Ölandsbladet 150630
By: KENTH JÖNSSON
Music
4+
Helen Sjöholm has a width like few other Swedish artists. In one and the same concert she can include both Swedish folk songs and newly written pop hits and make them her own.
Music in the summer evening is the title of the concert evening and it really was a nice summer evening on Saturday.
– No rain! Helen Sjöholm happily noted from the stage before she and her eminent fellow musicians treated the audience to everything from Swedish folk songs to pop hits by Jocke Berg and Staffan Hellstrand.
Helen Sjöholm knows how to bring the lyrics she sings to life and she does it with exuberant energy.
She gave us great versions of two songs by Billy Joel that Tomas Andersson Wij has made Swedish interpretations of: “Euforia” and “Honesty”.
Added to this are compositions by pianist Martin Östergren from sonnnets by William Shakespeare.
Plus two songs in English, “Veronica” by Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello and “Somebody that I used to know” by Gotye.
To mix it up even more guitarist Jojje Wadenius took the stage and sang some of the children’s songs, with lyrics by Barbro Lindgren, that he gave music to 46 years ago…
Then Helen Sjöholm wasn’t even born…
A delightful mix then, that worked just fine in the fine summer evening in Halltorps Gästgiveri’s lawn. A truly excellent concert venue in other notes, where the large crowd enjoyed themselves to the fullest. Helen got, rightly so, standing applause after finishing the concert.
But hey, maybe friend of order says: did she not sing her greatest hits?
Yes, they were also there: “Gabriellas sång,” “Our last dance”, “You have to be there” and “You are my man” ended the concert.
On the whole a nice evening with a singer who knows to make the most of her songs. Helen Sjöholm proved that she belongs to the highest class elite of Swedish singers.
Furthermore the small talk in between was entertaining. Helen is used to go on tour as the sole woman among men, not least with Benny Anderssons Orkester. She described the touring life with her four fellow musicians and how it was to go by car from the tour premiere in Falköping to Öland:
– You know how it is with guys, it’s just talk about relationships…