El grupo colombiano DMK, formado por Dicken Shrader y sus hijos Milah y Korben de 10 y 7 años respectivamente, que han triunfado en YouTube con versiones de Depeche Mode, aquí os dejamos con una de nuestras canciones favoritas de los británicos "ENJOY THE SILENCE" ("Disfruta el silencio"), en su versión. ¡Estupendos! Os dejamos un enlace a más versiones suyas.
The Colombian band DMK, formed by Dirken Shrader and his children Milah and Korben, 10 and 7 years old, respectively, have triumphed on YouTube with the cover versions of Depeche Mode, here we post one of our favourite songs from the British band "ENJOY THE SILENCE" in their version. Wonderful! Also including a link to other of their versions.
Os traemos a Sharon Corr interpretando en vivo la versión del tema de Fleetwood Mac que había versionado con sus hermanos en la banda, pero ahora sola y en acústico, grabado en la terraza de un hotel en Brasil. Es Sharon Corr cantando "DREAMS" ("Sueños").
We're bringing you Sharon Corr singing live the cover of a Fleetwood Mac's song, which she had already covered in the band with her siblings, but now solo and in accoustic, recorded at the balcony of a hotel in Brazil. It's Sharon Corr singing "DREAMS".
Se acerca ya el nuevo álbum de Efecto Mariposa "COMIENZO". Ayer dieron a conocer la foto que ilustra hoy nuestra entrada. Y en 5 días conoceremos el primer single, según anuncia en su nueva página web: efecto-mariposa.com.
"COMIENZO", Efecto Mariposa's new album is approaching. Yesterday they showed the photo which is shown on our post today. And in 5 days' time, we'll know their first single, as is announced in their new website: efecto-mariposa.com,
Terminamos el mes del 40 aniversario recopilando documentales sobre ABBA. Hoy un documental de 2003 de la TV australiana "ABBA's biggest secrets" ("Los más grandes secretos de ABBA.
We finish the month of the 40th anniversary recollecting documentaries about ABBA. Today a 2003 Australian documentary "ABBA's biggest secrets".
Chrissie Hynde, la que fuera la voz y líder de los Pretenders, va sola, edita su primer álbum en solitario que saldrá el próximo 9 de junio. El disco se llama "STOCKHOLM" y es que fue grabado allí, producido por Björn Yttiling. Estrenamos el video.
Chrissie comenta a M80 Radio:
"Quería hacer un disco de power pop que se pudiera bailar – Abba meets John Lennon". "Creo que la vida es algo serio, y así deberías tomártela; sin embargo, en el rock n roll o te diviertes o es mejor que te dediques a otra cosa... ahora gran parte del rock se ha convertido en lo que yo llamo Glory Rock, en el que se incluyen los valores familiares. Pero en el rock todo surge de la irreverencia".
Chrissie Hynde, once vocalist and leader of the Pretenders goes solo, she releases her first solo album on 9th, June. The record's title is "STOCKHOLM" because it was recorded there and produced by Björn Yttiling. We premiere the video.
Chrissie has commented to M80 Radio:
"I wanted to do a power pop record which you could dance to– Abba meets John Lennon". "I think life is something serious and you should take it that way; nevertheless, in rock n roll you either have fun or you'd better do something else... now most part of rock has become what I call Glory Rock, where family values are included. But in rock all appears from irreverance."
En el día en que se certifica como película española más vista de la historia, nos paramos con "Ocho apellido vascos" y el single de su banda sonora "NO TE MARCHES JAMÁS" interpretada por Leire, solista de la Oreja de Van Gogh, y David de María, otra chica vasca y chico andaluz como en la peli.
On the day it has been certified as the box office success in the whole history of Spanish cinema, we make a stop with "Ocho apellidos vascos" ("Eight Basque surnames") and the single from its original soundtrack "NO TE MARCHES JAMÁS" ("Never go away") performed by Leire, vocalist of the Oreja de Van Gogh, and David de María, another Basque girl and Andalusian boy like in the film.
Video "NO TE MARCHES JAMÁS", Leire & David de María:
Y terminamos estos conciertos festivos recordando la interpretación de "DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW?" & "HOLE IN YOUR SOUL" ("¿Lo sabe tu madre?" y "Agujero en tu alma") de ABBA en los conciertos de Wembley de 1979. Mientras esperamos por ese álbum en vivo.
