Awesome news! Yohanna to tour soon featuring Eva Cassidy-inspired songs :) - Sings "Is It True" and "Fields of Gold" on NRK2's "Allsang på grensen" and charms crowd in-between raindrops; Jóhanna Guðrún, @yohannamusic

Yohanna - "Is It True" and "Fields of Gold" on NRK2's "Allsang på grensen", Halden, Norway, July 18, 2012. http://youtu.be/D3w8cG93zyU
One of our favorites, the talented Icelandic beauty charms 'em in-between raindrops!

Awesome news! Yohanna to tour soon featuring Eva Cassidy-inspired songs :) - Sings "Is It True" and "Fields of Gold" on NRK2's "Allsang på grensen" and charms crowd in-between raindrops; Jóhanna Guðrún, @yohannamusic

The exciting news about Yohanna doing a tour that features songs that were staples of the late  Eva Cassidy, is absolutely fabulous news for both music lovers and longtime Yohanna supporters like me, as is the fact that Eva's brother, Dan Cassidy, will be part of the band, as he is here on violin.


If I play my cards right, I might even see her perform in person in a few weeks. 
If so, I guarantee you will see some amazing video and photos here on the blog! And on my YouTube Channel.


@yohannamusic  http://twitter.com/yohannamusic
http://www.facebook.com/yohannamusic



wroenn video: ABC News Nightline's Dave Marash's famous profile of singer Eva Cassidy. http://youtu.be/bXU219b3Zdw


This segment originally aired on May 25, 2001, while I was still living in the Washington area. 
I can still remember the night I videotaped it while sitting in the living room of the townhouse I lived in, with stories still floating in my head about her amazing performances from friends of mine who'd been smart enough to see her in person at various places around the Beltway.
By the time it ended, I was not only blown away by how well it was produced and came together, easily one of the best things to ever appear on Nightline, but even more profoundly regretful and sad that I'd never made the time I should have to see this amazing talent for myself. 
I certainly had plenty of chances to join them, but I always had an excuse for why I couldn't go: an Orioles ballgame up in Baltimore that I already had tickets to, film or dinner with my then-girlfriend, an IU or Hurricane ballgame of some sort on TV that night that I "had" to watch, or... 
And now I rue some of those choices and wish that at least once, I'd listened to my friend's suggestion and been able to see the magic for myself in-person. 


Posthumous Fame 
A U.S. Singer Enjoys Success Abroad -- Five Years After Her Death 
By Dave Marash 
http://evacassidy.org/eva/nightline.htm


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


One thing is for sure and that is that NRK-TV could learn a few valuable lessons from SVT about how to broadcast a LIVE concert.


Maybe it was just the fickle weather since their LIVE coverage of the 22/7 Memorial in Oslo That I watched came out great, and maybe it's just my imagination, but compared to SVT's masterful coverage of Allsång på Skansen in Stockholm from every angle you can think of, this suffers in the comparison.


Granted, SVT DOES have more cameras to work with, including probably some robot cams, but when you look at the fluidity and variety of shots, as demonstarted well in this video segment of three very talented and popular performers from July 18th, it's like the final brick in the wall.



http://youtu.be/vnGFped5SEs


Above, Alexander Rybak playing Grieg's "I bergakungens sal" (In the hall of the mountain king), and then him being joined by Kalle Moraeus and Linda Lampenius for an acoustic version of "Stockholm i mitt hjärta," the prideful leitmotif that opens every one of the broadcasts during the summer. This is followed by Kalle singing "Underbart" (Wonderful) with the crowd and host Måns Zelmerlöw.


In the NRK segment at the top, honestly, it seems to me that there are too many crowd shots of people that look either distracted or bored, instead of some shots from behind the stage showing Yohanna and the crowd interacting and the crowd singing back to her.

Plus, while SVT always seems to anticipate situations correctly, above, NRK goes from a nice shot to one of a woman who seems to be nursing her baby.
I have to admit that I've NEVER seen that done at a concert, or seen a TV director thinking THAT'S the money shot you've got to get. 
Perhaps she looked like the director's wife, but still, very, very strange.


What is NOT strange though is uris1.
He never fails to deliver the goods with high-quality musical videos from Scandinavia and Europe!
Which is why I subscribe to his feed. http://www.youtube.com/user/uris1


No, that's not your imagination, his YouTube Channel really is framed by multiple shots of one of our favorites, Swedish singer Jill Johnson.


