STOCKHOLM - Mikael Wiehe, Tomas Ledin, Eva Dahlgren, Thåström and Per Gessle. Together in 1985 they collected 13 million kronor for ANC in a Live Aid-inspired gala. Next week, the concert will be relased on DVD.


  “A lot of good music and very funny hairdos” Mikael Wiehe says.


  Twenty years ago the entire Swedish rock elite gathered in support of ANC, an organization working against the apartheid system in South Africa. The result were two magical concerts, that were released as an album and shown on Swedish TV. It was said that the participating artists outdid themselves, performing both their hits and also in new exciting constellations.

  The concert was shown on Swedish TV in December 1985. Thirteen million kronor was collected for the ANC and Swedish prime minister Olof Palme delivered a speech and an additional five million kronor from the Swedish government.

  Per & Marie performed together with Lasse Lindbom and MP Persson as the group “Spännade Ostar” (“Thrilling Cheeses”), and as far as Per remembers they performed four songs, among them “Love the One You’re With” and “Tända en sticka till.” “We weren’t featured on the poster or the album…” Per recalls.

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)
• Playground Music Scandinavia

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German trio Cascada has released their version of the 1992 Roxette hit “How Do You Do!”. The progressive trance cover is sung by Natalie Horler, Cascada’s lead vocalist. The song has been released by Zooland Germany both as a 12” single (ZOO 0105) and CD. The release date was October 17.

  Meanwhile, rumor has it that D.H.T. has been signed by Data Records/Ministry Of Sound and their version of “Listen To Your Heart” will be released in the UK on November 22.

Sebastian K contributed to this article.

• Cascada

STOCKHOLM - We don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but no less than two Roxette cover singles are released today in Sweden. Both of them have been discussed more than enough in The Daily Roxette lately, so you probably know what singles they are:

D.H.T.: Listen To Your Heart

(Catchy Tunes/Bonnier Amigo)

1. Furious F EZ radio edit
2. Edmee’s unplugged vocal mix
3. Hardbounze single edit
4. Extended hardstyle mix
5. Extended hardstyle instrumental mix
6. Furious F EZ extended mix
7. Hardbounze extended mix

Dancing DJ’s Vs Roxette: Fading Like A Flower

(AATW/EMI Music Sweden AB)

1. Radio Edit
2. Hardino Mix
3. Extended Mix
4. Alex K Mix
5. Discode Remix
6. Alex K Bounce Mix

Sebastian K contributed to this article.

After Bryan Adams publicly apologized for naming his album “Room Service,” the same name as the Roxette album from 2001, Bon Jovi name their new album “Have A Nice Day.” Roxette released an album with the same title in 1999.

  Bon Jovi’s album will be released in September, first on the 14th in Japan, then internationally on the 19th except in the USA and Canada where the album is released a day later, on September 20. The first single from the album, released on July 18, will also be called “Have A Nice Day.” The song is about racism.

Jean-Francois Lejour contributed to this article.

• Album news and track listing on Bon Jovi website

HALMSTAD (UPDATED) - This week Göran Fritzon -Fritte - keyboardist of Gyllene Tider, will auction out two of his cars, one ’97 BMW 523i (lot 93) and one ’88 Mercedes 230CE (lot 94) at local auction-house Hallands Auktionsverk - the same that held the Gyllene Tider auction last year.

  More info available at Auktionsverket’s site, some in English and some in Swedish.

  Update Jul 1: According to Auktionverket’s site the cars weren’t sold.

• Hallands Auktionsverk

HALMSTAD - SweMD, the Halmstad-based company owned by Gyllene Tider’s Göran Fritzon and MP Persson among others, started their web-based audiobook store in October last year. Their idea was to sell books in MP3 format. Seems they were correct as many major companies in Sweden, like CDON and AdLibris, have since entered the market.

  Now SweMD has taken the next step with a stand-alone audiobook downloading machine for libraries. Using their machine, people can borrow audiobooks for free.

  The first one to get a prototype of the machine will be the city library of Skövde. It will be installed and opened tomorrow by Göran. If all goes according to SweMD’s plans, libraries all over Sweden can become their customers.

• SweMD (in Swedish)

Swedish blues and folk singer Totta Näslund, 60, passed away Sunday morning after a long illness.
  Marie, in 2001, collaborated in the recording of two of the songs on his album "Duetterna" (The Duets): "Ett Minne Bättre Glömt" (A memory better forgotten) and "Sommarens sista servitris" (Summer's last waitress).

• DN article (in Swedish, with photos)

Frida, the brunette of ABBA, will re-release her 1982 album “Something’s Going On” June 20, at least in the UK. The album was originally produced by Phil Collins, who kept Per Gessle’s arrangement of the song “Threnody,” which is featured on the album. It was also the flip side of the lead single off the album.

  “Threnody” is a poem by American poet Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) that Per Gessle used as lyrics for music he wrote. The new album release contains two bonus tracks.

  Frida has kept quiet the last few years, the last thing heard from her was “Djupa Andetag,” released in 1996, where Marie Fredriksson appeared as a collaborator.

  “Threnody” was once written for the mystical group Modern Times (Gyllene Tider’s first name for a hesitant international career), but was sent to Frida instead. Later it was released by Gyllene Tider on an EMI compilation: “Radio Parlophone 2.”

• Eil.com

CDON lists a Brainpool greatest hits album due out on June 1. The album, titled “We Aimed To Please,” contains various unrelased songs and single b-sides as well as a bonus DVD. The band’s website has not yet been updated to contain information on the new release.

  We reported earlier about Christoffer Lundquist’s record company Junk Musik which releases singles only in digital format over the Internet. They have revealed on their blog that they will release a “lost” Brainpool single next Tuesday, on May 17. The song was recorded while Janne Kask was still the band’s lead singer. He left the band in autumn of 1997.

  Brainpool’s main figure is Christoffer Lundquist who has participated in the production of many recent Roxette, Per Gessle and Gyllene Tider releases. Their drum player Jens Jansson has also played with Roxette and Per Gessle.

  Update (May 15): Junk Musik informs on their website that their music is now available on iTunes Music Store. The first album available for purchase is Brainpool previous release, the rock opera “Junk.”

  Arn_ contributed to this article.

• Junk Musik: New Releases! May 17!
• Brainpool

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MALMÖ - While some Swedish artists sign an open letter to stop the downloading of their work, others find Internet a fast, easy and simple way to release music.


  This is the case of Junk Music, a publishing company founded in the spring of 2004 by, among others, Christoffer Lundquist, member of Brainpool and producer of artists like Per Gessle, Gyllene Tider, Bo Sundström and Ulf Lundell.


  Yesterday Junk Musik became the first Swedish company to abandon the CD and release their first single online. The single in question is “Lady Gwendoline” by Metro Jets (David Birde and Magnus Börjeson). The song was recorded on Monday 18, mixed by Christoffer early yesterday morning and put on sale online a few hours later at the price of 10 SEK (approx. €1). Singles by Brainpool, Florian Horwath and Justin Winokur are also available via Junk Musik’s website.

• Junk Musik