Ane we finish these festive concerts remembering the performance of "DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW?" & "HOLE IN YOUR SOUL" by Abba at the Wembley concerts in 1979. While we wait for that live album.
Video "DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW'" & "HOLE IN YOUR SOUL", Abba @ Wembley 1979:
Y recuperamos hoy las actuaciónes y entrevistas de Abba en el programa de TVE "Aplauso", a lo largo de la historia del programa. And today we're checking on Abba's performances and interviews on the TVE programme "Aplauso", throughout the story of this programme.
Recuperamos la actuación de Abba en el programa de TVE "300 Millones", que se emitía para toda hispanoamérica en 1979, interpretando "VOULEZ-VOUS", en una actuación muy divertida y sexy de las chicas y más relajadas en "CHIQUITITA" en español. Checking on Abba's performance on the TVE programme "300 Millones", which was broadcasted for all Latin America in 1979. They are singing "VOULEZ-VOUS" with the girls' very funny and sexy performance and a much more relaxed Spanish version of "CHIQUITITA".
Hoy hemos conocido la noticia de la muerte de Antonio Morales, conocido artísticamente como Junior, que formó parte de la música española de los 60 y 70 en grupos como los Pekenikes, los Brincos (los Beatles españoles) y posteriormente en el dúo Juan y Junior, con Juan Pardo. Hoy le rendimos homenaje a él y a su esposa Rocío Dúrcal, escuchándoles a dúo cantar "ANDURIÑA".
Today we've known the news of the death of Antonio Morales, artistically known as Junior, who took part in Spanish music of the 60s and 70s in thebands Pekenikes, Brincos (the Spanish Beatles) and later in the duo Juan y Junior, together with Juan Pardo. Today we pay tribute to him and his wife, listening them both sing "ANDURIÑA"
Benny y Björn reaparecieron juntos sobre el escenario de la Royal Opera House de Covent Garden en Londres para entregar el último premio de los Olivier Awards que premian el teatro y los musicales de Londres, también hubo un tributo al 15º aniversario del estreno de "Mamma Mia!" en el West End londinense asi como el 40º aniversario del triunfo eurovisivo de ABBA. Aquí recogemos el evento.
Benny & Björn reappeared together on the stage of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London to give a prize at the Olivier Awards which award theatre and musical plays in London. There was also a tribute to "Mamma Mia!" 15th anniversary from premiere at London's West End and also ABBA's 40th anniversary of Eurovisin win. Here we cover the event.
Video Benny & Björn+Mamma Mia cast @ Olivier Awards 2014:
Dentro de su gira londinense para celebrar el 40 aniversario de "WATERLOO", Frida y Björn han concedido muchas entrevistas a la TV (BBC, ITV...) y a la prensa. Hoy traemos la entrevista al periódico The Guardian y a DigitalSpy y artículos de Mail OnLine y Xposé en inglés, en donde no niegan la posibilidad de grabar alguna canción...
During ther London tour to celebrate "WATERLOO" 40th anniversary, Frida and Björn have given many interview to TVs (BBC, ITV...) and to the press. Today here's the interview to the newspaper The Guardian and DigitalSpy and articles from Mail OnLine and Xposé, where they don't deny the possibility of recording new songs...
In 1974 Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest. Forty years on, they are one of the best-loved and most respected bands in pop history. Björn Ulvaeus and Frida Lyngstad talk about sadness, jealousy and why they don't rule out recording together again
Björn Ulvaeus and Frida Lyngstad are sitting in a London hotel bar remembering the decadent 70s – that era of drugs and debauchery during which their band Abba hit astronomical heights of fame.
"And the strange thing is," says Björn, turning to his fellow Abba mate, "can you remember ever being approached by someone who came up to us and said," – his impression of a shady drug dealer at this point is so comically bad that you can only imagine the story he's telling is true – "'Hey look, I've got some really nice drugs here?'"
"Oh no!" shrieks Frida. "Never!"
"Never!" Björn bursts out laughing: "Never! Not even on tour! It's amazing isn't it?"
It's pretty unusual!
Frida: "Well we were at home a lot so they would have had to come to our houses and knock on our doors to offer us drugs!"
"Squeaky clean!" says Björn, still laughing. "But it's all true."
