On Wednesday you'll be thanking me for introducing you to ANOTHER amazing singer from Sweden: Cecilia Nilsson, a.k.a Cissi or "See See"; Cecilia will sing two songs LIVE on Radio P4 Gavleborg on Friday at 15:30; @CissiNilssonn, @andreasjismark, #inmyroom

Cecilia Nilsson YouTube Channel video: 50 seconds of Cecilia Nilsson singing her first single, "In My Room." Uploaded May 10, 2013. http://youtu.be/0SjBQnl1FNU
Written by Cecilia Nilsson & Andreas Mattsson

Sunday brought some very positive and interesting news from Sweden concerning a Friend of the Blog, Andreas Jismark, 
So good, in fact, that he also shared the news via his Twitter feed, shown below.

The good news concerns a very talented young female singer from Gävle who's part of his talented music stable, and whose first single will officially be released on Wednesday.

To prime the public interest in her, Andreas has teased us, Sweden and the larger world with a clip featuring some of the first single. 
Not too much, lest we get a sugar rush or brain freeze, but just enough to give us a taste and keep us interested in seeing how the story ends on onsdag, Wednesday.
Mañana!

Andreas wrote...

youtube.com/watch?v=0SjBQn…Framtiden är Cissis! På onsdag kommer singeln, här är 50 sekunder!
— Andreas Jismark (@andreasjismark) May 12, 2013

This bit of news follows closely on the heels of the blog post that Andreas had written back on April 29th titled, quite cleverly, Goodbye, See See, Hello Cecilia Nilsson, which detailed some of the very hard work over the past two years that she's put in to make this moment possible.
http://andreasjismark.se/goodbye-see-see-hello-cecilia-nilsson/

Last Fall, some months before I traveled to Stockholm in January and met with Andreas and another great music talent whom he manages, the amazing Anni Bernhard, i.e Full of Keys, whom you'll be hearing more about in the coming days here at the blog, I'd watched this video of Cecilia quite a number of times, since by now you all know how much I love context.
I was looking for clues and hints of things to come.

As it happens, the video is in Swedish, but I still think you'll enjoy it as she speaks about herself and her music interests and desire to write songs that are honest and that will connect with people.

It was recorded mostly at her home in Gävle, a very middle-class Swedish city in the best possible sense of the word, and one that I've written about a few times here in the past, which has not always had the easiest go of things.

Just like growing-up or living in Baltimore or Pittsburgh or Indianapolis makes you a little more in-touch with the rest of the country than would be true in Santa Monica or Bethesda or Brookline, her town is a much-more accurate barometer of daily life in Sweden than many of the sweet upscale neighborhoods in Stockholm that I spent a lot of time in back in January.

Places where money and some degree of influence often helps keep some social problems at bay a little bit longer than it does in Gävle, where you take life as it is.

To me, at least, that means that any songs Cecilia writes and sings will be much more in-tune with the average listener's personal experiences than if she'd been born or raised in Södermalm, and had parents who pushed her around in one of those amazing $800-plus German prams they sell at Nordiska Kompaniet, which I spent some time eye-balling on my last day in Stockholm.

That came after I'd spent time walking at night from my hotel, The Omena in Norrmalm, down to the Royal Palace and then headed back to the hotel via the Kungsträdgården ice skating rink one last time and then the central downtown business district.

NK has an entire area of the store on the 4th Floor not just dedicated to upscale Kids, but to what seemed to be designer baby strollers, complete with a video showing German soccer Moms putting them thru their paces in Frankfurt.

(And do the well-educated Moms ever love to show those prams and their babies off at their nearby coffee shops! Or even the "Social Media" McDonalds I was at.
That is a whole 'nother blog post entirely -upscale Swedish soccer Moms!
They were everywhere! 
Not that I was complaining. )

And, now that it occurs to me, this film was recorded back when Cecilia's hair was much-longer than it currently is, which I know causes her some small distress, something I know about and recognize from having grown-up with two attractive younger sisters with beautiful long hair.


