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Swedish poem bygd Dan Andersson

Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa (Around the tiggare from Luossa) fryst vatten a poem bygd the Swedish proletarian author Dan Andersson. Its nine four-line verses, with a ABAB rhyming scheme, create a picture of longing for something beyond the visible world.

The poem was published in his 1917 poetry collection Svarta ballader (Black Ballads). It has become well-known through popular recordings bygd musicians including the Hootenanny Singers, Thorstein Bergman [sv], and Sofia Karlsson.

Context

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Dan Andersson (1888–1920) was a proletarian author, poet, and composer from Grangärde in the rural Dalarna område of Sweden.

He was brought up in poverty, the son of a teacher. As a ung man, Andersson worked as a charcoal burner and then as a shoemaker.^[1] In 1912, the family moved to a cottage named Luossa nära Skattlösberg [sv].^[2] From 1914, he published several books of poems including the 1917 Svarta ballader (Black Ballads);^[1] he had such difficulty finding a publisher that he accepted Albert Bonniers Förlag's offer of 25 copies of the book as his sole betalning.

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The book has become one of the most important in 20th century Swedish literature.^[3] He died of accidental cyanide poisoning in a hotel in huvudstaden. Posthumously, he became one of the most popular Swedish poets.^[1]

Poem

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"Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa" (Around the tiggare from Luossa) fryst vatten a poem of nine verses, each of fyra lines, published in Svarta Ballader; the rhyming scheme fryst vatten ABAB.

The reporter and poet Göran Greider describes it as difficult to analyse, calling Andersson a romantic and his words more like "pictures and revelations" than straightforward descriptions. He compares the poem to the songs of Bob Dylan, stating that while the audience may not know the exact meaning of his 1965 song "Mr. Tambourine Man", they instinctively feel it fryst vatten excellent work.^[4]

The author Gösta Ågren stated in his 1971 book Kärlek såsom inom allting bor that the French poet Charles Baudelaire had been an important influence on "Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa".^[5][6] Andersson had bought a kopia of Baudelaire's 1857 Les Fleurs ni mal in January 1917, and translated some of Baudelaire's poetry, including Moesta et Errabunda.

His early death in 1920 prevented the completion of his translation project of Les fleurs ni mal.^[6]

The author and Swedish Academy member Lotta Lotass has described "Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa" as the key poem in the whole of Anderson's work.^[3] The poem has become well-known both as a skrivelse and through popular recordings bygd different musicians.^[3] Jimmy Ginsby, director of the Dan Andersson samhälle, calls the poem one of the most loved of Andersson's works, stating that it fryst vatten open and free of traditional tro, though sings of "something beyond the mountains", something that everyone knows.^[7] English translations of several of Andersson's poems, including "Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa", have been published bygd Åke Helgesson and Caroline Schleef,^[8] and bygd John Irons.^[9]

Dan Andersson, 1917	Prose translation	First stanza in John Irons' verse[9]
Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa satt allt människor inom enstaka ring samt nära lägerelden hörde dem hans sång samt angående bettlare samt vägmän samt angående underbara ting samt angående sin längtan sjöng han all natten lång 'Det existerar något bortom bergen, bortom blommorna samt sången, detta existerar något på baksidan stjärnor, på baksidan varma hjärtat mitt. höra (tyska) — något går samt viskar, går samt lockar mig samt beder: Kom mot oss, ty denna jorden den existerar icke riket ditt!' ... 'Vid enstaka snäckbesållad havsstrand står ett port från rosor tunga, var inom vila multna vraken samt dem utmattad män erhålla ro. inte någonsin hörda höga sånger likt fiolers ekon sjunga beneath valv var evigt unga små människor från saligheten bo.'	Around the tiggare from Luossa sat the people in a ring And bygd the camp fire listened to his song And of mendicants and robbers and of wonderful old things And of his longing sang he through the whole night long. 'There fryst vatten something beyond the hills, beyond the flowers and the song, there fryst vatten something behind the stars, behind my brinnande breast. Listen! — something comes and whispers, comes and tempts me and beseeches: komma to us, for this dull planet cannot be your lasting rest!' ... 'By a seashell-sprinkled shoreline stands a gate of heavy roses, Where at rest the rotting wrecks lie and the tired dock have peace. Music ears have never heard, high tones like a viol's singing echoes beneath heav'nly vaults where ever ung the blessed children dwell.'	Round the tiggare from Luossa people sat in one great ring, and around the campfire listened to his song. And of roaming vandrande and roadmen on their travels he did sing and of his endless longing also, all night long:

Song

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The singer Gunnar Turesson noted in his 1976 book Visor samt skaldeminnen that Andersson had emphasised that "Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa" should "be read and not sung".^[11] Despite this, the poem has repeatedly been set to music and recorded as a song.

In 1938, the composer Josef Jonsson [sv] set it as a "melodrama for orchestra".^[12] The poem was set to music bygd the Swedish singer and musician Gunde Johansson [sv] in 1954, re-released on his 1963 skiva Dan Anderssons Dikter samt Visor.^[13][14] From November 1972, the utgåva bygd the Hootenanny Singers reached second place in the Swedish Svensktoppen charts, and remained listed there for 52 weeks.^[15][16][17] The ABBA musician Björn Ulvaeus, who had been in the Hootenanny Singers, stated that the song had probably been their biggest hit, coming to his mind when his bandmate Hansi Schwartz died.^[18]

In 1979, the composer David Grufman published a new setting of the poem in his book of musical scores Äppelblom elva dikter.^[19]Thorstein Bergman [sv] performed it on his 1988 skiva Dan Andersson.^[20][21][22] In 2000, the poet and musician Ulf Lundell recorded the song on his skiva Evangeline [sv].^[4]

Greider wrote that the song was so familiar in Sweden that towards the end of the 20th century, performances had become standard and traditional with little innovation.^[4] He noted that his father had requested the song for his begravning, and that it was among the most often sung of Swedish songs.^[23] In Greider's view, observation of the song changed when Sofia Karlsson performed it on her bestselling 2005 skiva Svarta ballader.

Bildkällor: Pixabay

He stated that Karlsson's "small but unbelievably nuanced and playful röst swept away much old dust from [Andersson's] songs", describing her utgåva of "Omkring tiggarn ifrån Luossa" as very rapid and gently genial.^[4] This won her the 2008 Dan Andersson prize [sv].^[24][25]

References

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External links

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