Meeting Abba is a lot like listening to Abba. They're instantly likable, lots of fun and entirely unconcerned with appearing cool. But, like their music, there's a lot more to explore when you scratch the surface. They don't tend to hang around, either: schedules are tight when you've sold almost 400m records, and even the minute-long breaks between various TV and radio interviews involve Björn autographing copies of the new book, with the swift, one-handed flourish of a man who's had to sign an awful lot of things.
And where to even begin with Abba's story? They were a band comprised of four couples – two in the married sense (Björn and Agnetha Fältskog; Frida and Benny Andersson), and two more if you include the unique vocal pairing of the women and the extraordinary songwriting partnership of the men. They had their Waterloo moment at Eurovision in 1974 before defying their destiny as one-hit wonders with a series of records that became hits across the globe – you imagine even those people camped out in obscure patches of rainforest still believing they were fighting the second world war owned a copy of Arrival.
As Frida says at one point: "The music scene changed with us – something like Abba didn't exist before; pop like that was not invented yet." Such was Abba's pop prowess that even the divorce of both couples couldn't derail them, at least not until after they'd written some of their best material, including The Winner Takes It All – which boldly, some say perversely, documented said divorce – and their final album, 1981's The Visitors, which tackled subjects as eclectic as cold war paranoia (the title track) and the pain of parenthood (Slipping Through My Fingers).
Global domination was never supposed to be in the script for a band who grew up absorbing influences completely out of sync with rock'n'roll trends: Swedish accordion music, Italian ballads, German schlager. For a while after Waterloo it looked like it might not be – their Phil Spector-influenced single Ring Ring was pretty much ignored in the UK.
"If you look at the singles we released straight after Waterloo, we were trying to be more like the Sweet, a semi-glam rock group," says Björn. "Which was stupid because we were always a pop group."
When Abba hit their stride, though – SOS, Mamma Mia, Fernando – they became unstoppable. It's well known that when Benny played Frida the backing track for Dancing Queen, to this day one of the most perfect pop songs ever written, she burst into tears: "And that was before me and Agnetha had even sung on it!" she smiles. "I knew it was absolutely the best song Abba had ever done."
Most remarkable about the song's magic – the piano trills (famously ripped off by Elvis Costello for Oliver's Army), the spiralling strings, the way it encapsulates a sense of uplifting joy – is that it sounds utterly effortless. So effortless, that critics at the time complained that the band were nothing more than a cold, clinical hit factory writing songs to order, with no heart. It's a criticism that Björn says used to make him mad, and possibly still does.
"Waterloo, Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All … are they made to a formula?" he asks. "What is that formula?! It'stotally the opposite. We never repeated ourselves. We worked so hard to find different styles every time."
Indeed, a tireless work ethic seems to be one of the secrets to Abba's success. Björn and Benny would take holidays just to write songs, and refused to leave a track unfinished: they would work and work on it until it was good enough, before turning their attention to the next one. They took inspiration from the Beatles by writing every song as a potential hit single – only when they had enough for an LP did that become the album. So intense were their studio sessions that engineer – and Abba's "fifth member" – Michael Tretow told Mojo in 1999 that he was often kept so busy he felt close to starving: "When there were red skies passing before my eyes and I'd be almost fainting they'd finally say, OK, let's break for something to eat!"
"Michael did eat," says Björn today. "He once ate two quarter-pounder cheese burgers in eight minutes. So he ate but he had to eat quickly!"
As the 1970s progressed, Abba seemed almost detached from the changing musical landscape around them. At times they would embrace trends – such as their disco album Voulez Vous, on which they finally introduced a groove to their sound – while at others times, such as when punk arrived, they would simply ignore them. Björn says he never felt threatened by punk because Abba were "so completely different", but in truth they had a lot in common with the movement. Both shared a healthy disdain for the excesses of progressive rock that had dominated the early 70s, both focused on brevity and both viewed the holy grail of pop to be the seven-inch single.
Björn smiles when I ask if he thought punk was a bit of a racket: "Well, I never quite understood it. There was a musical element missing. The rage, I could hear that. But young men have always been angry, that was no different from other young men."
Frida nods. "Punk never got into my heart. You hear the anger now in rap, for example, but it's different and I like that very much. Eminem is one of my favourites."
Really?
"Cleanin' Out My Closet is a great song!" agrees Björn.