Andreas Jismark YouTube Channel video: See See (Presentation). Uploaded September 5, 2012. http://youtu.be/0syxcoAblN8

Some of Cecilia's hard work and preparation came just a few weeks ago when she spent some time over in Gotland, where Andreas lives, where she rehearsed and even performed at Hammersmith Odeon Visby, which you'll recall is also where Anni/Full of Keys performed, as I mentioned here on the blog at the time.

There was a nice article on Cecilia that appeared in one of the local Gotland papers at the time of her trip and it includes a nice photo of her and the band rehearsing, including Andreas on guitar, which Cecilia also plays.

Stjärnskott i Visby i helgen (Shooting stars in Visby this weekend)
http://www.helagotland.se/nyheter/artikel.aspx?articleid=8210085

One of the quotes I love is where Andreas, a music veteran in all sorts of important ways -as a performer, teacher, promoter, producer and manager- says the following:

– Jag har aldrig stött på en elev som ens är 30-40 procent så bra som Cissi, säger han.

which means that he's never worked with anyone who has even 30-40% of Cissi's natural singing talent and ability, which is really quite something to say for this lover of all things Depeche Mode.

The article headline is a reference to Cecilia being a "shooting star" and encouraging people to come and see her perform now while they can in such an intimate atmosphere, before she hits it big in show biz.

Here's another photo of her and the band rehearsing that same day that's on her Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=151245411721188&set=a.151245378387858.1073741830.149873478525048&type=1&theater
and later at Hammersmith's:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=151245571721172&set=a.151245378387858.1073741830.149873478525048&type=1&theater

I last mentioned Cecilia Nilsson -a.k.a. Cissi or "See See"- in my April 9, 2013 blog post titled, If Miriam Bryant isn't on your musical radar yet, she ought to be ;)  Miriam Bryant - Push Play (Official), Finders Keeper (Official); @MiriamBryant
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/if-miriam-bryant-isnt-on-your-musical.html
wherein I wrote:

Miriam, from Göthenberg, had a gig on Friday in Tranås at Babar, as did another young singing dynamo from Gävle I've been keeping close tabs on by the name of See See -a.k.a. Cissi Nilsson- pictured below, whom I'll be writing about in more detail soon.So much sheer musical talent in Sweden, it's hard to believe sometimes! 

Grymma gig i Tranås igår! #seeseesweden #MiriamBryant twitter.com/andreasjismark…
— Andreas Jismark (@andreasjismark) April 6, 2013

Andreas was actually able to record one of the songs Cecilia performed in Tranås at Babar before Miriam came onstage to perform later, and it's a tune some of you might recognize:


Andreas Jismark YouTube Channel video: Cecilia Nilsson "Never Let You Go" -LIVE at Babar in Tranås, Sweden. April 5, 2013. Uploaded April 6, 2013.
http://youtu.be/xVmsUZCpJqI


Here's a nice newspaper article on Cecilia that ran on Friday in her local newspaper, Arbetarbladet, which has done quite a number of stories on her over the past few years as she's sung and performed at many events all over the area, and developed quite a great reputation with a killer voice:
Hur känns det att släppa en singel? (How do you feel about your first single coming out?)
http://arbetarbladet.se/noje/musik/1.5861796-hur-kanns-det-att-slappa-en-singel-

Friday, Fredag, Friday, Fredag...
For those of you reading this in Sweden -or elsewhere, but who want to check her out via the Internet- Cecilia will be performing two songs LIVE on Sveriges Radio, specifically, Radio P4 Gavleborg, on Friday at 15:30 Swedish Time, which is 9:30 a.m. Eastern U.S./Canada.

Please take a listen to her via http://sverigesradio.se/gavleborg/ and let me know what you think.

But if you miss her, you WILL be able to listen to Cecilia here on the blog at some point soon, because one of the very best things about Sveriges Radio is that they make almost everything they air available online, and best of all, with embeddable code for blogs and websites.

