Jul, jul, strålande jul--a beautiful Swedish Christmas song

"Jul, jul, strålende jul" is a Swedish Christmas song from 1921 with lyrics written by Edvard Evers and music composed by Gustaf Nordqvist. 

Jul, jul, strålende jul        (in Norwegian)

Glans over hvite skoger

himmelske kroner av gnistrende lys

skimrende buer i alle Guds hus

salmen som favnet om tid og sted

med evige lengsel mot lys og mot fred

Jul, jul, strålende jul

glans over hvite skoger

Kom, kom, hellige jul

senk dine hvite vinger

over en strid full av blod og larm

over hvert sukk i fra menneskebarn

over de slekter som går til ro

over den ungdom der livet skal gro

Kom, kom, hellige jul

senk dine hvite vinger

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(and here is the translation to English, with help from Google Translate): 

Christmas, Christmas, glorious Christmas

Brilliance over white forests

heavenly crowns of sparkling light

shimmering arches in all of God's houses

the hymn that embraced time and place

with eternal longing for light and peace

Christmas, Christmas, glorious Christmas

brilliance over white forests

Come, come, Holy Christmas

lower your white wings

over a battle full of blood and noise

over each sigh from human children

over the generations that are laid to rest

over the youth whose lives are just starting

Come, come, Holy Christmas

lower your white wings

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Here are the Swedish lyrics:

Jul, jul strålande jul 

Tekst: Edvard Evers (1853-1919)    Musikk: Gustaf Nordqvist (1886-1949)

Jul, jul, strålande jul, glans över vita skogar,

himmelens kronor med gnistrande ljus,

glimmande bågar i alla Guds hus,

psalm, som är sjungen från tid till tid,

eviga längtan till ljus och frid!

Jul, jul, strålande jul, glans över vita skogar!

Kom, kom, signade jul! Sänk dina vita vingar

över stridernas blod och larm,

över all suckan ur människobarm,

över de släkten, som gå till ro,

över de ungas dagande bo!

Kom, kom, signade jul! Sänk dina vita vingar!

Jul, jul, strålande jul, glans över vita skogar,

himmelens kronor med gnistrande ljus,

glimmande bågar i alla Guds hus,

psalm, som är sjungen från tid till tid,

eviga längtan till ljus och frid!

Jul, jul, strålande jul, glans över vita skogar!

If you want to listen to other versions of this song, here are some links: Jul, Jul, Strålande Jul – Zero8 - YouTube  and Jul, jul, strålande jul | UiB - YouTube

The television series White Wall

White Wall is an eight-episode Finnish/Swedish tv series from 2020 that showed up on Norwegian tv (NRK1) recently (perhaps it's been there a while and I just didn't know about it) and we finished watching it last week. It is apparently available for viewing on Netflix as well. White Wall is a sci-fi series that I can recommend, although the ending will probably frustrate some people (not me). But I happen to like the sci-fi genre and will cut sci-fi writers/filmmakers some slack if their creations are mostly well-done. I think this series was well-done, even though it moved slowly. It took its time getting to the revelation of what the white wall actually was and what was behind it. Additionally it had an appropriate 'atmosphere' and subtle feeling of impending doom in each episode.  

The series has Norwegian actor (Aksel Hennie) in one of the main roles. I thought he did a very good job as the character Lars Ruud, project leader at a former Swedish mining site that is being prepared as a large repository for nuclear waste. There are the extremist environmental activists who are against the opening of the site as well as corporate leadership that doesn't want anything to stand in the way of the formal opening. The underground team working on the site discovers the existence of a white wall at the end of one of the many tunnels after an unexplained explosion. Several members of the team are killed and this prompts an investigation by security; Lars and his team keep the discovery of the white wall secret from corporate leadership while letting the security leader in on the secret. They come to realize that they cannot dig around the wall or excavate it; it has an oblong shape and is quite high. Without giving away the rest of the story, the white wall is eventually shown to be a huge capsule of some sort, composed of carbon and unidentifiable materials not before seen on earth. What this capsule is doing there, who put it there, and what it contains are the subjects of the last three episodes. Subplots include Lars' affair with his colleague Helen Wikberg (played by Vera Vitali), her autistic son Axel's behavioral changes after touching the capsule wall, the activist Astrid and her father Besse (retired but who once worked in the mine and knew about the existence of the white wall), and the relationship of Oskar the security guard with Astrid. The atmosphere is appropriately eerie and claustrophobic, as one might expect when working in deserted mine tunnels. The series was filmed in an actual mine located in Pyhäjärvi, Finland. Kudos to the actors who worked in these mine tunnels for months at a time. You couldn't have paid me enough money to descend so far underground; my claustrophobia would have gotten the better of me. 

