National Day of Sweden
National Day of Sweden is a national holiday observed in Sweden on 6 June every year. Prior to 1983, the day was celebrated as the Swedish Flag Day. At that time, the day was renamed the Swedish national day by the Riksdag; the tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honour of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden. Some question the validity of this as a national holiday, as it was not observed as a holiday until decades later; however this event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does, for example, Norway's Syttende Mai. In 2005 it became an official Swedish public holiday; this change led to fewer days off from work as 6 June will periodically fall on the weekend, unlike Whit Monday, always celebrated on a Monday.
This has in turn led to complaints from some Swedish unions. 1523 – Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union. 1654 – Charles X succeeds his cousin Christina after her abdication. 1809 – Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates. 1857 – Sophia of Nassau marries the future Oscar II. 1974 – A new Instrument of Government is promulgated, first adopted by the Swedish parliament on 6 June 1973. The events of 1523 and 1809 are regarded as the most important. Media related to National Day of Sweden at Wikimedia Commons Du gamla, Du fria, national anthem of Sweden. Three Crowns, national emblem of Sweden Flag of Sweden Mother Svea Swedish War of Liberation snip.ly/jts8yd
Dansband
Dansband, or danseband in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish term for a band that plays dansbandsmusik. Dansbandsmusik is danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are included in this category; the music is inspired by swing, country and rock. The main influence for rock-oriented bands is the rock music of the 1960s; the terms dansband and dansbandsmusik were coined around 1970, when Swedish popular music developed a signature style. The genre developed in Sweden, but has spread to neighbouring countries Norway and the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland; when the music came to Norway it was first called "svensktoppar". A dansband travels by bus, performing several times every week year-round, outdoors in the summertime and indoors in the wintertime. Performances may be held on a boat. Several dansbands are named after their lead singer, followed by "orkester"; the tradition origins from the old dance orchestras named after their Kapellmeister. The possessive suffix "s" is replaced by "z" in dansband names.
Some dansbands are named after earlier members. The main audience for dansband music is middle-aged adults; the music is performed live by the bands at venues where the main interest of the audience is dancing, rather than watching the performance on stage. However, many dansbands record albums and singles. Dansband lyrics are brightly characterized, are about love and peace. Other lyrics are about dancing; some of the song texts are inspired by national romanticism, with lyrics about things such as old memories from the past, nature, or native districts. Romantic dansband lyrics are reminiscent of pop, where the singer declares his or her love for the person being sung to, but are more focused on growing old together and living together until one of them dies; the Norwegian dansband Ole Ivars has much with humor, written lyrics that are more about society than traditional dansband lyrics. The lyrics are in Swedish in Sweden, in Norwegian in Norway. In the 1990s, special "dansband songwriters" broke through, among them Lasse Holm, Gert Lengstrand and Torgny Söderberg.
For many years, the same person wrote songs for most bands, but soon dansband musicians became more involved in songwriting. Before dansband music became popular, many jazz orchestras played a "schlager-inspired" dance music. Many people believe that the development of the dansbands during the 1950s and 1960s depended on the decreasing interest for jazz, it being replaced by pop and rock as the most popular music among young people. Many Swedish dansbands of the time were known as pop groups during the 1960s, a gestation period shared with the showband scene in Ireland, which had many similarities with its Nordic counterpart in the influences referenced in creating a homegrown music scene such as jazz, American & British pop music and country; the golden era of dansband music was the 1970s, with bands like Thorleifs, Flamingokvintetten, Ingmar Nordströms, Wizex and Matz Bladhs. There were at most around 800 full-time working dansbands in Sweden; the term "dansband" was coined in Sweden in 1976, to sound more modern and tougher than the earlier "dansorkester", but many of the bands have begun to call themselves "live bands".
In 1977, the song "Beatles", performed by Swedish dansband Forbes, won the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1977 and finished 18th in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977. For taxation reasons, it was possible to deduct "fantasy" outfits in the declaration of income; the reasoning behind the phrasing was that it shouldn't be possible to wear the same outfit in your daily life. This led to many bands wearing extravagant matched outfits in their stage performances. By 1976-1977 pop groups like ABBA, The Bee Gees and Boney M. came to dominate dance floors and record charts with disco. Some dansbands, like Sten & Stanley, "became turncoats", performing their own disco covers, followed the disco fashion. However, most of these changes failed and "Dansband death" became a common expression. Several dansbands disbanded and soon only the full-time bands remained, highlighted by Matz Bladhs and Vikingarna. Performances took place on boats and at town hotels, with male members appearing in a suit, which for many years would become a dansband stereotype.