(You longtime readers of the blog will recall that I've posted lots of SR audio material here in the past for Timoteij, Full of Keys, First Aid Kit and other singing artists, as well as various pieces they've done on Melodisfestivalen.)

So, even if you miss her, I'll have her right here where you can take a listen just as soon as it's humanly possible, more than likely, this weekend.

Wednesday morning update:

Cecilia Nilsson - In My Room (Complete Song)

Cecilia Nilsson YouTube Channel: Cecilia Nilsson -In My Room. This is Cecilia's debut single. Uploaded May 13, 2013. http://youtu.be/r3MUHpMTAao

Cissi's new single is available on both iTunes and Spotify.

There's just no substitute for sheer talent!
And when you add a great work ethic to that, the sky is the limit.
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More info at: https://www.facebook.com/cecilianilssonofficial
http://instagram.com/cecilianilssonofficial
@CissiNilssonn - https://twitter.com/CissiNilssonn

Andreas Jismark Management 
http://andreasjismark.se
@andreasjismark -https://twitter.com/andreasjismark 
http://www.youtube.com/user/JismarkManagement

Music Alert for Friday February 15th: In Visby, Gotland, check out Full of Keys (Anni Bernhard) at the Hammersmith Odeon Visby at 8 p.m.; @FullOfKeys, #sweden

Full of Keys (Anni Bernhard) photographed in Rome, 2012, by Alessandro Leone

Later than I originally planned while I was in Stockholm last month, I'm sharing some new Full of Keys and Anni Bernhard news today, my first of the new year.

While it's not exactly the first thing I thought I'd be writing about Anni this year while on that long SAS flight home from Stockholm, after over eight days there, it's still well worth you knowing about, especially if you are free this Friday night in Sweden, and most especially if you'll already be in Gotland.

The exact details of the BIG NEWS I have surrounding Anni and her band will have to wait for another day, since I've been sworn to secrecy, but trust me, when it comes out, it will be VERY exciting news for her fans and music-lovers everywhere.

In the meantime, though, until the time is right to spill the beans, I'm happy to tell you that Full Of Keys will be performing Friday night in Visby, Gotland, the hometown of singer Anni's clever and oh-so creative manager, Andreas Jismark.

The performance will be part of an exclusive visit to Visby for rehearsals for what may/could be an upcoming U.S. tour that... well again, I can't talk about right now.

FoK will be in Gotland during much of the Spring recording its second album and shooting some videos, so if you happen to be minding your own business one day, and happen to come across a very beautiful brunette somewhere singing with verve and style, please make sure that you look around carefully for any film cameras and lighting technicians BEFORE rushing over to say hello to Anni! :) 

Friday is my birthday, but since I can't be there for obvious reasons to enjoy the music, be sure to make enough noise to compensate for my absence. 

And don't forget to toast me with a cold Samuel Adams!

Hammersmith Odeon Visby, Adelsgatan 33, Visby, Gotland, Sweden

Info: +46 498 21 11 50

http://www.hammersmith-odeon.se/

https://www.facebook.com/HammersmithVisby

FullofkeysOFFICIAL YouTube Channel video: Full Of Keys - Snow Glass Apples, the first single from the second album. Written by Anni Bernhard & Robin Hirvonen Palmqvist. Directed by Carlo Roberti. Uploaded October 25, 2012. 

http://youtu.be/o7exVmQ0HIY

Twitter: @FullOfKeys  https://twitter.com/FullOfKeys

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullofkeys

Full of Keys YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/FullofkeysOFFICIAL 

Summer 2012 is officially here as Timoteij's new album, Tabu, drops today. And they also celebrate a new-and-improved website that's delightfully more-colorful, engaging and pleasing to the eye -and more intuitive!

Summer 2012 is officially here as Timoteij's new album, Tabu, drops today. And they also celebrate a new-and-improved website that's delightfully more-colorful, engaging and pleasing to the eye -and more intuitive!

