At Arlanda Airport.

The Iconic Waterloo-dresses on public display untill early next summer, at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport.

Above: ABBA The Museum Managing Director Mattias Hansson and curator Ingmarie Halling.

Credit: ABBA INTERMEZZO /(Photos:  Micke Bayart) / Arland Airport / ABBA THE MUSEUM.

Intermezzo 68 out now. 36-page, full-colour A4 size magazine is as always full of news, special features, rare and exclusive photos, an A3 sized ABBA 2013 poster-calendar and great prizes to be won. In No. 68, you’ll find:

%u25AA All of the latest news and ABBA/ABBA-related releases

%u25AA Benny at Piteå’s Studio Acusticum: Full Report

%u25AA Exclusive Interview with Caj Högberg, ABBA’s 1974-75 Tour Bassist

%u25AA Continuation of special 30th anniversary feature on Frida’s Something’s Going On album – this time looking at Frida’s promotional activities surrounding the release

%u25AA Exclusive interview with Owe Sandström, ABBA’s well-known costume designer

%u25AA Exclusive interview with Tom Oliver, ABBA’s “bodyguard” from ABBA–The Movie

%u25AA Celebrating 30 Years of The Visitors, Part 3: An in-depth look at the making of the album cover plus the second part of Björn’s interview from November 1981

%u25AA A special A3 sized ABBA 2013 poster-calendar

Happy Birthday Benny!

BAO: The tour for Summer 2013 has been announced 

18 July - Göteborg, Trädgårdsföreningen

19 July - Helsingborg, Sofiero Slott 

20 July - Kalmar, Skälby Gård 

21 July - Trosa, Hamnplan

24 July - Piteå, Norrstrandsbadet

25 July - Sundsvall, Norra Berget

26 July - Leksand, Sammilsdalsgropen

27 July - Stockholm, Sjöhistoriska

After almost 50 years and nearly 400 million discs sold, he has not given up. Benny Andersson still spends several hours each day in search of music that gives the right feeling. Now, BAO's Christmas album "Santa Claus has gone home."

November 30, 2012 at 14:21, Updated: 30 november 2012 at 15:41

The room feels remarkably small. There is space for a grand piano, a desk, a few chairs and "Music Machine", which consists of a cockpit-like Synclavier from the 1980s, a new computer and a floor to ceiling wall mounted rack with studio equipment. It's not crowded but somehow it is expected that a man who wrote the global successes such as "Dancing Queen" and "Super trouper," which has sold more than 380 million records, will have a slightly larger study.

Here spends Benny Andersson their working hours. Here he wrote "Kristina" and BAO's Swedish top finds.

At the music machine, he wrote the new Christmas album by the group released today and here he is working right now with the music to "Help Wanted", a musical to which the poet Christina Calm authored script,

ABBA colleague Björn Ulvaeus write lyrics and to be directed by Orion Theatre's artistic leader Lars Rudolfsson.

A Christmas album  Benny Andersson was not supposed to do, but now it became so anyway. Not for Santa's sake and not for kids either, but because of Franz Schubert's "Military Marching". The disc Benny think's was "pretty fun."

- Christmas records is really something you shouldn't deal with - but! - Because we have an orchestra that can play Schubert's military march as it should be, as it is written, so I thought it would be fun to do it, he says.

The disc is the sixth studio album by Benny Andersson Orchestra, perhaps the only "hobby band" in Sweden who had more than ten songs on the Swedish charts.

- From the beginning it was thought that I'd get an outlet for music that I do that does not fit in anywhere. So it's not just hanging in the air and sitting in my computer here. But I have noticed that BAO is becoming more and more important, says Benny Andersson.

For although he has written songs for almost 50 years, he devotes several hours each day to creating new music. It is painstaking work and Benny Andersson describes it almost like a rough job.

- It takes time. It required that I play through a lot of junk to come up with something I want. One would think that if I know what it is to feel I'm looking for, so you just have to go on it, but it's not.