It's unclear whether there will be a season 2 based on the ending of season 1. Without giving it away, I'll say that it's fairly catastrophic, so what there would be to continue in terms of storyline would be truly challenging to write. But time will tell. 

Some really good Norwegian bands and musicians (and some Swedish too)

These are some of the rock/pop Norwegian bands and musicians that I have listened to during the past twenty years and really like. Junipher Greene and Ruphus are from the 1960-70s, but I have heard some of their music and really like it. It reminds me of Mountain and some of the heavier American rock bands from around the same time. a-ha are internationally-known. I remember watching the MTV video for ‘Take on me’ in the 1980s when I was still living in New Jersey. The DumDum Boys and the RagaRockers are the first rock bands that my husband introduced me to—he bought me their LPs as gifts when he first came to visit me in NJ. I spent hours trying to translate some of their songs, and didn’t do such a bad job as I remember. Briskeby was an amazing band—with a terrific female lead singer, Lise Karlsnes. It’s too bad the band is no longer recording. Royksopp is into electronic music and they have done some really terrific songs. You will find most of the groups on YouTube—well-worth checking out and listening to. I’ve seen a-ha, Dance with a Stranger, DeLillos, and Hellbillies in concert in Oslo.

·         a-ha

·         Briskeby

·         Bjørn Eidsvåg

·         Dance with a Stranger

·         DeLillos

·         DumDum Boys

·         Hellbillies

·         Junipher Greene

·         Kurt Nilsen

·         Madcon

·         Madrugada

·         Morten Abel

·         Paperboys

·         Raga Rockers

·         Royksopp

·         Ruphus

·         Sivert Høyem

As far as Swedish musicians go, ABBA is known to just about everyone on the planet, especially after the movie Mama Mia. We grew up in New York listening to ABBA songs. Bo Kaspers Orkester is a jazz-pop band that sings in Swedish; I wish they sang in English—their lyrics are just so good, like poetry. The Swedish list is a short one, but nevertheless worth checking out. I saw The Cardigans in concert in 1999 at the Quart Festival in Kristiansand, Norway. That was a great festival—with The Cardigans, Garbage, Skunk Anansie, Everlast, and Marilyn Manson. I think it’s pretty amazing that they got all those great bands to perform at one festival.

·         ABBA

·         Bo Kaspers Orkester

·         Kent

·         The Cardigans

Favorite Scandinavian films and TV shows

After writing yesterday’s post about my favorite films and TV shows (mostly American), I thought about the Scandinavian films and TV shows that I have seen and liked in the twenty years I have lived here in Oslo. Here are some of my favorites……..

Favorite films

·         Deilig er fjorden (The fjord is wonderful)--Norwegian

·         Hodet over vannet (Head above water)—Norwegian

·         Insomnia--Norwegian

·         Mannen som ikke kunne le (The Man who could not laugh)—Norwegian

·         Max Manus—Norwegian

·         Misery Harbor—Norwegian

·         Veiviseren (Pathfinder)—Norwegian

·         Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron)--Danish

·         Pelle erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror)—Danish

·         Smilla’s Sense of Snow—Danish

·         Den Gode Viljen (The Best Intentions)—Swedish

·         Fanny och Alexander—Swedish

·         Pensjonat Oskar—Swedish

·         Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage)--Swedish

·         Brúðguminn (White Night Wedding)--Icelandic

Favorite horror/fantasy/thriller

·         De dødes tjern (Lake of the Dead)--Norwegian

·         Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey)-- Norwegian

·         Skjult (Hidden)—Norwegian

·         Villmark (Wilderness)—Norwegian

·         Besökarna (The Visitors)--Swedish

·         Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)—Swedish

·         Nattevagten (Nightwatch)--Danish

·         Sauna--Finnish

Favorite TV shows/series

·         Beck--Swedish

·         Wallander--Swedish

·         Forbrydelsen (The Crime)--Danish

·         Strisser på Samsø (A Cop on Samsø)--Danish

·         Ørnen (The Eagle)—Danish