If punk didn't topple Abba, then something closer to home looked bound to. In 1979 Björn and Agnetha announced their separation. Within two years, Frida and Benny were also divorced. Astonishingly, they carried on – much to the intrigue of their fans and the media. One live review from ZigZag in 1979 records Björn introducing Agnetha onstage as "my former wife" which seems unimaginably awkward. "Did I really say that?" he says, looking shocked.
"I think it was more 'And this is a girl I know very well,'" says Frida, which only proves that no way of skirting around the subject could ever make this situation appear normal.
Frida remembers own her way of dealing with the split from Benny: unable to leave the band, she simply reinvented her image. "I changed my whole style. I cut my hair very short, you know, very spiky and I became another woman in a way. So it manifested itself mostly like that."
Given that they'd made enough money for life by this point, didn't it make sense to do what every other band would do and quit?
Björn shakes his head: "We felt like we had something so valuable in the group that, even though it was difficult, we didn't want to break that up. And to prove it, we did some of our best stuff after that."
This "best stuff" happened not in spite of the divorces but because of them. Abba's early lyrics might not have been much much to write home about, as Bang-A-Boomerang can attest ("Like a bang, a boom-a-boomerang/Dum-de-dum-dum be-dum-be-dum-dum/Oh bang, a boom-a-boomerang/Love is a tune you hum-de-hum-hum"). But as Björn toured and broadened his reading in English he began to expand his lyrical palette, dealing with bolder and more personal subjects. The band became known for their ability to counterpoint joyous melodies with melancholic, even depressing, lyrics. If It Wasn't for the Nights summed up Björn's bleak state of mind during his divorce, a disco song with a lyric of utter despair in which the protagonist dreads the end of the working day, when they will be left alone to deal with their own thoughts: "There were times that last autumn I was with Agnetha that I had those nights myself," he admits. "My lyrics were often based around fiction, but that must have been where that one came from."
Crumbling relationships began to form the basis of many of their songs, from Knowing Me, Knowing You to When All is Said and Done, which was written specifically about Frida and Benny. So, how did Frida feel having to sing about the her own relationship?
"Well when you did it, you made sure you did it very professionally," she says. "Of course there was a lot of emotion behind it and it was not always easy to continue recording."
For the Winner Takes It All, Björn famously wrote about divorce as a competitive act featuring triumphant winners and fallen victims. The fact he then arranged for his former wife to sing it has sometimes been portrayed as an act of sadism, although he begs to differ: "No, not at all. I think she loved those words."
"She did," agrees Frida. "And remember that song was for so many people, not just Björn and Agnetha."
"And it was fiction, remember," says Björn. "There were no winners in our divorce."
The tribute bands (Björn Again), cover versions (Erasure) and hit musicals (Mamma Mia) may keep Abba in the public eye, but it is this emotional depth that has kept the band in people's hearts. Unfashionable at theeir peak, Abba have spent the time since they stopped recording slowly moving away from being the kind of pleasure people class as "guilty". These days musicians from Björk to Noel Gallagher are happy to praise them. Still, it seems unlikely that they will ever be held in the same regard as their heroes, the Beatles or the Beach Boys – not that this appears to bother them.
"I think being Swedes we have a very down-to-earth way of looking at ourselves and what we do," says Frida. "We've never had any, what do you call it … hubris?"
"Coming from Sweden, we were always regarded as outsiders, we were never part of that scene," says Björn.
"I recently read Graham Nash's [of Crosby, Stills & Nash] Wild Tales," adds Frida, "and to compare the lives we led and the music we wrote and the tours we did to that." She starts laughing. "It's just so totally apart from that scene, but it was a very interesting book. He really writes openly about drugs – all kind of drugs – and I suppose that was the environment there and then. But we didn't live in it."
Is gratifying to see their music gradually get reappraised by "cooler" artists, though?
Björn looks nonplussed: "I have to say I've always been much more impressed by the fact that millions of people all over the world buy your records. For me, there's no comparison."
Frida: "It does feel satisfying, I must say, that [modern bands] regard us like that, to hear we were the best pop group ever, for me it's wonderful to hear."
Do they keep up with modern pop? "I hear a really good pop song every now and then," says Björn: "ROAR by Katy Perry, I love that! Poker Face … oh! What a song! And Rolling in the Deep … oh!"
Does it make him jealous to hear a great song? Or at least competitive? "Oh, jealous, definitely! But I realise it's a young man or woman's work to write pop music," says Björn.