The feeling has been the same over the years and the first time Benny Andersson saw it was when he wrote the Hep Stars "Sunny Girl", his second song ever.

- I remember it so well because I still do like I did then. I noticed when I sat down and tried to make a new song that there was something inside me said, a purely physical sense. I had contact with what I did and it talked back to me.

That feeling and rush it provides, is the reason that Benny is still writing today. The last ast time he really challenged himself was when he wrote the musical "Kristina" which received its world premiere 1995

- I keep myself within my own framework broadly. Kristina is symphonic, across, and there was a clear challenge I think. It makes it feel worthwhile, but there is probably the border, he said.

TT spectra: When did you last take a musical risk?

- That was then. Since then I do not feel that I have risked much. I do not know if it's some kind of laziness. Someone asked me if I had tried to write music that is not entirely tonal. It was a good question and the answer is no because I do not think I can. I build my entire musical life to get this feeling for what I'm doing. The brain and body to go along with what I play.

svd

ABBA documentaries By Carl Magnus Palm

Three brand new ABBA documentaries will premiere on SVT in Sweden during the 2012 holiday season. Carl Magnus is the co-producer of the films together with Roger Backlund and Viktor Petrovski of the production company Happy Monday Media. The films have been directed by Carl Magnus and Roger Backlund.

This is the first time in several decades that Swedish-produced programmes about ABBA are broadcast in the group’s home country.

The three titles are:

ABBA – Dancing Queen.

This film covers the making and impact of ABBA’smost famous song, but also ABBA’s success story with a special focus on the Australian Abbamania.

ABBA – When Four Became One (Swedish title: ABBA – Vägen till Waterloo).

In this film we take a look at the pre-ABBA lives and careers of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Frida. The film follows their story up to their Eurovision Song Contest victory in Brighton.

ABBA – Absolute Image

This film approaches the ABBA phenomenon from a visual point of view. We tell the story of how their stage costumes, album sleeves and promo clips were made, and the part they played in the construction of the group’s image.

The films will be broadcast on SVT at 8 pm on December 26, January 2 and January 9. The films are made for an international market and will be broadcast in other territories in due course. Watch this space for news about upcoming broadcasts.

for more details visits Carl Magnus Palm

15/11/2012

NEW AGNETHA PICS!

Here we meet Jennifer Lopez fans -and Agnetha Fältskog.

Expressen followed the star backstage – where Abba singer had a brief chat.

- Thanks for letting me come here, says Jennifer Lopez

Looked surprised!

After the show, she meet a number of fans backstage.Among them: Agnetha Fältskog, 62.

The singer was presented to Lopez as part of the pop group Abba and had a brief chat with Expressen .

- Nice to meet you, says what looks like a slightly surprised Jennifer Lopez and talks during the chat:

- Now I am in shape. It feels good. Tomorrow we go to Finland, then Russia and so.

After Agnetha left the area dozens of lucky fans got to take a picture with the star, a quick hug and a few polite phrases

BAO IN BOX

“BAO IN BOX”

“BAO” in BOX “contains Benny Anderssons Orchestra all recordings-now divided into six CDs– (2 CD)/” BAO on tour “/Christmas songs (” Santa has gone home “). A total of 87 tracks and 5 hours of music! In addition, a booklet with all the texts, images, history, biographies, etc. The box also includes a double DVD with the TV shows “Benny Anderssons Orkester 10 years”-recorded at Sofiero Slott, Helsingborg and in Trädgårdsföreningen, Göteborg during the summer tour 2011 and “Benny Anderssons Orkester on new adventure” recorded at restaurant Rhubarb in Stockholm in 2001. DVD’s n “Benny Andersson’s Orchestra 10 years” contains two bonus tracks, which are not included in the TV version.Producer Benny Andersson.The Christmas CD is included in the box, but will also be released separately.

“TOMTEN HAR ÅKT HEM.,” and “BAO” in BOX ” released on november 14.