In 1987, the song "Fyra Bugg & en Coca Cola", performed by Swedish dansband singer Lotta Engberg, won the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1987 and finished 12th in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lotta Engberg gained popularity in the Nordic region with a sound including several catchy and joyful melodies as the lead singer in Lotta & Anders Engbergs Orkester. In the late 1980s, the decline of discothèques once again gave dansbands more space, they became more visible in the media. Sveriges Radio began broadcasting of "I afton dans" from several dancing places, cafe programmes in Sveriges Television invited dansbands as house bands; the early 1990s saw a new period of popularity for Sven-Ingvars. In 1993, the song "Eloise", performed by Swedish dansband Arvingarna, won the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1993 and finished 7th in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. Arvingarna had a more pop and rock-oriented dansband sound, gained popularity among many teenagers. In 1999, Wizex singer Charlotte Nilsson performed the song "Tusen och en natt", with lyrics in English known as "T
Music of Sweden
The Music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, waltz and mazurka. The accordion, clarinet and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments; the instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish traditional music. In the 1960s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture. Many joined Spelmanslag and performed on mainstream radio and TV, they focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the 1990s. By 1970, the "dansband" culture began. Swedish music has included more modern and pop influences. On a per capita basis, Sweden is one of the world's most successful exporters of popular music, its most famous export is ABBA, a worldwide musical phenomenon. Sweden has historically dominated the Scandinavian music scene, with Danes and Norwegians listening to music in Swedish rather than the other way around.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Scandinavian death metal bands became popular with the international heavy metal community. Sweden's most famous classic troubadour was Carl Michael Bellman. Examples include Evert Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Åkerström, Povel Ramel. Swedish folk songs are dominated by ballads and kulning. Ballad stories descend from skillingtryck printed songs from the 19th century. Modern bands like Folk och Rackare and Garmarna incorporated folk songs into their repertoire; the fiddle is the most characteristic and original instrument of the Swedish folk tradition. It had arrived by the 17th century, became widespread until 19th century religious fundamentalism preached that most forms of music were sinful and ungodly. Despite the oppression, several fiddlers achieved a reputation for their virtuosity, including Jämtland's Lapp-Nils, Bingsjö's Pekkos Per and Malung's Lejsme-Per Larsson. None of these musicians were recorded. Other early fiddlers of the 20th century included Päkkos Gustaf.
There is an extensive traditional repertoire of fiddle tunes, in forms such as the 3/4 polska and the 4/4 gånglåt. One type fiddle peculiar to Sweden is the låtfiol, a fiddle with two sympathetic strings, similar to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle The nyckelharpa is similar to both a fiddle and a hurdy-gurdy, is known from Sweden since at least 1350, when it was carved on a gate in a church in Gotland. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the nyckelharpa was known throughout Sweden, Denmark and in the province of Uppland; the latter has long been a stronghold for nyckelharpa music, including through the 60s revival, which drew on musicians like Byss-Calle from Älvkarleby. The instrument played at this time was not the same as that used today. In spite of these innovations, the nyckelharpa's popularity declined until the 1960s roots revival; the nyckelharpa was a prominent part of several revival groups in the century Väsen and Hedningarna. The Swedish bagpipes has been part of a long-running folk tradition, passed down orally until the death of Gudmunds Nils Larsson in 1949.
Revivalists such as Per Gudmundson added a tuning slide and revitalized the instrument. Accordions and harmonicas were an integral part of Swedish folk music from the beginning of the 20th century, when they contributed to the gammeldans genre; the most famous Swedish accordionist is undoubtedly Kalle Jularbo, famous throughout the early 20th century. The accordion fell out of favour within the roots revival, did not return until the end of the 1970s. In the 1960s, Swedish jazz musicians like Jan Johansson used folk influences in their work, resulting in an early 1970s series of music festivals in Stockholm; the Swedish Music Movement reflected a popular trend towards jazz- and rock-oriented folk music, featuring many performers who brought a new vitality to Swedish folk. The father of Swedish classical music is claimed to be Johan Helmich Roman, his most famous work is the Drottningholm Music. Another influential composer is Carl Michael Bellman, whose patron was the king Gustav III of Sweden.
