NWT 100315
By: LOVISA ERIKSSON
Anniversary
Singing Society Manhem with Helen Sjöholm, Martin Östergren and Jojje Wadenius
Sundsta auditorium, Karlstad
Attendance: 1500
Jubilee, jubilee! Tenors and basses in long lines. Fifty-four male singers have entered the stage to celebrate their 120th anniversary. What could better start this jubilee than Abrahamsen’s Jubilee Cantata, the for the chorus naming “Hymn till Fäderneslandet” and Bellman’s “Gubben är gammal”? Helen Sjöholm says there’s something special about a male choir. It’s sensual. Beautiful Fascinating. But four years ago the Singing Society Manhem consisted only of 16 brave singers. Today they are 61, under the leadership of Erik Rynefors. And though they sometimes also sound more like an old men’s choir than a male choir, Manhem has once again proved that 120 years after their foundation they’re still alive and well. Or more than that really, the singers in Manhem sing and thrive. That they like to sing strongly, they prove during the evening. In “Dagen är nära” the choir sings straight into our hearts, and there they stay for the rest of the evening.
If the introduction is aptly, the choice of guests is quite right too. To help with the celebration, Helen Sjöholm, Martin Östergren and Jojje Wadenius are invited on stage. The combination is perfect. Helen Sjöholm’s exuberant stage personality gives life to the concert. Martin Ostergren on piano and Jojje Wadenius on guitars and bass increase the musical impression. Jojje Wadenius excels in all of his solos, a little bit extra in his self-composed “Kärleksmorgon”. Martin Ostergren is joking a bit in “En sång som handlar om sig själv”.
The trio Sjöholm, Östergren and Wadenius offers words of humor, empathy, musical poetry and hits from the Swedish charts. Helen Sjöholm offers herself with spontaneity and a powerful voice. Together with the choir, she creates the evening’s highlights in Gärdestad’s “Come Give Me Love”, tonight’s hit “Vår sista dans” and grand “Duvemåla hage” where Erik Rynefors picks up the violin. Sobbing can be heard around the auditorium when Helen Sjöholm sings “Gabriellas Sång”, accompanied by the male choir. It can´t be more beautiful and more intimate than this.
When the choir during the evening has performed Fröding poems, set to music, and traditional folk songs and then ends up with “Glad såsom fågeln”, you can not feel anything else but that spring has started for real.