4/10/2012

Agnetha Report On Radio Sweden

Here I go again: Abba's Agnetha to record comeback album as she enters studio for first time since 1990s

UK Daily Mail report:

Reclusive former Abba star Agnetha Faltskog is launching a comeback.

The blonde singer, now a 62-year-old grandmother, has returned to the recording studio to record an album of new songs for the first time since the 1990s.

But, sadly for Abba fans, she is still rebuffing pleas to sing again with her old bandmates.

She is said to be working with Swedish songwriter Jorgen Elofsson who has previously penned and produced tunes for megastars including Britney Spears, Celine Dion and Irish boy band Westlife.

After ABBA split in the early 1980s, Miss Faltskog pursued a solo career for a few years, but then went into a music hiatus for most of the 1990s.

Her last album, ‘My Colouring Book,’ contained cover songs and was released in 2004.

Miss Faltskog has repeatedly resisted calls for the hugely popular group to reform, even after the success of the film ‘Mamma Mia!’ which was based around their songs.

It’s understood that the other members of one of history’s most successful ever pop groups – Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – have all pushed at various times to reform for a world tour.

Miss Faltskog was married to Bjorn after first meeting him at a café when she was 19. They wed in 1971 and had two children before they divorced at the height of Abba’s fame. 

Abba won Eurovision in 1974 in Brighton. They went on to sell 350 million records, and their greatest hits compilation album, Abba Gold, stayed in the charts for more than 400 weeks.

The success was so extreme that Miss Faltskog still has difficulty believing it. ‘It’s nice to look back on it and sometimes I can’t comprehend it,’ she says.

She has two children and a 12-year-old granddaughter.

In Sweden, the singer is known as ‘Garbo the second’ because she shies away from publicity.

But she insisted in an interview: ‘They spread that I am hiding, that I am the new Greta Garbo. It’s not the way it is. I just want to live in peace and quiet.’

One of the reasons the singer gave for wanting a break from Abba was the rigours of touring around the world, especially after she had children.

‘I sometimes suffered enormously from a bad conscience and longing for my children,’ she said in an interview. ‘There were many mixed feelings and contrasts with Abba. Such as tours when we lived a life of luxury, then came home to washing up and cooking.’

But she insisted the reason she never wanted to get back together with the group had nothing to do with her relationship with her fellow female singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

‘We didn’t fight,’ she said. ‘But we have to live a whole lot of such misinterpretations. We supported one another. Say, if one of us had a cold or felt under the weather.’

‘We feel incredibly proud that the music never seems to die. A new generation likes it and that gives you great hope,’ she added after being presented with a lifetime achievement award by a Swedish newspaper.

In recent years, Miss Faltskog has appeared in public with the other three Abba stars at a number of premieres and promotional events for the film ‘Mamma Mia!’ But she still made it clear she had no plans to record with them.

A spokesman for the singer said it wasn’t yet known when the album of new material will be released.

ABBA The Museum opens in Stockholm, SwedenAt last, ABBA the Museum opens in Sweden. ABBA’s collected works will be showcased in a contemporary, interactive setting at Swedish Music Hall of Fame, a new exhibit venue located at Djurgården, Stockholm, set to open next year.

The great search for all things related to ABBA’s music, lyrics, stage costumes, musicals and films has gone on for quite some time. And Swedish Music Hall of Fame provides the perfect framework for it, says original ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus.

’ABBA The Museum will fit right in at Swedish Music Hall of Fame, as it is a part of Sweden’s pop history. And the location at Stockholm’s Djurgården feels like coming home,’ says Ulvaeus.

Behind the scenes, Mattias Hansson – Managing Director of ABBA The Museum – is in charge of getting the museum up and running.

’Swedish pop music is an important part of our cultural heritage’, says Hansson. ’And ABBA is one of our most well known international brands. It’s our duty to give their work a permanent space here.’