It is precisely this realisation that has led the band to decline numerous offers – some reportedly of up to $1bn – to reform. Björn believes that fans would ultimately be disappointed at the sight of four aged musicians on stage. But, given that they are a studio band first and foremost, I have often wondered why they don't record together. The prospect of an older, wiser Abba album is a tantalising one.
"It's difficult to talk about this because then all the news stories will be: 'Abba is going to record another song!'" says Frida. "But as long as we can sing and play, then why not? I would love to, but it's up to Björn and Benny."
Last year Agnetha said it was something she would also love to do. Could this be their last chance before – to paraphrase one of their own songs – time slips through their fingers? "Nothing's planned and it would have to be something very special," says Björn "But yes, why not?"
Later in the evening, Björn and Frida attend a party in the band's honour at the Tate Modern. Abba The International Party celebrates 40 years since they won Eurovision and is focused on the crazy outfits and that enduring appeal that means Dancing Queen will always be the first song on any sensible wedding DJ's playlist. Yet the event also reminded me of something Björn said when I asked whether he ever felt perverse writing his songs of heartbreak and despair to such joyous music.
"The music of Abba is not that happy," he said. "It might sound happy, in some strange way, but deep within it's not happy music. It has that Nordic melancholic feeling to it. What fools you is the girls' voices. You know, I do think that is one of the secrets about Abba. Even when we were really quite sad, we always sounded jubilant."
Björn Ulvaeus and Frida Lyngstad have admitted it was "emotional" going through their respective divorces from band members Agnetha Fältskog and Benny Andersson while still continuing as ABBA.
Björn Ulvaeus and Frida Lyngstad of ABBA have revealed how they dealt with performing with their former spouses after they split.
The two iconic musicians started the quartet as two married couples with respective partners Agnetha Fältskog and Benny Andersson, but both split up before the group dissolved in 1981.
Currently promoting a reissue of their greatest hits, both Björn and Frida have revealed the heartache they had to go through in order to keep the band together.
"We felt like we had something so valuable in the group that, even though it was difficult, we didn't want to break that up. And to prove it, we did some of our best stuff after that," Björn told UK newspaper The Guardian, explaining the bleak lyrics of If It Wasn't for the Nights were a direct reflection of his own state of mind. "There were times that last autumn I was with Agnetha that I had those nights myself. My lyrics were often based around fiction, but that must have been where that one came from."
"Well when you did it, you made sure you did it very professionally," Frida added when asked how it felt to sing about her failed marriage. "Of course there was a lot of emotion behind it and it was not always easy to continue recording."
The Swedish songstress also revealed that while she didn't feel she could leave the hugely successful band, she found another way of coping with her internal distress about the separation from Benny.
"I changed my whole style. I cut my hair very short, you know, very spiky and I became another woman in a way. So it manifested itself mostly like that," she said.
James Blunt nos ofrece todavía un nuevo video para un nuevo single que extrae de su último album "MOON LANDING" ("Alunizaje"), se trata de "POSTCARDS" ("Postales") y aquí lo estrenamos hoy.
James Blunt offers us yet a new video for a new single taken from his latest album "MOON LANDING", it's "POSTCARDS" and it's premiered here today.
Ana Torroja ya ha sido sentenciada por los cargos de delito fiscal en el juicio celebrado ayer en Palma de Mallorca. Dejamos enlace a la noticia de "El Huffington Post".
Ana Torroja has already been sentenced for tax fraud at the trial held in Palma de Mallorca yesterday. Here is a link to the news at ""The Huffington Post".
Estrenamos hoy un nuevo video de Luz con una canción de su último álbum "IO SONO INNAMORATA DI TE" ("Estoy enamorada de ti"), bellisima canción en italiano y también el video. Disfrutad...
Premiering today a new video by Luz with a song from her latest album "IO SONO INNAMORATA DI TE" ("I'm in love with you"), lovely song in Italian and also the video. Enjoy.
Hoy comienza el Festival Zermatt Unplugged 2014 incluye algunos de nuestros artistas favoritos: Katie Melua, Mick Hucknall (ex-Simply Red), Jamie Cullum... Intentaremos informar y hacer seguimiento si aparece Frida...
Today the Zermatt Unplugged Festival 2014 starts featuring some of our favourite artists: Katie Melua, Mick Hucknall (ex-Simply Red), Jamie Cullum... We'll try to update reports and follow any Frida appearance... Video Zermatt Unplugged 2014:
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