Photo: Tina Axelsson
Nerikes Allehanda 181204
By: CARINA TENOR
They are childhood friends who take the Christmas month in their own way. On Thursday it will be the premiere of Helen Sjöholm and Anna Stadling’s “December songs in the wintertime” at Hjalmar Bergman Theater in Örebro.
ÖREBRO – We have both musical and friendly sisterhood, and it feels great to bring it up on stage, Helen Sjöholm says. The rehearsals are ongoing right now, and in times it´s almost hard for them to know who is singing.
– We have such a huge consonance, a timbre right into each other.
– Yes, that’s strange. I have never experienced that consonance with anyone else, and I have worked with a large number of people and voices, Anna Stadling says.
Everyone probably doesn´t know that they are childhood friends: the musical star and actor Helen Sjöholm and Anna Stadling, solo singer, but also one of Sweden’s most well-known background singers together with artists such as Lars Winnerbäck and Staffan Hellstrand. For a long time, the two have talked about doing something together, and suddenly both found a suitable gap in the schedule. The whole concert is based on desire and own request.
– We produce it ourselves, and decide where to go and what to go in. It’s not allways like that, and it feels quite powerful, Helen Sjöholm says.
(…) They describe it as a stripped concert of music framed by personal contemplations, where they are accompanied by four musicians. Christmas feeling is promised – but not only.
– It will move on a wider plane around a frozen time with that light we are longing for, and which also is as part of advent, Helen Sjöholm says.
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– It feels great to be able to highlight what is our heritage, there are so many beautiful melodies, Anna Stadling says.
They also hope to get clear to sing “Winter’s song” with a newly written Swedish text.
If Helen Sjöholm and Anna Stadling’s voices can be described as one plus one being three, they also want to take advantage of “one” in the form of a impact in their own repertoire. Anna Stadling has released solo records in genres like pop and country. In 2016, she appropriately enough released an American-style Christmas disc, and some favorites from it will be included in the concert.
– I interpret the American heritage with the musicians, and it sounds so nice with Swedish. It’s a tradition that wants to convey a true story and a feeling, which the ballads in Sweden also wants. So that’s not really a strange encounter.
The two singers represent two different musical careers, and the collaboration has brought them into new domains. Among other things, Helen Sjöholm will perform her first own song.
– Previously I’ve written little songs, but never got them together. In this context, I dared. It’s called “December again”, but is not about Christmas. Rather, about the thoughts we may have when it’s time to tie the year together, Helen Sjöholm says.
The friendship between the two singers has their roots in Sundsvall and the municipal music school, and they mention the song pedagogue Elisabeth Modén Hallgren with warmth.
– We have a long history. I grew up in Njurunda, but when I was eleven, we moved to Sundsvall, and I started in Helens parallel class. There our friendship began to grow. We made music shows together, but above all we sang in choir, Anna Stadling says.
– When we got older we started a duo on our own and did a little career. We did some summer concerts – could it be 25 years ago now? Helen Sjöholm says.
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– New things happen in my voice when I sing with Anna. I feel safe and happy, can play and develop in a fun filled way, Helen Sjöholm explains.
(Due to copyright reasons the entire newspaper article cannot be reproduced)