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The importance of Georg Riedel to Swedish musical life, especially jazz and children’s music, cannot be overstated. Now a very well-stocked book on his many contributions to Swedish music has been published, which can be recommended to all music lovers. Lars Sjögren has read.
Georg Riedel, who is it? The passionate jazz musician who loves to write children’s music and who composed the background for all of Astrid Lindgren’s Swedish films? Or the serious, cultured Jewish composer who gets his music performed at the Opera?
Book editor Bo Ejeby was contacted a couple of years ago by children’s choir leader Gunnel Fagius, who thought it was time to write a book on children’s music composer Georg Riedel. Ejeby’s spontaneous reaction was that children’s music, it’s only one side of Riedel, there are so many other sides of him. Then he got in touch with other people who could contribute to a complete book on Riedel. In addition to Fagius with his knowledge of children’s music, Jan Bruer came with his knowledge of jazz, cultural writer Sofia Lilly Jönsson took on Riedel’s religious music and critic Martin Nyström wrote about the composer’s classical music. Together they were given the task of writing a biography of Georg Riedel based on interviews everyone had done with him.
It is comforting when Georg Riedel makes some cultural policy reservations from time to time, for example not using Swedish folk music in the commercialization of the populist nationalism of our time.
Georg Riedel is a multitasking musician, with whom most of us are familiar. His double bass has been heard in well-known orchestras such as Arne Domnérus and he participated with Jan Johansson in record sales (half a million?) And the popular album “Jazz in Swedish”. He has arranged “Once in Stockholm”, “Monica’s waltz” and “Slowly we go through town” for Monica Zetterlund. In the late 1960s, he set about composing songs and music for Astrid Lindgren’s films Pippi and Emil, due to the fact that his good friend Jan Johansson was quickly killed in a car accident. However, he was somewhat prepared because in previous years he had collaborated with Barbro Hörberg on various children’s song projects.
These are just some of the contributions he has made to Swedish music and culture. For all of us who grew up with his music and love it, the book is a refreshing experience to read. The section on jazz musician Georg Riedel has, understandably, a lot of space, which, however, goes beyond the other parts which, with the possible exception of Gunnel Fagius’s children’s music section, are treated with a bit of stepmother. It is comforting when Georg Riedel makes some cultural policy reservations from time to time, for example not using Swedish folk music in the commercialization of the populist nationalism of our time. As one of the authors of “Jazz in Swedish”, he carries some weight in this very opinion. A great advantage is the large amount of visual material in the book.