The top of the new website, which changed slightly from the original template a few weeks before their participation in the 2012 Melodifestivalen two months ago, now sports new photos for both the website and the blog, and I must say that in the week since I first saw the photo of the new album over at Swedish Stereo blog in Damian's description of the songs and their order, http://swedishstereo.blogspot.com/2012/05/timoteij-tabu.html which seems to be fresher, more upbeat and dance-friendly but with all of the Timoteij folk and authenticity trademarks we love, I've been eager to see what it looks like in a new and improved online environment.


Well, in my opinion, the new features and photos really POP off your computer screen in a way that the old pinkish/purple ones really didn't after awhile because... well, we just got so used to them.  http://www.timoteij.se/


The new group photo for the website now is, left-to-right: Elina Thorsell, Johanna Pettersson, Cecilia Kallin and Bodil Bergström, and the photo is the same as the album but in the header photo, you don't see their instruments, while the header above the blog text 
http://www.timoteij.se/category/timoteij/ is a variation of that: Cecilia, Elina, Johanna and Bodil.


I also saw that last week's news also had this great teaser: Buy the new album and enter a contest to have Timoteij perform at your home/place of work -in Sweden: http://www.ginza.se/product/timoteij/tabu-2012/11863/


Correct, it's remarkably similar to what the amazing Full of Keys (Anni Bernhard) did on her tour in February for her winning fan, Victor: http://fullofkeys.com/blog/?p=228
I was so envious!


On Monday, the girls were still busy promoting the new album and swung by the Sveriges Radio (SR) studio in Skovde, and fortunately for us, the folks at P4 recorded a bit of what happened, which is how I can share it with you here now:



SverigesRadio P4 Skaraborg video: Nytt sound men ändå  som vanligt på Timoteijs nya. May 14, 2012. Related article at: 
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=97&artikel=5107583


I also came across this great SR photo from this past January which I hadn't seen before:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=789&artikel=4312611


Here's the text of the interview:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=399&artikel=4312609


Not to give away too many teasers about some future posts you'll be seeing here soon, but as some of you reading this particular post already know, I actually have hopes of seeing these talented ladies perform -as well as the fabulous Florrie, whose new album drops next week- in a few months in their native habitats, though I'm still working on exact dates and logistics.


My original killer post about Timoteij and Melodifestivalen 2012, scheduled to run the morning of the Second Chance competition, with a complete recap about what happened to them and other acts like Molly Sandén during the competition, was actually killed by a freak power outage one night when my electricity didn't come back on for quite a few minutes, and Blogger lost what I'd written.


Hours of work down the drain!
I was so beyond frustrated! 


Below are some odds and ends from that the draft of that post which I'd thought to save to an email draft before I started trying to finish up and the electricity went kaput, my post going adios! Obviously, there were lots of what I thought at the time were some well-chosen words, photos and videos that ought to be below but which aren't.


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Today is D-day for Timoteij and its fans: Clear sailing to next week's Melodifestivalen Finals in Stockholm, or, Stormy Seas? (Stormande Hav) 


It's the day we've all been waiting for... "Andra chansen." The second chance. 
One last chance to make the grade for the chance to represent Sweden at Eurovision.


Yesterday the band posted this short acapella version of them singing an excerpt of Stormande Hav in one of their hotel rooms onto their official YouTube Channel.



Timoteij - Videoblogg - Stormande Hav -acapella. March 2, 2012.
http://youtu.be/s7wk3p0Y8hg


Like many of you out there, I've wondered, too, why they and the record company still hadn't posted a HQ copy of their performance at the Second Heat as good as the one that uris1 posted two weeks ago, or done a series of occasional updates on their YouTube Channel since then on their preparations the past few weeks, a variation of what they've been writing on the blog.
But now at least, somebody finally decided to do something positive. 

uris1 video: Timoteij - Stormande Hav. Second Heat of Melodifestivalen 2012 in Göteborg, Sweden. February 11, 2012. http://youtu.be/Nw73WHckdNY


Meanwhile, over at SVT's Minimello, where Ylva Hällen and sidekick Skvallerbyttan have good seats to watch all the performers -and keep the laughter coming...
http://svt.se/2.140234/minimello
http://svt.se/2.140629/


SVT video: Jag är lik Timoteij!!!! 
Skvallerbyttan hittar likheter mellan henne och Timotej.
So funny!