Bellmans' songs are about drinking and every-day love troubles. He was a virtuoso improviser, his songs, of which "Fredmans sånger" are the best-known, are performed in Europe in different translations. Joseph Martin Kraus had a life span similar to that of Mozart, who lived between 1756 and 1792. Kraus was an innovative composer, with a music filled with bold contrasts, his harmonic language was personal, although his ability to develop motives never reached the level of the viennese composers such as Mozart or Haydn. In the early romantic era, Franz Berwald was the most prominent of the Swedish composers, his music was ignored during his lifetime, he made his living as an orthopedic surgeon. He has gained most of his recognition after his death, composers such as Atterberg and Wilhelm Stenhammar worked hard to raise the interest in Berwalds' music. Wilhelm Stenhammar was one of the national romantic composers, he owned a reputation as one of the finest pianist of his time. He studied some years in Berlin, where he came in contact with the German high romanticism, such as Bruckner and Wagner, which influenced him a lot when he wrote his two symphonies.
He wrote six string qua
Arvika Festival
Arvika Festival was an annual music festival held in Arvika, Sweden. It took place during three days in the middle of July, from Thursday to Saturday, with camping available from the beginning of the week; the non-profit association "Galaxen" arranged the festival. Since the nineties, the festival had built up a tradition of booking many big synth bands; this was an unintended side effect: for the first festival in 1992 the arrangers had booked Cat Rapes Dog, Pouppée Fabrikk and S. P. O. C. K. and about 50% of the audience that showed up was mostly interested in these bands since no other festival booked many synth acts. However, along with the synth bands and nationally famous rock and pop acts visit the festival every year, attracting people not only interested in synth music. In 2006, somewhere between 15000 and 16000 people visited the festival, breaking a new record in ticket sales, confirming the festival's spot as one of the big ones in Sweden. In 2009 the total number of tickets sold were 22500 including all one-day passes.
Some of the most famous bands that have visited the festival include: Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie Bloc Party, Infected Mushroom Franz Ferdinand New Order Kraftwerk Björk, HIM Soft Cell, The Cure, Primal Scream, Muse The Sisters Of Mercy, Gary Numan, Placebo Motörhead The Prodigy Tool, Karl Bartos as Elektric Music Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Krupps In 2010 the lineup contained bands such as Babyshambles and Regina Spektor. Photos from Arvika Festival 2004
National anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are hymns in style; the countries of Latin America, Central Asia, Europe tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them. A national anthem is most in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Most states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance: The "Swiss Psalm", the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages; the national anthem of Canada, "O Canada", has official lyrics in both English and French which are not translations of each other, is sung with a mixture of stanzas, representing the country's bilingual nature.
The song itself was written in French. "The Soldier's Song", the national anthem of Ireland, was written and adopted in English, but an Irish translation, although never formally adopted, is nowadays always sung instead. The current South African national anthem is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem, it was created by combining two different songs together and modifying the lyrics and adding new ones. One of the two official national anthems of New Zealand, "God Defend New Zealand", is now sung with the first verse in Māori and the second in English; the tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other. "God Bless Fiji" has lyrics in Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is sung, it is the English version, performed at international sporting events. Although Singapore has four official languages, with English being the current lingua franca, the national anthem, "Majulah Singapura" is in Malay and by law can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite the fact that Malay is a minority language in Singapore.
This is because Part XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore declares, “the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script ” There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their national anthems. One of these is the national anthem of Spain. Although it had lyrics those lyrics were discontinued after governmental changes in the early 1980s after Francisco Franco's dictactorship. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held. Other national anthems with no words include "Inno Nazionale della Repubblica", the national anthem of San Marino, that of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that of Kosovo, entitled "Europe"; the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana", the official lyrics are in the Devnagari. The lyrics were adopted from a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore. Despite the most common language in Wales being English, the Welsh regional anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is sung in the Welsh language; the national anthem of Finland, was first written in Swedish and only translated to Finnish.