Jill's rocking version of "Jolene"


http://www.youtube.com/user/jilljohnsonmusic
http://www.jilljohnson.se/eng/

Christmas cheer straight from the heart of Scandinavia: Yohanna - "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day"; Jill Johnson -"O Holy Night", "Christmas With You", "Away In A Manger"

Yohanna - "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day" - 

TV3's "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009) in 

HD. Stockholm, Sweden. December 15, 2009

http://youtu.be/qVtoGYXsG4w

Jill Johnson - "O Holy Night" at Jullotta På Liseberg, Göteborg, Sweden. December 8, 2011

http://youtu.be/qOfbkzG0dK0

Jill Johnson - "Christmas With You" on TV4's Bingolotto, Stockholm, Sweden, December 23, 2011. 

http://youtu.be/ZbkKrEjDaNs

Because I've gotten behind in posting here about the terrific St. Lucia telecast on SVT, I'm going to go ahead and post one of the songs that Jill sang so well recently at Gothenburg Cathedral.
Teaser Alert: The Lucia telecast was sublime again!  

Jill Johnson - "Away In a Manger" from SVT's St. Lucia/Luciamorgon telecast of December 13, 2011 

http://youtu.be/hH-CYJRVqzs

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir a.k.a. Yohanna

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

Jill Johnson

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

http://www.youtube.com/user/uris1/

Damian at SwedishStereo, http://swedishstereo.blogspot.com/ has a great compilation of new and traditional Christmas songs from recent TV shows and performances at his post today, http://swedishstereo.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-weekend-on-swedish-tv.html
I encourage you to check it out.

Yohanna's trip to Finland in May: Thank You for the Music; Into Your Arms; Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

I'd been meaning to post this video of Yohanna rehearsing in Kuopio, Finland two months ago, capturing her singing both an ABBA favorite, Thank You for the Music, as well as Nick Cave's Into My Arms.

Though I've spoken of Yohanna more than a few times here in the past, I think even more than the previous videos of hers that I've shared here -the last new one being from a Christmas show in Stockholm that aired on TV3's "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009), where she sang a few songs, including a tremendous version of Don't Save It All For Christmas Day, see my January 1st post, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/wow-yohanna-sings-dont-save-it-all-for.html - you can really see her tremendous earnestness and sense of purpose.
Of, quite literally, wanting to get every note and chord just right

Over the weekend, while I was watching a Marlins-Padres ballgame on TV, a friend from overseas with a good memory emailed to remind me about a couple of posts I'd talked about in the abstract that had yet to materialize in this space yet.

You may well recall some of these as well, from prior posts of mine or thru emails, but as it happens, one concerned Yohanna's trip to Finland -Suomi.
I'd told her previously that my plan was to put this video and some comments up over the Memorial Day weekend, sometime between watching the Indy 500 and the anti-climatic NCAA Lacrosse Mens Championship game between Duke and Notre Dame, but that, well, she hadn't seen it yet.
Oops!!!

Having received that gentle reminder, I'm now sharing the video that Tiia Santavirta first uploaded for Chaos Tube at http://www.youtube.com/user/TiiaSantavirta

More photos of the trip are available at http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/ and more Yohanna videos can be seen at the TeamYohanna YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMYOHANNA

Heavenly! Yohanna sings "Butterflies & Elvis" Live in Reykjavik (HD); "The Winner Takes It All" at 2010 Icelandic Eurovision Finals

Yohanna a.k.a. Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Just received this HD version of Yohanna
performing "Butterflies and Elvis" with the
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in a sell-out
concert in Reykjavik in 2008.

I posted a regular version of this song she
co-wrote back in January on what would've
been Elvis' 75th birthday, for obvious reasons.
TCB, baby!


And here with one of the most popular of all
the ABBA songs, "The Winner Takes It All"
-a real vocal showpiece for Agnetha Fältskog
back in the day- performing Feb, 6th at
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010, where she
won last year with "Is It True," Jóhanna
Guðrún Jónsdóttir is PERFECTION!





For more on Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMYOHANNA
http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=J%C3%B3hanna+Gu%C3%B0r%C3%BAn+J%C3%B3nsd%C3%B3ttir

If you haven't already heard the news,
Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
will induct ABBA at the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame's 25th annual induction ceremony
on Monday, March 15th, at New York City's
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Wow! Yohanna sings "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day" on TV3's "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (HD)

To start the New Year off right, in a positive mood, I'm going to a new favorite of mine this
past year, with Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, a.k.a. Yohanna.

I wrote in this space many, many months ago, much as I had earlier -and justifiably so- for Molly Sandén and Esmée Denters: Hennes enorma talang kunde knappast vara
mer uppenbar!
Her enormous talent could hardly be more obvious!


I was more accurate about that than anything else I wrote here all year.


