{"id":1408,"date":"2013-05-03T17:03:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T15:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/?page_id=1408"},"modified":"2022-03-13T16:16:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T14:16:05","slug":"bao-behind-the-scenes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/press-clips\/various-2011\/bao-behind-the-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"BAO behind the scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aftonbladet
\n<\/strong>Tommy K\u00f6rberg plays the drums in “Jehu.” Helen Sj\u00f6holm is using the megaphone in
\n“Skenbert” and Benny Andersson tie his hand for a rocking “Cadillac” in Karlstad.<\/em><\/p>\n

Aftonbladet 110729<\/strong><\/p>\n

By: JENS PETERSON
\nPhoto: JENS PETERSON<\/p>\n

Benny Andersson Band celebrates its 10th anniversary on tour. Playing new and old, Swedish and international, on and off stage. Sold-out parks and happy dancing couples around the country. Jens Peterson from Aftonbladet joined the tour bus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The pause is over. It’s time to enter the stage. Benny Andersson brings all of the orchestra from the dressing room next to the stage. But wait. Some people missing. Where is Helen Sj\u00f6holm and Tommy K\u00f6rberg? The first song in the second act is “De ljuva dr\u00f6mmarnas orkester” with all on stage. The singers don\u00b4t appear. Benny Andersson is thinking. The audience should not have to wait.
\n– We play “Cirkus finemang” instead.<\/p>\n

A quick order to the audio manager Bjorn Lehnberg and the other technicians that reset. A minute later, the band enters the stage for the instrumental song.<\/p>\n

At the same time in a beautiful wooden house Tommy K\u00f6rberg and Helen Sj\u00f6holm are getting ready in panic. They have just realized that on this tour, they join right after the break. It was the last time, in summer of 2009, as the band opened with several numbers without vocals. When “Cirkus finemang” is over, the singers are there and join the other, singing “De ljuva dr\u00f6mmarnas orkester”.<\/p>\n

Five crowns in the bum <\/strong>
\nThere are many songs to play for four hours. There will be mistakes sometimes. Mistakes can be fun. Helen Sj\u00f6holm tells the audience how to practice singing strongly, using all the muscles. In particular, the muscles below the waist. She recommend the method to put a Swedish 5-crown coin in the back. Sing scales powerful and the high notes with tight muscles. When you are finished, it shall be only 50 cents left of the 5-crown. Audience laughs.<\/p>\n

Benny Andersson plays the first notes of the ABBA song “Kisses of Fire”. Helen Sj\u00f6holm begins to sing. Something is wrong. She feels that the pitch is wrong and looks at Benny, who looks uncertain. He stops. Benny has started in the wrong key. Too high. Helen Sj\u00f6holm finds herself quickly. She tells the audience how she imagined that “Kisses of Fire” would swindle towards the higher tones.
\n– What is it then? The entire 5-crown gone, I thought.
\nIt’s such a perfect rescue of the situation that it seems like it’s rehearsed. But in BAO (Benny Anderssons Orkester) very much happens spontaneously. Sometimes magically. Sometimes by mistake. Never the same.<\/p>\n

BAO starts this year’s tour in \u00d6rnsk\u00f6ldsvik and continues in J\u00e4rvs\u00f6. After that show they will get on the bus and go to Leksand through the summer night. It\u2019s dark when the bus gets moving. When it arrives just after three in the morning there is sunrise in Dalarna. Sleep and then concert in Leksand. The next morning they drive to Karlstad. None of the four nights is the same. In the bus on the way to J\u00e4rvs\u00f6 Benny Andersson and Lars Rudolfsson are reading through the song list, deciding what to change.
\n– I think we are moving “O Klang and Jubeltid,” said Benny. It fits better in the ending. They also put a couple of ABBA songs next to each other in the program.<\/p>\n

“The band’s hairdresser”
\n<\/strong> When the musicians are presented Benny says that Lars Rudolfsson is the band’s hairdresser. When Rudolfsson isn\u2019t playing the accordion in BAO, he is one of the best directors in the country. BAO can benefit from his experience when their performances are put together.<\/p>\n

Two hours before each concert they have soundcheck. Benny Andersson also uses the soundcheck for adjustments. He asks Janne Bengtson to remove some flute tones in “Jag h\u00f6r”.  They play through “Lyric waltz for variety orchestra”, which is called Shostakovich as it\u2019s the Russian who wrote it. The others think that the drummer Jorgen Stenberg kicks off the waltz too fast. He reluctantly changes the speed.
\n– We can play that tempo, but I think we will regret it, says J\u00f6rgen Stenberg.
\nBenny shows how he thinks it should sound, and usually he does in other versions of the song.
\n– I don\u00b4t recognize what you are playing, says G\u00f6ran Arnberg to Benny. But the justice will judge.<\/p>\n

From Orsa to Hawaii <\/strong>
\nDance floor is waiting empty below the stage. The audience is admitted only when soundcheck is over. BAO must be the only band in the world who brings their own dance floor and build it on each venue. Red wooden house with white corners on summer meadows where flowers of all colors grow knee-high. Wooden pallets with old milk jugs at the gravel roads. Benny Andersson Band plays Swedish folk music that sounds like fences around Lake Siljan. But also tones and beats that traveled from Russia and Hawaii, New Orleans and Italy.<\/p>\n

Hearty workout
\n<\/strong> Most of the musicians master several instruments. Tommy K\u00f6rberg plays the drums when J\u00f6rgen Stenberg leads “Jehu”. Perra Moraeus runs between violin and alto sax. Kalle Moraeus plays everything that has strings. There used to be a school subject called Gymnastics with games and sports. This is Music with games and sports. It becomes much jumping and running. Hearty workout.<\/p>\n