It is nowadays sung in both languages as there is a Swedish speaking minority of about 6% in the country. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, but some originated much earlier; the presumed oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the "Wilhelmus". It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt and its current melody variant was composed shortly before 1626, it was a popular orangist march during the 17th century but it did not become the official Dutch national anthem until 1932. The Japanese national anthem, "Kimigayo", has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, yet it was not set to music until 1880; the Philippine national anthem "Lupang Hinirang" was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire. The Spanish poem "Filipinas" was written the following year to serve as the anthem's lyrics. "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom and the royal anthem reserved for use in the presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title "God Save the King".
It is not the national anthem of the UK, though it became such through custom and usage. Spain's national anthem, the "Marcha Real", written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in 1780. Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – "Rise up, Serbia!" – in 1804."Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu", the national anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifical
Verner von Heidenstam
Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam was a Swedish poet and laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1916. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1912, his poems and prose work are filled with a great joy of life, sometimes imbued with a love of Swedish history and scenery its physical aspects. He was born in Örebro County on 6 July 1859 to a noble family, he soon left because of ill health. He traveled extensively in Europe and the orient, he was at once greeted as a poet of promise on the publication of his first collection of poems, Vallfart och vandringsår. It is a collection of poems inspired by his experiences in the orient and marks an abandonment of naturalism, dominant in Swedish literature, his love for beauty is shown by the long narrative poem Hans Alienus. Dikter and Karolinerna, a series of historical portraits of King Charles XII of Sweden and his cavaliers, shows a strong nationalistic passion. English translations of short stories from Karolinerna can be found in the American-Scandinavian Review, May 1914, November 1915, July 1916.
The two volumes of Folkunga Trädet are the inspired, epic story of a clan of Swede chieftains in the Middle Ages. In 1910 a controversy was waged in Swedish newspapers between a number of Swedish literary men on the topic of the proletarian “degradation” of literature, the protagonists of the two opposing camps being August Strindberg and Heidenstam. Professors Lidforss and Böök took part. Heidenstam's chief contribution was the pamphlet, directed chiefly against Strindberg, "Proletärfilosofiens upplösning och fall". Heidenstam's poetical collection Nya Dikter, published in 1915, deals with philosophical themes concerning the elevation of man to a better humanity from solitude, he died at his home Övralid on 20 May 1940. Från Col di Tenda till Blocksberg, pictures of travel Vallfart och vandringsår Renässans Endymion Hans Alienus Dikter Karolinerna Sankt Göran och draken Klassizität und Germanismus Heliga Birgittas pilgrimsfärd Ett folk Skogen susar Folkungaträdet Svenskarna och deras hövdingar Nya Dikter.
Works in English translation A King and his Campaigners The Soothsayer Sweden's Laureate. Selected Poems of Verner Von Heidenstam - The Birth of God The Charles Men - The Swedes and their Chieftains - The Tree of the Folkungs List of Swedish language writers List of Swedish language poets Oscar Levertin Jacob Wittmer Hartmann. "Heidenstam, Verner von". In Rines, George Edwin. Encyclopedia Americana. Barton, Hildor Arnold. Sweden and Visions of Norway: Politics and Culture, 1814-1905. SIU Press. Larsson, Hans Emil. "Swedish Literature," The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 8, pp. 313–329. Verner von Heidenstam at Projekt Runeberg Works by Verner von Heidenstam at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Verner von Heidenstam at Internet Archive Works by Verner von Heidenstam at Swedish Literature Bank Newspaper clippings about Verner von Heidenstam in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics
Flag of Sweden
The flag of Sweden consists of a yellow or gold Nordic Cross on a field of blue. The Nordic Cross design traditionally represents Christianity; the design and colors of the Swedish flag are believed to have been inspired by the present coat of arms of Sweden of 1442, blue divided quarterly by a cross pattée of gold, modeled on the Danish flag. Blue and yellow have been used as Swedish colours at least since King Magnus III's royal coat of arms of 1275; the dimensions of the Swedish flag are 4:2:4 vertically. The dimensions of the Swedish flag with a triple-tail are 4:2:4 vertically; the colors of the flag are established through the Natural Color System to be NCS 0580-Y10R for the shade of yellow, NCS 4055-R95B for the shade of blue. They are specified to Pantone PMS 301 C/U for blue and PMS 116 or PMS 109 U for yellow; the square-cut Swedish state flag is identical to the civil ensign. The Swedish law does not regulate the design of the Swedish pennant, but it is recommended that its color scheme should correspond with that of the flag.