For your perusal, below, along with the teaser, from just two weeks ago on Dec. 15th in Stockholm, for TV3's Dec. 23rd and 25th broadcast of her amazing performance at their "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009), Yohanna sings "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day"




If you've heretofore neglected to take my sage advice to heart, do yourself a favor and start
the new year off right and take a listen to Yohanna's amazing voice for yourself at
http://www.youtube.com/user/yohannamusic
and
http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA
and
http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic


You can watch the entire video of the broadcast, by turns beautiful and thoughtful, and just under
59 minutes, at: http://www.tv3.se/play/224911

Once there, click Fullskärm for full screen and best viewing.
The audio is superb.


I should mention as a bonus delight that the second song played here is Yohanna singing
the song she sang in Moscow at Eurovision and captured second place with, Is It True.
I hardly need tell you at this point that she's amazing here, as per usual.
But she is.

I realize that many, if not most of you, won't know whom everyone singing and speaking
is, per se, but trust me, it's well-worth seeing for yourself, and shows what you can put on
television if you genuinely have the desire to put quality first.

It beats the hell out of any original holiday programming that you saw on American TV
networks over the past two weeks -as if there was any!

Don't hold your breath thinking that COMCAST is going to do anything half this quality if
they get the govt. okay to buy NBC-TV.

And besides, what's the point of my having a blog if I can't share with you here, something
that I personally find of great value and pleasure?



Gott Nytt År!

French Connection & Conundrum: Mélanie Doutey, Yohanna en français; Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Sur ce blog, je vous parlerais
simplement de ce que j'aime,
et ce que je n'aime pas.
Among other things, j'aime
actrice Mélanie Doutey!

She's so adorable et charmant in her
films, that it's almost as if she's channeling

Sophie Marceau's kid sister, whom you

recall as a bit of a pesky and tomboyish

pre-teen.

Now, years later, you see her again and
her self-evident talent, smarts, good looks
-and sense of humor- just knock you off
your feet!

And you are smitten!

I first became aware of her enormous talent

a few years ago after seeing Claude Chabrol's

La Fleur du Mal, and she just knocked

me out cold.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322289/

It was one of the very last films that I saw

in the D.C. area in 2003 before leaving to

come back here, and rather obviously,

given the foreign language theater situation

down here, the last French film I saw

in a theater avec le popcorn.

Read http://www.melaniedoutey.org/

to keep up with what this busy actress

is doing.

It's a really fabulous site that clearly

spends a lot more time and effort than

99% of the film websites you'll come

across.

And it's well-designed with lots of good

current photos and videos.

As a bonus here, to the woman who

emailed me Thursday, asking if I knew

of a good version of Yohanna's song

Is it True en français.
Oui, s'appelle Si tu Sais.

Like most people in Iceland
-only one of the world's MOST
literate places, after all, unlike,
well, here- Yohanna's multi-lingual
and has released at least a
half-dozen versions of the song in
different languages.

As some of you may or may not already

know, many kids in Iceland actually learn

Danish while they're in school, and as it

happens, she was actually born in

Copenhagen, albeit to Icelandic parents.

Also, speaking of the French language,

for a sign of the times last year at
Eurovision, see this perceptive piece from
Le Monde titled La chanson française in english

http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1049465

"La France était représentée cette année à l'Eurovision avec une chanson... en anglais.

Les enfants de la mondialisation renoncent à l'écriture en français."

Mon dieu!

La France, can't live avec it,

can't live without it!

-----------------------------------

Les relations franco-américaines

devraient continuer à s'améliorer.

Thanks to Obama.

ABBA Geniuses At It Again: Story Of A Heart, featuring Helen Sjöholm, Words & Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus

They're back!

Story Of A Heart, The Benny Anderssons Band (Orkester)

featuring Helen Sjöholm,

Words & Music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

Well, as they used to say so often on

Monty Python, "And now for something

completely different..."

For those of you who know me pretty well,

esp. those of you back in the D.C. area,

as well as those scattered coast-to-coast

around Hoosier Nation, you know better

than most that among many other things,

I am and have always been one of the

biggest ABBA fans around, from the very

beginning.

Given that, if you've already heard on

your own via a European newspaper

or magazine or the internet what

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

have been up to lately, you've probably

been wondering why it's taken me so

long to finally get around to posting

this catchy new song of theirs called

Story of a Heart, or in Swedish,

Sommaren Du Fick

I guess I should say especially since

the words and music are by Benny

Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, only

the creative musical geniuses behind

not only ABBA, but the international

hits Chess -with Tim Rice- and the

perpetual money-making machine

that is Mamma Mia!

http://www.abbasite.com/

http://www.chessinconcert.com/

http://www.mamma-mia.com/

Yes, especially considering I'm the

very same guy who not only knew

all the lyrics, backwards and forwards,

to every ABBA song ever officially

released in America or the U.K.

-and even some of the Swedish

ones- but who in high school,

even had in a corner of my bedroom

in North Miami Beach, the record

company's lifesize cardboard stand-up

POS promotion of the group for their

upbeat Voulez-Vous album.