Calle Jakobsson’s tuba playing as many notes in an evening with BAO as in a full season at the Opera house. No wonder he’s bleeding in the mouth after the first rehearsals. They laugh a lot, and they are without prestige and secure in their musicality.<\/p>\n

Lunch at a country house in V\u00e4rmland. Coffee is served in the lounge. There is an electric piano. Benny sits down after dinner and plays “Tea for two” and Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me”. People who are having Sunday lunch are surprised to see who offers music with their coffee.<\/p>\n

They are often playing during the tour, far from people’s park scenes. At the railway station in Karlstad a fan hits a rhythm that leads Janne Bengtson and P\u00e4lle Grebacken to blow a few tunes on the platform. They are always ready with a flute in the pocket. One night in a hotel almost all the instruments are picked up and it becomes a spontaneous concert at the late meal. Taube and Kopp\u00e5ngen.<\/p>\n

Helen doesn\u00b4t want to hear Helen
\n<\/strong>Everyone wants to listen to Helen Sj\u00f6holm. Except Helen Sj\u00f6holm. When it’s time for the Swedish charts on the radio, they listen to an interview with Helen in the tour bus. She screams No! and turns up the volume of the music in her headphones so she will not hear herself. The others in BAO applaud when the interview is over and the band\u00b4s candidate to the Swedish charts “En dag i s\u00e4nder” is played. Benny Andersson is very happy. Helen Sj\u00f6holm shudders and holds her hands tightly over her ears. Helen Sj\u00f6holm doesn\u00b4t listen to herself. She doesn\u00b4t read about herself. She doesn\u00b4t watch herself.<\/p>\n

Different singers profiles
\n<\/strong> The two voices in BAO have very different profiles outside the headlights. Helen Sj\u00f6holm\u00b4s model seems to be the sparrow. She melts into the background and makes no noise. Tommy K\u00f6rberg is more like a peacock. He doesn\u00b4t mind being seen or heard. He is full of funny stories and thoughts. On stage Tommy K\u00f6rberg is … yes, he is still a peacock. And there Helen Sj\u00f6holm has at least as strong charisma, sparkling eyes, humor and drama. Scene-Helen is doing a crazy dance when the band is jazzing up the tempo of “N\u00e4r tvenne hj\u00e4rtan sl\u00e5 samma slag”. The contrast between the invisible Helen Sj\u00f6holm and the star on the stage is amazing.<\/p>\n

A band of contrasts
\n<\/strong>The BAO-world has several contrasts. Some of the music has hundred years old root fibers. Such as the dance after the herring catcher Byss-Kalle, who was born in 1783 and played nyckelharpa. But they are also using the latest technology. The delicate acoustic instruments are joined by computers on stage. On monitoring, which allows the musicians hear one another, is superb with the last speakers. Which means that everyone is playing safer. Benny Andersson and Mona N\u00f6rklit can sit in the tour bus with a laptop, looking at races where their horses won earlier in the evening.<\/p>\n

When Helen Sj\u00f6holm has problems with her voice one day the song list is changed. Tommy K\u00f6rberg may sing more and a couple of old songs are picked up. The technician Micke Lindstr\u00f6m is on the stage, looking for the lyrics on the computer, and printing them to K\u00f6rberg.<\/p>\n

Many of the BAO members are abusers of apps on their iPhones. One day it\u00b4s iSwap Faces, where they take portraits of each other and exchange faces. The next day it\u00b4s the game VS racing where they compete via bluetooth iPhones against iPhones. Janne Bengtson and J\u00f6rgen Stenberg are early champions. Perra Moraeus gets curious and learns the game. First, wiggling his iPhone in hysterical gestures, but still he\u00b4s defeated.<\/p>\n

Yes, of course you are allowed to have fun
\n<\/strong> The children participating in the bus make fun of musician parents who say “connect to the game”.
\n– What, is it not allowed to have fun when you’re 61, says Perra Moraeus?
\nWell Perra. It is. Benny Andersson Band plays further. People of all ages have fun evenings in summer Sweden.<\/p>\n

\n

THIS IS BAO:
\n<\/strong> Benny Andersson – piano, accordion, ukulele
\nGoran Arnberg – keyboard
\nJanne Bengtson – flutes, baritone sax
\nJogga Ernlund – bass
\nP\u00e4r Grebacken – saxophone, clarinet, flute
\nLeif G\u00f6ras – violin
\nNicke G\u00f6the – violin
\nCalle Jakobsson – tuba, trombone
\nHelen Sj\u00f6holm – vocals
\nTommy K\u00f6rberg – vocals, guitar, drums
\nLeif Lindvall – trumpet, cornet
\nKalle Moraeus – guitars, violin, banjo, vocals
\nOlle Moraeus – violins
\nPerra Moraeus – violin, alto sax
\nLars Rudolfsson – accordion
\nJ\u00f6rgen Stenberg – drums, percussion<\/p>\n

\n

BAO ON TV
\n<\/strong> Those who didn\u00b4t get tickets for this summer may see BAO at Christmas. SVT (Swedish Television) has filmed the concerts in Helsingborg and Gothenburg. Two hours will be transmitted at Christmas, which is about half the show. Benny Andersson Band plays for four hours each night. It tends to be 52 songs, including a potpourri.<\/p>\n

\n

Back<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tommy K\u00f6rberg plays the drums in “Jehu.” Helen Sj\u00f6holm is using the megaphone in “Skenbert” and Benny Andersson tie his hand for a rocking “Cadillac” Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":998,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1408","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1408\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helensjoholm.nu\/_eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}