ABBA remains Sweden’s most successful band of all time, with sales of 378 million albums around the world. ABBA The Museum will span the band’s career all the way from the start in 1970, via the breakthrough with ’Waterloo’ in 1974, the grand world tours and finally, the split in 1983. Since then, ABBA has lived on through a wide range of musical projects run by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, whose musical ’Mamma Mia!’ revived the public’s interest in ABBA’s music yet again. An interest   that never seems to fade – this week, ’ABBA Gold’ was officially named the best-­selling CD album ever in England.

’We’re proud and very happy that ABBA chose Swedish Music Hall of Fame to put their work on display and tell their own, personal story,’ says Charlotte Wiking, Managing Director of Swedish Music Hall of Fame.

Swedish Music Hall of Fame will show temporary as well as permanent music exhibitions ranging from the 1920’s until today. In addition, there will be a Hall of Fame devoted to Swedish pop music. Several guest curators and music industry representatives will be involved in making the exhibitions interactive and experience-based. The venue will suit a wide audience, with a special nod to children and young people.

In addition to the exhibitions, the venue will also host unique events linked to current music happenings; small and intimate gigs; courses aimed at schools and music lovers; a hotel called Melody Hotel; a restaurant with a bar, and a shop. ABBA The Museum will no doubt attract international attention and pull crowds into the 5,000 square ft building, situated between amusement park Gröna Lund and art gallery Liljevalchs at the heart of Djurgården.

In the first year alone, several hundred thousand Swedish and international visitors are expected to discover ABBA The Museum. The tickets are to be released later in the autumn and will be available at SJ’s outlets – phone +46 771-757575, SJ´s Resebutiker and www.sj.se/upplevelser.

Some of the entertainment industry’s most prominent establishments stand behind ABBA The Museum: Parks & Resorts (Gröna Lund), Universal, Polar Music, Synergera Rättighetsförvaltning and Eventum have all contributed to its existence.

Proud business partners with an in-depth involvement include MasterCard, SJ, Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Viking Line. Media partners include SBS Radio and TV4. More partners will be added soon.

In the autumn of 2012, ABBA The Museum and its partners will arrange a press briefing presenting the museum’s contents, grand opening and ticket sales.

ABBA Gold is best-selling CD

Mamma Mia! Abba’s album of greatest hits is Britain’s best selling CD album EVER as sales hit four million since it was released 30 years ago

The Swedish group – made up of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson – released their greatest hits compilation in 1992, 10 years after splitting, and it is now the only album to have sold more than four million copies on CD, at total sales of 4.04 million.

‘Gold’ is closely followed by Adele’s ’21′, which has so far sold 3.55 million, despite only being released in 2011.

Oasis’ ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’ is third on the list, while the late Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ was fourth.

The sales figures have been compiled by The Official Charts Company for the music industry body, the BPI, to celebrate the CD’s 30th anniversary.

Despite the rise of downloads and file sharing, two thirds of albums sold are still CDs.

Speaking about the launch of the small disc format, BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: ”It represented a great leap forward in sound technology, becoming one of the most successful consumer products in history. Music fans embraced its sound quality, durability, instant track access and ease of use.

”Even 30 years after its launch, it still remains the leading album format in the British music market.”

James Blunt’s ‘Back to Bedlam’, ‘No Angel’ by Dido and Leona Lewis’ ‘Spirit’ also made the top 10.

The top ten best-selling CDs:

1. ‘Gold: Greatest Hits ‘- Abba (1992) – 4.04m

2. ’21′ – Adele (2011) – 3.55m

3. ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’ – Oasis (1995) – 3.43m

4. ‘Back To Black’ – Amy Winehouse (2006) – 3.23m

5. ‘Back To Bedlam’ – James Blunt (2004) – 3.21m

6. ‘No Angel’ – Dido (2000) – 3.03m

7. ‘Come On Over’ – Shania Twain (1997) – 3.03m

8. ‘Spirit’ – Leona Lewis (2007) – 2.95m

9. ‘Urban Hymns’ – The Verve (1997) – 2.90m

10. ‘White Ladder’ – David Gray (2000) – 2.88m

ABBA 5 disc DVD set

Abba: Maestro’s from the Vaults Collection (5 Discs)

Due for release on 12 November 2012.

