Agnetha (ABBA) : Choir Sings Agnetha's Songs - Jönköping 1984

Choir surprises an emotional Agnetha with a selection of her songs at her hometown of Jönköping 700th celebrations in 1984

Songs include
Jag var så kar
Många gånger än
Tack för en underbar vanlig dag
Så glad som dina ögon
hit CC for subtitles and translation

Taken from.....
http://www.agnethaarchives.com/articles/Saxons.htm

This article was written before but published after Agnetha co-hosted the TV program celebrating her hometown Jönköping's 700th anniversary. The journalist interviewed Agnetha's old music teacher and one of Agnetha's old friends from her youth and asked them questions about Agnetha when she was young.

It’s the first time since Agnetha became ABBA-Agnetha throughout the world that she’s performing in her hometown. So no wonder the citizens of Jönköping feel quite special right now. Agnetha probably agreed to this task with mixed feelings. She, who has become more reclusive and has more stage fright, must really have a hard time before the live broadcast in the city where she not only has her greatest supporters but also her worst critics.

The anniversary party was arranged as some sort of evening of memories for Agnetha. Many of the artists are best friends from the days before she was famous, and her mom Birgit, a cashier at Konsum (grocery store. Claes’ note), and her dad Ingvar, who works at the power company, promised to keep their fingers crossed for her.

One of the guests was secret up until the last minute. It was Agnetha’s “old” music teacher, Eivor Stenäng and her girl choir

There was a lot of secrecy surrounding Eivor’s participation but Saxons managed to talk to her briefly before the anniversary program.

-It will be nice to meet Agnetha again. It’s been a while since last time – almost 20 years! The first time we met Agnetha was 13 years old and I was 21 years old and a recently graduated music teacher, says Eivor who remembers Agnetha very well.

-I had so many students and I never had the time to get to know Agnetha personally. But I remember her as the student with the long light hair and who loved to perform

-It was very unusual that someone dared to sing solo in front of the class. That’s probably why I remember Agnetha so well. I also remember that she had a nice voice, but I would never have guessed that this girl would become a world famous singer. I could never imagine that, says Eivor who of course have followed her former student’s career throughout the years.

One of the good local singers that Agnetha wanted to be a part of the TV-program was her best friend from her teenage years – Lena Lagerkvist.
We were actually three girls who were inseparable. Agnetha, I and a girl whose name is Elisabeth Strub. We did everything together and had a lot of fun. Sometimes we went out dancing but most of the time we kept to ourselves and sang together. Singing and music was our big mutual interest, says Lena.

-When we didn’t sing, we dreamed. We could sit for hours dreaming about the big stars we would become and the fantastic careers we would have, Lena says and laughs.

The young trio of girls also made some appearances.

-We sang in among other places Folkets Park and at Rigoletto, which at the time was the hotspot for the youth in Jönköping. We were also lucky enough to appear twice in Vincent Bagge’s New Year’s variety show.

-Eventually the girl trio dissolved due to a lack of engagements.

Elisabeth and Lena got ordinary jobs. It was only Agnetha who gave music a try and had the career that the girls had been dreaming of.

-I’m not at all surprised that Agnetha was the one of the three of us who made it. She was very musical and the one of us who was the most goal oriented. For her nothing else but the singing and music existed. Her big idol was Connie Francis and she made an effort to sound like Connie Francis as much as she could, Lena remembers.

-I have followed Agnetha’s career and I’m so happy for her. It’s great that she made it. I’ll never forget the first time I saw her on TV. I was so happy for Agnetha that it sent shivers up my spine!

Fun to meet

-We kept in touch for a while after Agnetha’s breakthrough. She used to visit when she came home to Jönköping. But then both Elisabeth and I moved and then we lost touch. It will be so much fun to meet Agnetha again. To see what she’s like these days.

-In those days when I knew her she was a regular girl. Happy and lively and fun to be with. She was quite shy, absolutely not the kind of person who elbows her way forward.

-I don’t think she has changed very much. Of course being a world artist must have affected her some. But I think she’s still the same kind and regular girl that I knew, an expectant Lena said a few weeks before the program.

Agnetha also got to experience another dear reunion. She met the conductor Bernt Enghardt. It was his old band that was the first stop in Agnetha’s career.