ABBA: Knight time for Sweden's pop royalty

While ABBA has found much to celebrate this week, various attendees of Madonna's concerts have been left outraged for some rather bizarre reasons. IA's music maestro, David Kowalski, brings you the latest.

IN THE NEWS this week are reports that the members of ABBA, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog have been the first Swedes to be awarded the Royal Order of Vasa, or a Swedish Knighthood by another name, in almost 50 years. They were recognised by King Carl XIV Gustaf for outstanding services to Swedish and International Music.

For some reason, in 1975 the Swedish aristocracy stopped awarding the prize to native Swedes but kept awarding it to foreigners. This marks the first award to Swedish recipients in nearly five decades.

Despite the fact that ABBA has not performed on a stage since 1982, it still has huge appeal, with its virtual “ABBAtar” show in London being enormously successful, and its stage musical and film, Mamma Mia!, still doing the rounds in both professional and amateur productions all over the world.

ABBA's music is still highly recognisable and in high demand, 50 years after winning the Eurovision Song Contest. This is a major honour for the band and well deserved.

Next up, I hope they award Per Gessle of Roxette the same award, with a posthumous one for his partner in crime, the late Marie Frederiksson.

Fans suing Madonna for “porn without warning”

Madonna has just wrapped up a very successful season of touring with her Celebration tour, celebrating 40 years in the industry, playing to over 1.1 million people on the tour and then to 1.6 million people at a free concert at Copacabana Beach in Brazil.

It wasn’t without its challenges, however. Some technical faults were blamed for some late starts to the shows at some venues, with the "Material Girl" hitting the stage up to two hours late. It also seems some people seem to think that this was grounds for a lawsuit. One suit claims distress because of being unable to get home after the late start (and subsequent late finish) of the show.

Fair enough, I guess, but grounds for a lawsuit? Surely, not.

The latest lawsuit, however, is the one that has gathered news coverage for taking the litigant by surprise with “pornography without warning”, among about half a dozen other complaints including the venue being too hot.

The question needs to be asked: if you know anything about Madonna and her music at all, this should not surprise you. She has always had a highly charged sexual element to her work and she has never been subtle about it.

This lawsuit has about a snowball’s chance in hell of getting past the first hurdle of the court system, however, it would seem in an age where writs fly around like confetti that there is no complaint that can’t be satisfied with a lawsuit.

Hazlett — The First Train Home

Originally hailing from Brisbane but now based in Stockholm, indie folk guitarist and songwriter Hazlett has dropped a new track for an upcoming EP entitled ‘The First Train Home’. It is less of a heartbreak song, but more of a forensic dissection of the pain that comes after a heartbreak.

It is both world-weary and yet hopeful, but the music makes the writer’s experience feel “lived in”. It's quite a striking piece of music.

Writing on his website, Hazlett describes his approach to life and music:

‘I am the way I am and at the end of the day people are going to like what I do or they are going to hate it. Either way this thing goes, at least it’s going to be honest and from the heart.’

That’s the best way to approach the creation of art — be yourself and produce an authentic expression of your innermost feelings. I rate it.

A Crowded House, with added gravity…

There’s a new Crowded House LP hitting the stores this week, entitled Gravity Stairs. The band’s founding member, Neil Finn, is back on lead vocals, with his long-serving bass-playing sideperson, Nick Seymour.

This new record is a Finn family affair, with Neil’s wife Sharon doing the artwork and putting down some vocals, as well as sons Elroy and Liam now fully fledged members on drums and guitars respectively. There’s also an appearance by Liam and Elroy’s uncle, Tim Finn, doing some writing and vocals.

The record is full of Neil's characteristic pop songwriting skills, as you’d expect. There contains a lot of Neil’s studied melancholy throughout, but I can’t help feeling like this record is lacking a bit of the off-the-wall humour and energy of the Paul Hester years that always provided a pleasant offset to the deep introspection.

Reconciliation week

It’s First Nations Reconciliation Week.

This year the theme is ‘Now More Than Ever’ and the official website tells us:

'[The theme] is a reminder to all of us that no matter what, the fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will – and must – continue.’

Far be it from me to pontificate on this issue. Instead, I would like to present this incredible piece of music created for the ABC Deadly Hearts project a few years ago.

This performance is from Gawurra, a Yolgnu man from North East Arnhem Land. He has a voice that is truly beautiful, with a heavenly quality that has to be heard to be believed. Here, he takes on the Cold Chisel classic, ‘When The War is Over’.

The first couple of verses are sung in his traditional Gupapuyngu language, which is one of four sub-languages of the Dhuwal language, spoken by the people of the Arnhem Land region. The performance is stunning and the perfect way to bring this week’s column to a close.

Until next time…

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK'S SPECIALLY CURATED PLAYLIST BELOW:

David Kowalski is a writer, musician, educator, sound engineer and podcaster. His podcasts 'The Sound and the Fury Podcast' and 'Audio Cumulus' can be heard exclusively here. You can follow David on Twitter @sound_fury_pod.