/ABBA  Deluxe Edition.

November 2012 will see another release in the ABBA Deluxe Edition series. Hot on the heels of the well-received Deluxe Edition of The Visitors,this time the 1975 album simply entitled "ABBA", featuring classic hits such as ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘SOS’ and ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’, will receive the Deluxe treatment.

The first disc in this 2-disc package is a CD, which features the original album plus three bonus tracks, all of which have been remastered especially for this release.  The second disc is a DVD, featuring 60 minutes of previously unreleased television performances, including the complete 1976 television special ABBA In Australia – the export version of the famous The Best Of ABBA special, which had higher viewer ratings than the moon landing in Australia. 6 of the 12 songs in the special are performances of tracks from the ABBA album. In addition, there are three songs from the 1975 television special Made In Sweden – For Export, along with two fab performances from the BBC archives: ‘SOS’ on Seaside Special, first broadcast in 1975, and ‘Mamma Mia’ on Top Of The Pops (1976). To round off the DVD there are two vintage television commercials, one for the Australian hits album The Best Of ABBA (along with the other albums released by ABBA in Australia up to that point) and the other for ABBA’s Greatest Hits album.

The package also includes a 24-page booklet featuring an extensive essay on the making of the album, for which ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have contributed fresh insights and stories.

Don’t miss out on this Deluxe Edition of ABBA – featuring the hits that made Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Frida household names all over the world!

ABBA – DELUXE EDITION

DISC 01: CD

1.  Mamma Mia

2.  Hey, Hey Helen

3.  Tropical Loveland

4.  SOS

5.  Man In The Middle

6.  Bang-A-Boomerang

7.  I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

8.  Rock Me

9.  Intermezzo no 1

10.  I’ve Been Waiting For You

11.  So Long

Bonus Tracks:

12.  Crazy World

13.  Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton – On Top Of Old Smokey – Midnight Special

14.  Mamma Mia (Spanish Version)

DISC 02: DVD:

1. ABBA In Australia (Television Special Export Edition)

Mamma Mia

Hasta Mañana

Ring Ring

Tropical Loveland (Hawksbury river clip)

Waterloo

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

Rock me

Dancing Queen (not included on Australian edition)

Honey, Honey

Fernando

So Long

SOS

2. Made In Sweden – For Export (SVT)

Mamma Mia

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

So Long

3. SOS (Seaside Special, BBC)

4. Mamma Mia (Top Of The Pops, BBC)

5. The Best Of ABBA, TV Commercial

6. Greatest Hits, TV Commercial

7. International Sleeve Gallery

 to be new additions to Madame Tussauds London

Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid – will add a colourful dimension as they take up a short term residency in the Music Zone at the London attraction.

The waxworks will then make their way to Madame Tussauds’ attractions around the world.

ABBA will be captured in the iconic style from their 1975 video for SOS.

Agnetha and Anni-Frid will be wearing replicas of the popular yellow and blue feline themed outfits teamed with pristine white knee-high leather boots, while Benny and Björn will wear outrageous white seventies outfits encrusted with diamantes and sequins, finished off with flares and platform boots.

ABBA’s Greatest Hits collections are legendary! They are some of the biggest selling albums of all time and have hit the number 1 spot in dozens of countries all around the world . The Essential Collection is latest addition to this series and is in shops this week!

Featuring 19 Top 10s and 9 number 1 smash hit singles includingWaterloo, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All and Mamma Mia and, included on DVD for the very first time, two previously unreleased videos for the Spanish versions of Knowing Me, Knowing You and Thank You For The Music, along with all of the official ABBA promotional videos, now newly remastered.

Available as 2CD, DVD and limited edition 2CD/DVD and a beautifully illustrated 28 page booklet.

It’s most certainly Essential!

Benny's latest musical project: Help Wanted.

"HELP WANTED" Two middle-aged farmers who are brothers wrestling in vain about who does the housework. After being alerted a local newspaper promised  help from a mother, her daughter and a goat. Then everything goes to hell in a way you can not imagine. 

