Just like Swedish summers -short, sweet and sublime- Miriam Bryant singing "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess on SVT's "Sommarkväll"; @MiriamBryant, @Zedd, #GeorgeGershwin

Steve Layton YouTube Channel:  Miriam Bryant sings the DuBose Heyward/George Gershwin classic from Porgy & Bess, "Summertime" on the August 10th, 2013 broadcast of SVT's "Sommarkväll" at The River Cafe, Göteborg, Sweden. http://youtu.be/5cVr9VKmmdo

Just like Swedish summers -short, sweet and sublime- Miriam Bryant singing "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess on SVT's "Sommarkväll"; 
@MiriamBryant, @Zedd, #GeorgeGershwin

Why this song, now? 

Because sometimes you just need to hear an old song you've always known, and hear someone you've just begun to admire and appreciate over the past year, sing that song really well to remind you why you like them.

Miriam's voice is just perfect for this song.

I first saw her perform this iconic song the weekend after it first aired on Swedish TV, and was very keen on sharing it here, since it reveals another aspect of her range, but to be honest, I then sort of spaced it. 
It was probably the oppressive summer heat.

Nothing beats Swedish summer! ☀🏊 pic.twitter.com/bt3a51ByIp
— Camilla Lennarth (@camillalennarth) August 4, 2013

Wow, dreamy! RT @swedense As summer is here the country of Sweden is green and full of life pic.twitter.com/TYFUI7D7K8
— swedennewyork.com (@swedennewyork) June 25, 2013

In Sweden, the midnight sun occurs from late May to early August. pic.twitter.com/thaHorVvUS
— Sweden.se (@swedense) June 23, 2013

In any case, when I finally did remember, I thought it was probably long gone from the SVT website after a few weeks, as they are VERY punctual about their rights.
It they say it will be up for 30 days on their website after first being aired, that's it.
It will be gone by Day 31

But fortunately, someone thought ahead and placed it on YouTube for me to later see again and share with you today.

I've mentioned Miriam in five previous blog posts, but the ones that actually featured her were these two:

April 9, 2013 - 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

August 4, 2013 - Awesome! Miriam Bryant's musical talent is opening eyes and opening doors everywhere -even in the U.S.; video of Miriam performing LIVE Saturday night on TV4's Sommarkrysset at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, easily the best and most-compelling performance of hers I've ever seen; @MiriamBryant, @StereoscopeAB, @Zedd, #pushplay, #sommarkrysset, #happy

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/awesome-miriam-bryants-musical-talent.html

@GagasBabee pic.twitter.com/Xgaqvi2jRU
— Miriam Bryant (@MiriamBryant) October 27, 2013

More information on Miriam at: http://www.miriambryantmusic.com/

Miriam Bryant  @MiriamBryant https://twitter.com/MiriamBryant

https://www.facebook.com/miriambryantmusic

http://web.stagram.com/n/miriambryant

http://www.youtube.com/user/MiriamBryantMusic/

Stereoscope Music Scandinavia @StereoscopeAB https://twitter.com/StereoscopeAB

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stereoscope-Music-Scandinavia/421176481278398

Video was originally at: http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/1398765/miriam-bryant-summertime

http://www.rivercafe.se/engelska/welcome2.aspx

http://www.rivercafe.se/valkommen.aspx

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

2011 St. Lucia Day in Göteborg is an hour away on SVT; will they strike gold and be sublime yet again?

Above, five screen-shots I snapped of Amanda Römmesmo Diaz (as Lucia) during the 2010 St. Lucia Day ceremony and concert telecast from Kungsholms Church in Stockholm last year, which was broadcast by SVT.

It was, in a word, awesome! 

Can we dare to hope this year's will be as good?

My popular blog post on that was titled, quite naturally, 2010 St. Lucia Day in Stockholm: traditional songs and sweet sentimentality that ring true across the miles; SVT's Lucia program is sublime!, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-st-lucia-day-in-stockholm.html

The ceremony starts Tuesday, December 13 at 7:00 a.m. Stockholm time, which is GMT+1, meaning it's on LIVE at 1 a.m. Miami/Eastern Standard Time.