The triple-tailed flag is used as a military ensign. Its overall ratio, including the tails, is 1:2; the flag is used as the Swedish naval jack. The jacks are smaller than the ensigns; the Swedish swallowtail flag was the King's personal emblem, or the emblem representing a command conferred by the King. It was at first two-pointed, but by the mid-17th century, the distinctive swallowtail with tongue appeared; the flag is flown by the defence ministry, while civil ministries fly square flags. The Swedish royal flag is still identical to the triple-tailed military flag, but includes in its center a white field with the greater or the lesser coat of arms with the Order of the Seraphim, which has the King of Sweden as its Grand Master; the King decides about the specific use of the royal flag. According to early modern legend, the 12th-century King Eric IX saw a golden cross in the sky as he landed in Finland during the First Swedish Crusade in 1157. Seeing this as a sign from God he adopted the golden cross against a blue background as his banner.
It has been suggested that the Swedish origin legend is chosen to counter a parallel origin story for the Danish flag recorded in the 16th century. According to this theory, the Swedish flag was created during the reign of King Charles VIII, who introduced the coat of arms of Sweden in 1442; the national coat of arms is a combination of King Albert's coat of arms of 1364 and King Magnus III's coat of arms of 1275, is blue divided quarterly by a golden cross pattée. Other historians claim that the Swedish flag was blue with a white cross before 1420, became blue with a golden cross only during the early reign King Gustav I, who deposed King Christian II in 1521; the exact age of the Swedish flag is not known, but the oldest recorded pictures of a blue cloth with a yellow cross date from the early 16th century, during the reign of King Gustav I. The first legal description of the flag was made in a royal warrant of 19 April 1562 as "yellow in a cross fashioned on blue"; as stipulated in a royal warrant of 1569, the yellow cross was always to be borne on Swedish battle standards and banners.
Prior to this, a similar flag appeared in the coat of arms of King John III's duchy, today Southwest Finland. The same coat of arms is still used by the province. A royal warrant of 6 November 1663, regulated the use of the triple-tailed flag, to be used only as a state flag and military ensign. According to the same royal warrant, merchant ships were only allowed to fly square-cut city flags in their respective provincial colours. In practice, the merchant fleet began using a square-cut civil ensign of the state flag. In a government instruction of ship building of 1730, this civil ensign should have the same proportions and colors as the state flag, with the notable difference of being square-cut. In 1756, the use of pennants by private ships was prohibited. A royal warrant of 18 August 1761, stipulated that an all blue triple-tailed flag to be used by the archipelago fleet, a branch of the army tasked with defending the archipelago along the Swedish coastlines; the commander of the fleet had the right to order the use of the ordinary war ensign instead of the blue ensign when, "appropriate".
The blue flag was used until 1813. On 6 June 1815, a common military ensign was introduced for the two united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway; this flag was identical to the former triple-tailed military ensign of Sweden, with a white saltire on red to be included in the canton. Proposed by the Norwegian Prime Minister and unionist Peder Anker, the white saltire on a red background was supposed to symbolise Norway, as the country had been united with Denmark and continued to use the same flag as an independent country, but with the national arms in the canton. Norwegian ships continued to use the Danish civil ensign distinguished with the national arms in the canton north of Cape Finisterre, but had to fly the Swedish civil ensign in the Mediterranean to be protected from pirate attacks. A common civil ensign for both countries was introduced in 1818, on the pattern of the naval ensign, but square-cut; this flag was optional for Swedish vessels, but compulsory for Norwegian ones in distant waters.
In 1821, Norway adopted a new national civil ensign, identical to the present flag of Norway. Following the adoption of a separate Norwegian flag, a royal regulation of 17 July 1821, stipul
Sweden
