THOMAS F. BERTONNEAU WRITES:

Aficionados of The Thinking Housewife do not need to be reminded how degraded commercial culture in Europe and North America has become, how a pornographic esthetic that sexualizes everything has pervaded all forms of mass entertainment including those aimed at children and teenagers. Those aficionados will be sadly familiar with the endless succession of tarted-up adolescent songstresses marketed in glitzy style by cynical promoters to young predominantly female audiences. When any counter-phenomenon appears, it is therefore worthy of note.

 One such is the Swedish quartet called “Kraja” after the village of their origin (near Umeå, I believe). “Kraja” consists of four young Swedish women who sing in traditional four-part folk-harmony; they draw their repertory from traditional Swedish song. I offer links to two video-clips. In the first clip, these unpretentious young women sing “Vackert Väder” (“Beautiful Weather” or “A Lovely Day”). The words are uncomplicated – the pleasures of summer day, wandering in the woods, observing the young couples in love. In the second clip, the young women sing two songs: “Nånsin” and “Giftavisan” (Literally “Ever,” but more accurately “No Chance” and “The Marriage Song”). In the first, the lyric subject tells her unwanted suitors not to bother her because, as in the refrain, “Mitt unga hjärta hör en annan till” (“My young heart answers to another”); in the second, the lyric subject asserts that she will never “i äktenskapet gå” (“enter marriage”), but in the last verse she lets on how she notices a certain “fair young man.” (This is a common trope in Swedish folksong.) 

Everything about the performances is marvelous, including the subtle rhythmic syncopations in the counterpoint, the freshness of the four voices, and (in the first clip where we get to see the ladies performing) their utterly natural and casual presentation. Everything is beautifully “square”! They even yodel. 

I notice that the clips date from 2006. I have no notion what has become of these singers since then. It is perhaps a case of sentiment: I had Swedish grandmother and took my first degree in Scandinavian Languages. 

By the way, the most renowned Swedish songwriter ever was Carl-Michael Bellman (1740-1795), whose anthologies Fredmans Epistlar and Fredmans Sånger (Fredman’s Epistles and Fredman’s Songs), are rightly honored as a national treasure by Swedes. Bellman was an early city-poet who made satirical jabs at the bourgeoisie and celebrated the Bohemian life of the artists – much as Baudelaire did in a manner that ultimately affirms normative values. In this clip, actor-singer Thord Lindé sings – or rather flamboyantly performs – the Epistle No. 33, “Stolta Stad” (“Proud City”), in which Fader Movitz, a defrocked priest, moves his circus (including the dancing bears) from Gamla Stan (“Old Town,” on Skeppsholm), to Djursholm. The Swedish text is here. I am unable to locate an online English version. No matter – the undertaking is complicated. Movitz warns his many passengers not to go too near the bears, not to sit on the gunwales so as not to tip the boat; he complains about his crew; he eulogizes the sights of Stockholm’s watery locale. It is part actor’s monologue and part song. Lindé performs in period costume in a coffee club in Stockholm. As in the otherwise completely dissimilar performances by “Kraja,” Linde’s rendition of “Stolta Stad” contradicts every notion of modern mass enterainment and yet the audience seems ready to ‘go along.’

Thomas adds:

I have listened again closely to the words of the “Kraja” song “Giftasvisa,” for which I lack a text. The song is actually even more positive and traditional than I earlier described. The imaginary girl who utters the words is not stubborn about “going into marriage”; she is worried that she will never have the opportunity. Then in the last verse the mood brightens for her. The lyric contains an important element of the standard marriage vow. The bride-in-hope wishes for a groom who will be “faithful” (“trogen”) whether he is rich or poor.

The whole “Kraja” phenomenon is morally at the opposite end of the compass from the Bristol Palin story, right down to the way they appear in photographs; of course another difference is that the girls of “Kraja” are (a) talented and (b) the beneficiaries of the discipline that they have obviously exercised in perfecting their musical presentation. The choice of folksong indicates a willingness not to emphasize their own egos, but to be the advocates of something beyond themselves, of which they can be the gracious medium.

I found this online, in the form of a PDF “press release”: 

“Kraja consists of Linnea Nilsson, Eva Lestander, Lisa Lestander and Frida Johansson. They are all from Umeå in the north of Sweden and formed the group in the spring of 2002 prior to the Umeå Folk Festival, where they made their debut. Typical [of] Kraja’s music are their unique four part harmony song arrangements and the repertoire comprises traditional Swedish folk songs, love songs, humorous songs, dance lilts and chorales, in addition to some material of their own. The word ‘Kraja’ is in the Sami [Lappish] language and means ‘the place you long for.’ Following their CD debut with ‘Vackert Väder’ in 2005, critics and audiences have warmly embraced Kraja and the group has enjoyed performing for audiences all over Sweden, and in Germany, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Ukraine, Russia and Estonia. Work on a new album to follow ‘Vackert Väder’ has been in progress since 2006, and this time Kraja has chosen to focus on some of Sweden’s most cherished folksongs. ‘Under himmelens fäste’ (‘Under the Fastness of Heaven’) was released in June 2008, and has been embraced by critics and audience.” 

One or two details are significant. As I mentioned, the four young women hail from Umeå in the northern part of Sweden. Two of them, Eva and Lisa, are apparently sisters. (They share the same surname, Lestander.) This makes the four of them a manifestation of provincial Sweden rather than of metropolitan Sweden, Stockholm or Göteborg. Stockholm and Göteborg produce rock-and-roll groups (all of them truly awful), not folk-quartets. The title of the second album, “Under Himmelens Fäste” comes from an old Lutheran hymn. The four singers are not afraid to sing “chorales,” as the press-release puts it, or hymns, of which Swedish folk music possesses an abundance. 

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