more news on our website, dw, dot com. ah, yeah. well, when people grinned from ear to ear, scream with joy and can't help but dance with no matter what age they are. then the reason for that might just be about a great i love of voc, brilliant both of my mom's favorite very, very good these days are you. you don't find very many who actually dislike about, but you find a lot of people who kind of like alba and a lot of people to really do. it's an amazing phenomenon. everyone loves alba,

their music and their style. no one it seems actually hates something a lot of musicians can only dream of. so how did the foreign likable swedes do it? let's find out. with where does the fans stand today after their reunion and sold out concerts in london? the social media generation loves about the bands own tick tock channel featuring videos from the past and present has more than 2000000 followers, which isn't bad. but the hash tag about loan has billions of views. and alba is among the bands whose songs are most often covered by others.

oh, youtube features countless cover versions of their songs in every genre imaginable . i that, oh, once that c g i teach generation spawns new abbey fans. so what's behind the band and during appeal and the sound, i guess, especially the 2 guys voices. and maybe that's what appeals, but it's very difficult to say it's, it's really it's for other people to try and explain that challenge accepted young . we spoke to a music journalist, an opera singer, a former you're a vision winner, a fashion designer, song writers, composers and producers. all of them know, have a personally live in stock or a 2 couples behind about benny and any freed up, nita, and beyond. we're not always as well loved as they are today. in the beginning,

a lot of journalists and fellow musicians thought the band was totally uncalled. back in the seventy's. in sweden, i'm almost and no go. ah, you should definitely not listen to how by i shouldn't praised them. they were always neglected by the media while the media treated them, i would say in the beginning, especially very badly because they were so commercial and their since they wanted to be. they want it to be world famous politics and anti war and, you know, you're not supposed to make money and i know that the moose, you know, and, and in some farm land, you know where you're supposed to be genuine and all that stuff. so yeah, so alba,

like they were in there, they were in their riding room on their island. oh, the 2 male members of alba who wrote all the songs were seen as being a bit too business savvy. and then there was there stage where a combination of glam rock, folklore, and disco. you can still buy some of these classic outfits, but only in costume shops, which only goes to prove how recognizable the abba look is. i think there oh little bit too much actually. but it was not sexy and it was not cool. it was probably ah, this is so crazy. yeah, it's i called me while 19 seventy's rockstars gained the infamy for trashing hotel rooms in a drunken rampage. the members of alba had

a squeaky clean family friendly image, married, well behaved, harmless scandals free. but while some mock them for that, their concerts like here in london were attended by some very famous fam, abba songs, apparently had something that appealed to their hipaa rockstar colleagues. no one really saw what happened back at wembley stadium london. 97th 8th. at backstage was, joe was drummer from backlash, who was

a big abbot, myra. and as bruce springsteen was also a big fan of alba, lots of people understood very like. but this is like masterful pop music. do you have people like elvis costello and other pop writers going like we've always respected abba, but we couldn't say so when they were 20 when they were 22, like elvis costello was, he couldn't come out in the press and go like yeah, i've been listening to, you know, super trooper like all day. no, that wouldn't really work. but, but they were i, that's no longer a problem. even dave grow has described his band to fighters as a cross between a punk rock band and alba, big long. but actually abs, coolness,

transformation didn't start until 10 years after they broke up. and it was the gay club scene that celebrated their campy nist and helped usher in a revival of others music in the 1994 australian film, the adventures of priscilla, queen of the desert. ava's joyful kitch is raised to a new level. it becomes a key to personal freedom with a with

where most loyal fan base is, the gazing indefinitely. and i think that's the way abbas create venue. cbs typical, happy, sad is something that he said parked of like gay contouring in, in the longer the perspective and of course, all that kitchen and costumes, so, so of again, he said extremely empower important for the life of albert. just as important was the feel muriel's wedding also from 1994 and also from australia. the country with the most loyal how the fans next to germany. here to the band itself never appears dancing to a sound track of the still an cool music of alba, a pair of social outcasts turned out to be the true when

ah ah, criticized for became reasons to love them. but none of that would have been possible without their pop perfection. abba did nothing by haps, they worked with only the very best musicians and from the start wanted the fullest sound for guitars instead of 2 to drum kits instead of one more of a small orchestra than just a band. songs like waterloo and