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http://www.youtube.com/user/LionheartSweden
http://www.youtube.com/user/TimoteijOfficial


Fans of the band may want to start looking at this page to see what's also being written about them on Social Media: http://whotalking.com/flickr/Timoteij 

Take a seat aboard the ferry and listen to what real music talent sounds like: Sea Lion - "America, why does the heart cry" via the Stockholm Boat Sessions and Tom Jerry Boman, @tomjerryboman

jerrygbg video: Sea Lion - "America, why does the heart cry" @ Stockholm Boat Sessions. December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/Ca9BXSago60

2018 Update
The original video has been removed but you can hear and see the song being performed here, just inside a club.
https://vimeo.com/channels/timodriscoll/41789568

Naturally, this blog of mine, having the sort of sensibility that it does, where when and if I'm doing things as intended here, everything just seems to flow together and write itself, my last post on a new music video from Russia brings to mind yet another music video recorded on water that I've been sitting on for a few months, albeit one recorded on something considerably slower than a cigarette boat festooned with bikini-clad eye candy, living the high-life while zooming around on Biscayne Bay and the Miami River with the Miami skyline in the background.

By that I reference my March 12, 2012 post titled, "It's like a tourism ad for Miami: DJ M.E.G. - Moscow to California ft. Сергей Лазарев & Тимати - Moscow to California -with a water pit-stop in Miami!" featuring a video that has to be seen to be believed.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-like-tourism-ad-for-miami-dj-meg.html https://youtu.be/b2kRM46QYls

Today's post and video at the top is one that I've been saving up for a bit features a very talented artist from Göteborg named Linn Osterberg, who records under the name "Sea Lion," not unlike the wonderfully-talented Anni Berhard, whom I've been so totally agog about since finding out about last year, who records under the nom-de-disque, "Full of Keys." 
(More news on Anni soon, whom I hope to see when I'm in Stockholm!)

The video at the top of this post is of Osterberg -playing guitar- singing an acoustic version of the song "America, why does the heart cry" on board a ferry ship in Stockholm with her very talented friend and fellow artist, Therese Svensson, while other passengers listen along.

It was recorded as part of the imaginative Stockholm Boat Sessions video series, http://www.stockholmboatsessions.se/
http://stockholmboatsessions.blogspot.com/

That series of musical videos is something that I have been enjoying for a while now via YouTube, wondering, as usual, why something that is by turns both simple AND clever, doesn't/can't/won't happen in South Florida, where we actually have the weather and resources to do it almost year round, esp. in the Ft. Lauderdale area or along the Intracoastal or Biscayne Bay between Miami and South Beach.  
Forget about July, though!!!

Hmm-m... so why haven't there been a series of performances recorded on the Staten Island Ferry going back and forth to Manhattan, with the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline behind them? Just a thought.

Ladies and Gentleman, without further adieu, say hello to Sea Lion. 
By the way, as of today, with the 8 tracks going for 60 SEK, and with a U.S. dollar getting you about  6.7471 Swedish kronor, well, you do the math.
http://inmykitchen.bandcamp.com/album/mercy-land 


You can follow Linn Osterberg on Twitter @sealionlinn https://twitter.com/sealionlinn as well as on Instagram at sealionlinn https://www.instagram.com/sealionlinn/


2016 update: see more news and reviews about Linn's music via this helpful link to Gaffa.se's website:

http://www.gaffa.se/search/artist/18786/

Follow Anni Bernhard (Full of Keys) at:  https://www.facebook.com/fullofkeys/
http://www.youtube.com/user/FullofkeysOFFICIAL

