What’s on my mind Facebook asks as soon as you open your account? Monica is on my mind. The great, fabolous Monica Zetterlund, musician, jazz vocalist with a broad repertoire. One of those great cultural personalities from the province of Värmland – my province 😉 Others: Selma Lagerlöf, Gustaf Fröding, Göran Tunström…
Monica died five years ago A couple of weeks ago, a park in her memory, Zetterlunden in Stockholm city, was inaugurated with music and speeches, and with a beautiful wooden ‘singing sofa’ with her songs playing as soon as someone sits in the sofa.- If you do not know her music, go to youtube or to www.spotify.se to listen free of charge. For example ‘Walz for Monica’ with Bill Evans, who changed the song title from ‘Walz for Debbie’
The inauguration ceremony was complete, with music and a main speech by our beloved Hans Alfredsson, author, film director and ‘stand up comedian’ (before we knew that is what he also is). Afterwards,in the bar of 18th century restaurant ‘Claes på hörnet’ I had an extremely interesting conversation with someone I did not meet for several decades. In Göteborg (Gothenborg).
I studied at the School of Economics and he was part of a generation of young, progressive and brilliant actors. We, some students belonging to Värmland-Dals Nation (a social organization for students coming from those two provinces) located in a nice, old cellar on Lorensbergsgatan close to Götaplatsen and Stadsteatern/ the City Theater, now and then went to Stadsteatern together to see a play. We had invited some of the young actors for a dinner we had prepared in our cellar, we went there to lay the table and the young actors, our age, came, accompanied by Harry Ahlin, a distinguished actor/gentleman in his late 60’s. — In the bar now we talked about life and ambitions then, and life today. We talked about critical theatre and research then, and now. A reference point was August Strindberg’s ‘Mäster Olof’ about the young revolutionary priest Olaus Petri, and his being forced to compromise with the king …
We had food and wine or beer and aquavit and discussed theater and culture and academia – and politics! This was during the ‘student revolution’! I had been as an exchange student in Paris i June-July 1968 – in May I was not allowed to enter France. The months in an internship in an EDF power plant and in a regional main office south of Paris were fascinating and I learned a lot about life, work and politics – But that is another story…