The musician Teodor Wolgers got to meet his grandfather in real life. Beppe Wolgers – the author, poet, actor, and artist – died seven years before Teodor was born.
That Wolgers has now set his grandfather's poetry to music is partly due to him reading his poems for the first time, but also because he himself is approaching 30.
I've had both proximity and distance to my grandfather my whole life. And maybe I've wanted to have a room without him. It's as if he's often present in people's gaze at me, he says.
Recorded in Jämtland
The album "Episode in Viken's Chapel" is a way to try to get close to Beppe Wolgers and come to terms with never getting to know him, the person behind "Beppes' bedtime stories".
It's like he was Sweden's grandfather. But I wonder what stories he would have told me. And how it would have been if we two could have worked together.
The album is recorded in Viken's Chapel in Frostviken, Jämtland, which meant a lot to Beppe Wolgers. Recording just there also became a way to get close to the grandfather Teodor Wolgers never got to know.
I hadn't decided much beforehand, I didn't know what it would be or what it would do to me. I just felt some kind of intuition that there was a work there. And afterwards, I realized that it was about processing the grief I've had, he says.
Lifting the Poetry
For Teodor Wolgers, it was also important to lift up just Beppe Wolgers' poetry, and his love for Jämtland.
My entire childhood home is filled with his paintings with Jämtland motifs. Earlier, I didn't realize that my family heritage is also a Swedish cultural heritage. And Beppe in Jämtland is, so to speak, portrayed in "Dunderklumpen", but his poetry is not as well-known. I wanted to lift up the searching and existential aspects of him.
That listeners will now take part in such a personal project, Teodor Wolgers looks forward to:
It's a fairly long work that you might need to be in a few times to take in. Now I'm handing it over and don't take so much responsibility for what they will feel. But I hope they will be moved.
Age: 32 years.
Lives: Stockholm.
Does: Pianist, composer, and producer.
Current: With "Episode in Viken's Chapel" which is released on May 16th.
Beppe Wolgers passed away in 1986, 57 years old. He was an author, poet, actor, lyricist, and artist.
Got his public breakthrough with the lyrics to the song "Unknown Animals" in 1956, which was set to music by Olle Adolphson. Participated in a long series of TV programs, such as the so-called "Beppes' programs" and "Beppes' bedtime stories" and "There you are, here I am". Played Pippi's father Efraim Longstocking in film and did the Swedish voice for Baloo in "The Jungle Book".
Wrote song lyrics for many Swedish artists, such as Monica Zetterlund's "Slowly We Walk Through the City", as well as many revues.
Wrote eight poetry collections, five prose books, and seven children's books, including "Dunderklumpen" with pictures by Per Åhlin. The book was also filmed in 1974.