dancing clean wouldn't have been possible without the wall of sound technique. abba didn't invent it, but they did make it their own. you listen to those production ideas and color i as everything so clear, even though i know that, you know, there are 2 or 3 different keyboards and there's a more amber and there's a big piano underneath. and there's this wall of fried and agony at us like, why does this still sound so clean? you know, as opposed to just being like this massive glop, even though it's like a lots and lots of things. they thought it through. it's always an introduction. verse. then the other story is different. ah, because the, the middle 8, there's the extra correson ended a little extra thing onto it. this ah,

typical things for now, but usually for me it's the amendment coding. they're both sad and happy at the same time. ah, pretty much all of them. and i think it's in the music and it's playful. the songs are very playful, and they're very clear. if the staccato and the songs are very protect up to it, or you know, it's very alba, you know, it's sort of classics meat sir, something else. but i think above is inspired by classical music from beginning, ah, sleeping through my fingers. ha no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no partner slipping through my fingers. ah,

it could be tre kosky. it could be true, but true. mom could be browse. i mean it's, it's this wonderful melodies. it makes me cry every time i or they've sold hundreds of millions of albums and released more than a 100 tracks. a mere fraction of the songs they wrote. some of them give insight into the bans, private lives, with parents lyrics reflecting what was happening in the 2 couples marriages. they were very swedish in the way the songs whereabout for life. and we followed them into the success, into their marriages into the divorce and to their sudden end dealing with the end of his marriage and the possible end of his band. buran poured his sadness and disappointment into lyrics for his ex wife at nita to sing becoming her

favorite song. few songs have taken such a melancholy look at the meaning of relationships. ah, son, riding aside abba would be nothing without the voices of the 2 singers. not only does each have an impressive vocal range, but they also harmonize perfectly. ah every now and then in the history music voice is meet up and i think in the arbor context, you know, something magical happened. if i remember correctly,

they also used, you know, they speeded up a tape recorder. so things like that. when they recorded their voices and the and, and slow them down again. and that sort of created a, that the arbor sound they found in a 3rd voice. and it has very high as she still is a, it's so fragile. but still very, very powerful. and i think that's, that's her secret, unofficial could use the alto and she is even deeper now her voice. c 6 i mean, the 3rd voice is agnes and unafraid. combined together those voices singing those songs. they helped make the swedish music scene. world famous sweden is one of our most successful pop exporting countries in the whole wide world. and alba

was definitely the ones who kicked it all off when via had very big breakthrough, 1974 at the eurovision, which followed the whim rocks at the ace of base and the card again, the sender mondo, the owl, but i'm almost the 1st air act for a man known english country who made it really big. beyond and benny, setting a tone for writing, whether people wanna acknowledge it or not. it is that it's that most out of the song writing here. these that foundation, restoring a theatre is install coleman and the owning dam and, and trying to get, keep the music seen alive and, and, and help the music industry or musical industry or by doing production, shannon producing things. and i think by keeping their own brand alive,

they're also at the same time working on helping. yeah. swedish music industry. and general, i think of a certainly is very enterprising they may have seemed unassuming, back in 1972 in one of their 1st tv appearances. but behind that wasn't unwavering commitment to marketing. i went new mother as nato skipped a german t v. appearance to stay with her baby, the show had to go off her friend ingo. brandon took her place, hiding behind her hair and looking less and comfortable. but no one would notice, right. but seriously, it was their videos that were truly innovative, especially for the 970 nearly a decade before mtv revolutionized the format. these days, some of their videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times on youtube.

with ah ah, they wanted to be stars and they are they really, you know, try project in all the music and this star to minutes the clothes and they took pictures a lots of pictures so many pictures. if you look at the album 0 ma'am later, i mean, i can't believe how many pictures they took all the time. i mean, it looks like they didn't do anything else than take pictures. after both couples divorced the band decided to call it quits in 1982. but every few years they

managed to land a few koos without ever taking the stage. in 1992 they released a greatest hits album. alba, gold british pub dual eraser released an album of avar covers and it was clear habit was essential for any party with but buren and benny's sense there was more to be gained. now things started to happen in the 90s. the word change dates i larva, and up of himself believe that we have so we can, we can go on. so that's very important. what happened when of a vera non existing band at the time sounds since it was all going so well. and beerin and benny had been successful with other musicals. it was a no brainer to create. mama mia the musical. ah. the production premiered in

