cut down on the demands.
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PLAYS THE LEAD
Name: Helen Sjöholm.
Age: Turned 44 on July 10.
Family: Husband David Granditsky, 48, children Ruben, 7, twins Johanna and Samuel, 2.
Lives: House in Sickla
Profession: Singer with theatrical talent.
Currently: Plays the lead role in “Livet är en schlager”, premiere at Cirkus on September 11. In the star-studded ensemble are also Peter Jöback, Johan Glans, Måns Möller and Katarina Ewerlöf.
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MY 5 SUMMER TIPS
Skip to write in the experience book
“Don’t Facebook and don’t publish photos of what you barbecue. Stop giving feedback to yourself and others. That’s also a request to myself when I think of what I’ve done today. You can detoxify about a week”.
Dig out a pomegranate
“It’s a great, useful and unnecessary fruit. Slice and poke out every single seed from the pomegranate. It’s meditative and takes forever. It’s such a pleasure to sit and eat the big juicy grains”.
Make sure to hug
“Hug someone and/or let someone hug you. If you don’t have anyone to hug, take a massage. Touch is important”.
Do whatever is cozy
“Put the demands on how things should be on back burner. Stay inside if it’s sunny if that’s what you want. Read another chapter with the kids in the Harry Potter book or in your own book. If nice things happen, make sure to be in it. These are tough times”.
Select welfare
“Prioritize what you feel is good for you, even if it takes time. Stay close to people and places that make you feel comfortable. Refuel with them and let the others be if you can”.