Do not miss this show.

HELP WANTED is an original musical by Kristina Calm, Benny Andersson and Lars Rudolfsson. The HELP WANTED involved Johan Ulveson, Sofia Pekkari, Magnus Roos Mann and Suzanne Berdino and two cows, two pigs, a goat, a horse, three dogs and four geese! 

PREMIERE 8 FEBRUARY 2013. 

TICKET RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 17TH AT 12AM. 

YOU CAN BOOK TICKETS VIA THE ORION THEATRE'S WEBSITE, CASHIER CATHERINE BANGATA 77 AND TICNET 0771-70 70 70.

Frida is auctioning off a collection of designer clothing and accessories from her wardrobe through Stockholms Auktionsverk, Titled “Frida’s Collection”, and is part of the house’s  Fashion & Lifestyle series

THE COLD WAR WAS NEVER SO ENTERTAINING

Award winning Gale Edwards directs a new staging of this extraordinary musical. Tony Bartuccio choreographs and David Piper conducts. With lyrics by Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lion King) and music by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (Mamma Mia!), this highly acclaimed musical develops the ancient and distinguished game of chess into a metaphor for romantic rivalries and East-West political intrigue. Inspired by the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky Match of the Century in 1972, the monumental rock score for this brilliant musical includes the mega hits I Know Him So Well, One Night In Bangkok, Where I Want to Be and Anthem, one of the most stirring melodies ever.

“ONE OF THE BEST ROCK SCORES EVER PRODUCED IN THE THEATER. THIS IS AN ANGRY, DIFFICULT, DEMANDING AND REWARDING SHOW, ONE THAT PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FORM.” (Time Magazine)

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Benny Anderrson Tim Rice Bjorn Ulvaeus

 STARRING

SILVIE PALADINO as Florence Vassy

MARTIN CREWES as Frederick Trumper - American

SIMON GLEESON as Anatoly Sergievsky - Russian

MICHAEL FALZON as The Arbiter ALINTA CHIDZEY as Svetlana Sergievskaya MARK DICKINSON as Alexander Molokov BERT LaBONTE as Walter de Courcey with Jessica Armstrong, Dave Burrows, Madeline Cain, Rachel Cole, Anthony Costanzo, Nelson Gardner, Jillian Green, Danny Golding, Tyler Hawkins, Crystal Hegedis, Raelene Isbester, Rosa McCarty, Turanga Merito, Jessica Mortlock, Chris Ostrenski, Joel Parnis, Anthony Pepe, Jordan Pollard, Collin Poole, James Shannon, Catherine Shepherd, Esther Stephens, Cameron Thomas, Dean Vince, Matt Ward and Wei Wei Zhang. 

Director GALE EDWARDS Musical Director DAVID PIPER Choreographer TONY BARTUCCIO Costumes KRYSTAL GIDDINGS Set SHAUN GURTON Lighting PAUL JACKSON & ROBERT CUDDON Sound SYSTEM SOUND

ORCHESTRA VICTORIA

By arrangement with Three Knights Limited, The Shubert Organisation Inc and Robert Fox Limited Management reserves the right to add, withdraw or substitute artists and may vary the program should the necessity arise.

NEW OFFICIAL CAPS!

Please note the ONLY site for ABBAInter.net is via Philippe's page.  He works very hard to give great stuff to all ABBA fans and we ask that you support his site and not the fake one.

Re "abbainternet2" the fake site:

Just wanted to let everyone know we are NOT associated with the youtube site/channel ”ABBAinternet2“

We recently ran a feature about ABBAINTER.NET and the trouble they had with someone starting a youtube channel and using Philippe’s work, now they have taken art work from our site ABBAOFFICIAL.COM and are using this as their wallpaper.

We have NOT given permission for this picture to be used, nor have Universal given permission for them to use the official ABBA logo.

Please note the ONLY site for ABBAInter.net is via Philippe's page.  He works very hard to give great stuff to all ABBA fans and we ask that you support his site and not the fake one.