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Revision as of 16:06, 1 August 2004 by Bishonen (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Cornelis Vreeswijk (1937–1987) was a singer/songwriter who was born in the Netherlands, but moved to Sweden with his parents after the Second World War in 1949. He trained as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became instead a musician whose idiosyncratic humor and social engagement are still gaining him new fans seventeen years after his early death.
A new voice
Vreeswijk's first album, "Ballader och oförskämdheter" ("Ballads and Insults," 1964), was a great hit which immediately gained him a large following among the radical student generation. His abrasive, frequently political lyrics and unconventional delivery were a deliberate break with what he was later to describe as a Swedish song tradition of pretty singing and harmless lyrics, "a hobby for the upper classes." Influenced by jazz and blues and especially by the singing style and hard-hitting lyrics of Georges Brassens, Vreeswijk "speak-sings" his "insults," and compels his listeners to pay close attention to the words.
Early career: songs and controversy
A political activist of bohemian lifestyle, Vreeswijk remained through the 1960s a controversial artist, idolized by his fans but disapproved by many others, as is illustrated by the blacklisting of some of his records by the public broadcasting company Sveriges Radio. Apart from writing many songs which are now regarded as classics, he also worked on the stage in this period, to considerable critical acclaim, most notably as King Herod in the Swedish version of ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', and as Tewje in ''Fiddler on the Roof''. He also acted in movies, including Svarta Palmkronor (Black Palm Trees, 1968), which was filmed on location in Brazil. Spending four months in Brazil on this occasion was to be the start of Vreeswijk's lifelong interest in Brazilian music and in Latin American social and political conditions, interests which were to color several of his later albums.
Middle career: new fields and new audiences
Later in his career, Vreeswijk was to gain increasing fame and a wider audience both for his songs and in other fields. He published several volumes of poetry in his lifetime, and left a considerable manuscript legacy of poems which have been published since. He also became an important musical interpreter of the works of other people, recording albums of the songs of Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube, and Lars Forssell. His fresh, bluesy renderings of Bellman and Taube, who had up to then been classics exclusively of the "harmless" tradition which Vreeswijk despised, were artistic and commercial successes which extended his fanbase. Even though in the later 70s and early 80s, Vreeswijk was a prey of tabloid scandal and was in the news for his drinking problem and his debts (about both of which he spoke with frankness) rather than for his achievements, he remained highly creative and productive throughout this period, as his discography and bibliography show.
Late career: rising fame
Towards the end of Vreeswijk's life his reputation soared again, aided by the televising of some highly regarded nightclub shows, and by the TV documentary "Balladen om den flygande holländaren" ("The Ballad of the Flying Dutchman") in 1986. By the time of his death at the age of fifty, Cornelis Vreeswijk had reached the status of an icon of the Swedish music scene, and was buried at a national cemetery in Stockholm.
Nationality and style
Vreeswijk was bilingual in Dutch and Swedish, having switched countries at the critical age of twelve and continued to speak Dutch at home. In the early seventies he attempted to build a career in the Netherlands as well, and had a hit with the Dutch version of his song "Veronica," but he never achieved the fame he enjoyed in Sweden. In an interview he once declared that his famously expressive Swedish might be all the better for not having been learned in infancy: "It doesn't just fall over you like when you're a baby and fed daily with words and food. You become freer, less respectful. ... Swedish is such a different language. Pure, distinct, beautiful. It has few synonyms. But they're enough for me."
Discography
Cornelis Vreeswijk's fame seems to be still on the rise, and many albums anthologizing his songs have been released since his death. These are not shown in the discography below, nor are the numerous cover versions of his best-known songs.
- 1964-Ballader och oförskämdheter
- 1965-Visor och oförskämdheter
- 1965-Ballader och Grimascher
- 1966-Grimascher och telegram
- 1968-Tio vackra visor och personliga person
- 1969-Cornelis sjunger Taube
- 1970-Poem,ballader och lite blues
- 1971-Spring mot Ulla, spring! Cornelis sjunger Bellman
- 1972-Cornelis live!
- 1972-Visor, svarta och röda
- 1973-Istället för vykort
- 1973-Linnéas fina visor
- 1974-Getinghonung
- 1976-Narrgnistor och transkriptioner
- 1977-Movitz! Movitz!
- 1978-Cornelis sjunger Victor Jara
- 1978-Narrgnistor 2, En halv böj blues och andra ballader
- 1978-Felicias svenska suite
- 1979-Vildhallon
- 1979-Cornelis-Live. Montmartre-Köpenhamn Vol 1
- 1979-Cornelis-Live. Montmartre-Köpenhamn Vol 2
- 1979-Cornelis-Live. Montmartre-Köpenhamn
- 1979-Jazz incorporated
- 1980-Bananer-bland annat
- 1980-En spjutkastares visor
- 1981-"Alla har vi varit små" Cornelis sjunger Povel/1
- 1981-"The gräsänkling blues" Cornelis sjunger Povel/2
- 1981-Turistens klagan
- 1981-Hommager och Pamfletter
- 1981-Cornelis sjunger Povel
- 1985-Cornelis Bästa
- 1985-Mannen som älskade träd
- 1986-I elfte timmen
- 1987-Till Fatumeh, rapport från de osaligas ängder
Bibliography
Not here yet, but coming up.