If you're seeing this blog post of mine sometime on Tuesday morning, it's not too late to check it out again on the re-broadcast at 6 p.m. in Sweden on SVT2.

Everywhere else in the world, including here in Miami, the Land of the Luckless Dolphins. you can see Luciamorgon at SVT Play, specifically at

http://svtplay.se/v/2640264/luciafirande_i_svt/lucia

It will be available for viewing on the SVT Play website until January 12, 2012.

Hallandale Beach Blog/South Beach Hoosier favorite Jill Johnson, along with Sofia Karlsson will be at Gothenburg Cathedral, along with their Boys and Girls Choir, to sing some traditional holiday songs and carols, and actor Tomas von Brömsen will be keeping it real by reading some stories that capture the holiday moment and explain the story of Lucia.

Excellent!

More on the broadcast and SVT's other holiday programming at their special webpage: http://svt.se/2.114280/1.1789593/ and http://svt.se/2.114277/julen_i_svt_2011

If you want to replicate something sweet and soulful -and sublime- having Jill Johnson sing is a great start!

Jill Johnson -"O Holy Night" at Jullotta På Liseberg,Göteborg, Sweden. December 8, 2011. http://youtu.be/qOfbkzG0dK0

Lionheart Sweden video: Jill Johnson - Välkommen jul (Sampler)

http://youtu.be/MaYMN4Mlcfs

Clips from Jill's new "Welcome Christmas" holiday album with the Gavle Symphony Orchestra. http://tjuvlyssna.nu/

Among other places in Sverige last week, Gothenburg was absolutely flooded with rain last Thursday, and, according to soggy friends of the blog on-the-scene, it was only Monday that water started receding to reveal just how many cars got completely swamped. And more snow and rain, snöfall och regn, is coming toute-de-suite from the west, with very strong winds in tow.

http://svtplay.se/v/1636831/senaste_prognos

Tack, Helen!

http://www.smhi.se/

http://www.smhi.se/en/Weather

Today's Aftonbladet had these photos of the soggy scene:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article14062787.ab

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vader/article14069059.ab

Just the thought of that mess makes me want to have some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!

Speaking of tomato...

Two years ago yesterday, it was a classic case of Gershwin's "You like potato, I like potahto..."

The Local

Göteborg changes name back to Gothenburg

Published: 11 Dec 09 06:55 CET

http://www.thelocal.se/23786/20091211

-----

Wow!

In a sign of the times, due to so many creepy people in the world using Social Media for nefarious means, in Gavle, schools are forbidding families from videotaping or photographing their own daughters -and others- doing their Lucia ceremonies, so that the resulting photos and video are NOT swiped off the Internet and abused by being posted at porn sites or maintained for personal use.

Parents actually have to sign forms acknowledging they know the new rules before attending.

Sad beyond words...

TV4 News, Gavle, December 12, 2011.

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyheterna_gavle?title=restriktioner_mot_att_fotografera_luciatagen&videoid=2117437&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

-----

The performance that first brought Jill to my attention, four years ago...

Jill Johnson - Jolene on TV4's Bingolotto, 2007.

http://youtu.be/K-Dl83hLZG4

Jill Johnson's official YouTube Channel is at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jilljohnsonmusic

http://www.tv4play.se/

http://www.thelocal.se/

http://www.communityofsweden.com/

Good friends, a loyal dog and the open road of adventure, imagination & whimsy in Sweden: Stiko Per Larsson - Oxens År

Stiko Per Larsson "Oxens År"
(Officiell Vandringsvideo från Göteborg-Stockholm under Oxens År)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7nHXuCfwg

Good friends, a loyal dog -Yrrol- and the open road of adventure, imagination & whimsy in Sweden.

The video above was shot from Stiko's annual walking tour, which, in this case, was from 2009 and was from Göteborg to Stockholm, a distance of a bit under 350 miles.

Stiko's "Oxens År" EP came out on Monday, and five days before it did, because of heavy pre-orders, it was already the number one single on iTunes Swedish music chart. Pretty impressive!

I think it's fair to say that even if you don't understand the lyrics, it's very, very catchy.

Stiko's official website: http://www.stikoperlarsson.se/