london on april 6th, 1999. i think even the critics, most of like, they kept saw evolving and kept thinking how can we do more of that and can we and i think they made more money from mommy or the musical than they have from the, from, from the records they've sold mama mia was such a success that hollywood came calling. the film version premiered in 2008 and featured meryl streep and pierce brosnan. singing lou, abba songs, carried the stars to the phone with the light heartedness that enchanted her global audience. the sweetest mentality is really fantastic because we don't care but famous people when they did erm. mamma mia, the film air with meryl streep and all these big stars, i realized that mary street was actually more starstruck with about themselves.

the inevitable sequel followed a decade later, launching out his old hurts, back into the charts. in the meantime, the band had another plan to enshrine their legendary status, a monument to themselves. it kicked off in 2008 with the traveling exhibition. have a world feature memorabilia and an early version of today's advertise, which fans could join on stage. then on may 7th, 2013. how about the museum opened its doors to the public in the swedish capital stock horn, and once again, the band came new young, found tourists now come from around the world to visit the museum. they've been very thinking about it in the business manner. i think mostly bjorn is a very business minded man. benny is more about all the music all the time and he

has his own little band, replaced polk music and but i mean, he's also part of the big musicals. but bjorn, i think is the more more business minded guy seeing how bjorn deals with his investments and what he does actually with innovation and with gaming and all that other stuff. because he's created this world for himself and that be in the movies and everything. i mean, it's you, you can't be more productive than that. actually. part of that is the development of virtual reality patterns using motion capture recordings of singing and dancing standards, as well as the origin band members, the digital dapple gainers are not just museum ready, but stage ready as well. have announced the release of 2 new songs and 2018 for concerts to be performed by the avatars. yet another coo, there are tech. no artists in san francisco,

building my head as we speak. it all came together in an incredible come back in september 2021. when the band recorded a new studio album together. how about voyage? no one had expected it and the response was suitably sensation. a voyage because it's been a voyage into children. the pressure was on for the 1st concert in may 2022 in london. if at all failed, the album legend would be tarnished. the purpose built venue. inexpensive flop, and the avatars solis, empty reflections. but once again, other everything, right? seeing these images who still remembers the early versions of the avatars. ah, it's not a game changer. it will be a milestone. i think in, in music entertainment, i think. yeah, yeah,

and i've never had such a good time. so i'm happy now and i think i'm a happier man now than i was in the seventy's. ah, whether it's song writing, marketing, or crafting their image. it all seems to have come easy for ever. yet they've always state grounded. in the end, abba stands for one thing above all, and it's perhaps the reason everyone loves them. it's the memory. when people hear alba, they think of their youth that i was unafraid when i was young, you know, real was pick one of the girls and i was, i was honestly, i'm originally from uganda between 71 to 79. uganda was in a very odd thomas state. if there's anything that i can remember, alba was always in the airways. i don't think there's any other group that we played shall, much than about music. and that goes for basically all the sort of top 40 stations

. and sweden still and a lot of people to day co and see mommy on. i don't, i don't think maybe they don't even know what i bet it's, you know, i think it's my mommy, you know. so i think over the generations, if it's good enough it'll, it'll come through. if everybody could write a song like alber all, everybody would now not the seventy's, of course, because it wasn't cool. they're one of the most covered artists of all time. just like the beat us friday nights in the light. so it's a lucky twist of fate for ab that their songs have remained so timeless. where the play the ride music, in this when you come to look for king, do do, do you oh, oh. but beyond himself says it best in the story about these poor people who came together by chance

2 beautiful women width and thirsty voices should meet and fall in love with 2 guys who happened to be so bright and that they should fall mcgrew. and that the music would lay long. i mean, what are the odds against that? that's a wonderful story. ah, ah, ah washer. i see. mm mm with,

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taxes the right to levy taxes in the obligation to pay them both inherent in the sovereignty of nation states and their citizens. but what happens when that power of taxation is undermined? ah, you won't pay taxation oh, ticks starts october 21st on d, w. hello and a very warm welcome to yet and the addition of the 77 percent. the show where we discuss issues of importance to you, african youth. my name is george o catchy and i'm your host for to day. well this week we want to have a conversation.