That was thanks to my great job over

at Record Shack in North Miami Beach,

just east of the 163rd Street Shopping

Center on N.E. 15th Avenue, a block

south of the Zayre's, to go old-time

NMB geography on you.

The promotional item was literally too

large for the store to handle, so I asked

the promotional guy at Atlantic Records

if I could have it.

Since he knew my whole music story

and knew what was what from our prior

conversations, he gave me the okay.

I was so eager to get it out of the store,

lest some calamity befall it if I waited

a day, that when I got off that night

I pulled the standup cardboard peg

at the bottom which helped keep it up,

and walked the ten minutes to mi casa,

balancing it on my head, so that I didn't

have to fold it to get it into a car.

When my two younger sisters woke-up

the next morning and I showed them

what was standing there in the corner

of my bedroom, they were speechless.

I was so pleased with myself!

(You don't want to know what fate

befell the less-popular record promo

stuff we received there that the record

companies didn't want back, and that

nobody-but-nobody cared for.

It got abused in the worst and funniest

ways!)

By way of explanation, I should also

mention that my music teacher in

high school was one of the top studio

musicians in the country, and regularly

performed at Criteria Studios in nearby

North Miami for all the top groups of the

time when they came into town to lay

down some tracks, or, record an entire

album, and that even included ABBA.

In fact, he was part of this song recorded

at Criteria the month of my 18th birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUx4tLPMo50

(I'll talk about that and some other

Miami musical moments in future

posts, including Jon Marlowe of

the late Miami News.)

Now, getting back to this new song

by Benny and Björn, I first meant

to post on it a few weeks ago, when

I first heard it on the BBC, but I got

sidetracked and decided that I'd wait

'til I started seeing some better,

cleaner audio versions of it uploaded

to YouTube.

Over the past weekend, I listened to

the various versions there, noting

what was good and what was bad,

until I selected two that I think best

represent the 'sound' you're expecting

to hear when you know who's behind it.

The song is sung by the wonderfully

talented Helen Sjöholm, who was

the original Kristina in their hugely

successful musical version of

Kristina från Duvemåla, which was

the series of books written by Vihelm

Moberg chronicling the travails of

poor Swedish emigrants journeying

to pre-Civil War America, and their

attempts to fit-in with both their new

surroundings and their new country.

(The early '70's film versions of some

of the Moberg books, especially

The Emigrants,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067919/

and The New Land

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069035/

starring two film heavyweights,

film/stage legend Liv Ullman, and

the pro's pro, Max von Sydow

-who's actually Swedish- both of

whom are terrific, and well worth

watching if you can ever rent them,

or check them out of your local

library.)

The show will be playing in New York

in September at Carnegie Hall under

the title, Kristina the Musical

See http://kristinathemusical.com/

and http://www.duvemala.com/eng/

Sjöholm also played the key role of

Gabriella in the hugely popular film,

Så som i himmelen"

(As It Is in Heaven), and sang the

now-beloved eponymous song that

every Swedish girl and woman knows

the lyrics to by heart, Gabriella's

Song

Some of you might recall that until

I removed it 2-3 weeks ago, for most

of this year, I had among the handful

of videos of hers here on my blog,

Molly Sandén singing Gabriellas

Sång

What a tremendous voice and talent! From April 11, 2008 on Swedish TV's (SVT's) popular program,

"Så ska det låta," the Swedish sensation who marries Pop Music with a powerful Soprano voice,

Molly Sandén singing "Gabriellas Sång" (Gabriella's Song) from the 2004 motion picture,

"Så som i himmelen" (As It Is in Heaven)

Sadly, Molly didn't fare quite so well

at the Melodifestivalen finals, to get

into the Eurovision Song Contest

representing Sweden, as Malena

Ernman earned that right, but no

serious music lover who knows of

her, or who has ever heard her truly

amazing voice, has any doubt that

Molly is the Real Deal, a star in

the making.

Just as is equally clear with both

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir,

a.k.a. Yohanna, from Iceland,

http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic

or Esmée Denters of The Netherlands,

who Oprah loved so much she invited her

to Chicago..

http://www.youtube.com/esmeedenters

Esmée Denters

All three singers clearly have talent to

spare and unlimited futures.

Time to jump on the bandwagon

while you can!

Below I have the two versions of

Story Of A Heart for you, in both

Engelska and Svenka, though for

me, personally, the Swedish version

rocks just a little bit stronger, as the

production sounds slightly clearer

than the version in English.

But maybe that's just me -be your

own judge.

First, in English:

------------

Here's the Swedish version:

And a reminder, the older videos, photos

and materials that I've used here in the

are now at my mirror storage blog site:

http://hallandale-beach-blog.blogspot.com/