@FullOfKeys https://twitter.com/FullOfKeys

Prepare to meet an amazing musical talent: Anni Bernhard is 'Full Of Keys'; TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Desolate; Suicide Bridge; Suicide Bridge at Stenkullen LIVE

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon - Full of keys med låten "Desolate" - Aired January 11, 2012.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=full_of_keys_med_laten_suicide_bridge&videoid=2136121&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

Prepare to meet an amazing musical talent: Anni Bernhard is 'Full Of Keys'; TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Desolate; Suicide Bridge; Suicide Bridge LIVE at Stenkullen

I am SO tremendously impressed by Anni Bernhard's talent, insight and musical sensibility. I first became aware of this amazing singer from Stockholm last Fall, and made a mental note that sometime over the Christmas holidays, I needed to find some free time some Saturday or Sunday -maybe during halftime of a Dolphins game or an IU basketball game- to do some quality Internet sleuthing around.
My mission?
Look for more of her performances on YouTube and other video services and then track down any useful references to her in the blogosphere -mostly in Sverige, obviously- to catch up on what she was doing before I first heard of her.
As you know, for the most part, with a few exceptions, I like to think of myself as an "early adopter," and hate being the last to find out about something good!

This was the captivating video which first brought Anni Bernhard to my attention:

Full of Keys official video: Full Of Keys - Desolate/Suicide Bridge (Official Video), August 31, 2011. http://youtu.be/_1_JNypjsTg

Then, three weeks ago, while looking for something else on the TV4 website, I was VERY pleasantly surprised to come across the clips of her being interviewed and performing LIVE on Nyhetsmorgon on January 11th. 
It literally made my day!

(I even agreed with her thoughts about the current blah state of the music industry, too, which she's clearly doing something to change in her own positive way.)

And now, three weeks later, because I was smart enough to sign-up for her official YouTube Channel after watching those TV4 clips -and sending them around the world to some friends- late last night, I was able to be THE FIRST person among the millions of folks on YouTube to see her new video, just a few minutes after it was posted online and still had "O Views." 
Me, I think I’m doing a good job of making up for lost time!

The debut single:


Full of Keys official video: Full Of Keys - All The Roses (Official Video) April 25, 2011. http://youtu.be/N61plpOjmi4



TV 4's Nyhetsmorgon -Full of Keys med låten "Suicide Bridge" - Aired January 11, 2012.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=full_of_keys_med_laten_desolate&videoid=2136171&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

Here's the video that Anni posted online Friday night after performing "Suicide Bridge" with just an acoustic guitar at the hotel:


Full of Keys official video: Suicide Bridge (LIVE at Stenkullen, acoustic) February 3, 2012. http://youtu.be/9Z-dwOyAf9g

And not to wax overly-rhapsodic about the marketing angle or anything, but wow, on top of all that vocal talent, lyric cleverness and musical sensibility, she's got that AMAZING face of her's!

She's like some glorious combination of Natalie Portman, Gennifer Goodwin, Giada De Laurentis & Rachel Leigh Cook all wrapped into one, and let me tell you, from where I'm sitting, that's one hell of an amazing and interesting combination.

When you see the interview with her below where she sounds off on what she doesn't particularly like about the current music industry trends, and how, unfortunately, too many singers seem to lose their spark once they become a commercially successful artist, about the third or fourth time I played it, and knew what she was going to say, all I could do was focus on that face -and melt.

If you doubt me on this, just go to Eva Warner's photography website and look under "Commissioned" and click Full of Keys.

http://www.silversprej.se/com.php

It's Anni!

TV 4's Nyhetsmorgon - Anni Bernhard discusses her thoughts on the current music industry and wishes there were more dedicated artists who challenged themselves and didn't just settle for being okay. January 11, 2012.
It's in Swedish, of course!
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=morgonens_musikgast_full_of_keys&videoid=2136084

Full Of Keys new "Traces of a Human" was released on February 1st.
It's available at many sites, including Amazon.com and iTunes

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www.fullofkeys.com

http://fullofkeys.com/blog/

https://twitter.com/FullOfKeys

#fullofkeys