Bonnie en José in Zweden = Bonnie and José in Sweden

The duo Bonnie St. Claire and José Hoebee (from the Dutch pop group LUV) recorded a TV special called Bonnie en José in Zweden, aired on the channel NCRV.

The two singers were filmed in Stockholm, including a scene in the Polar Music Studios (ABBA's recording studios) performing ABBA songs in Dutch.

Björn was interviewed for this TV special and acknowledged the duet's initiative.

After the broadcast of this show, they performed from time to time on TV and on stage, even with a non-ABBA repertoire but no new records were released.

Running order of the show:

1. Bonnie and José performed some ABBA covers including Chiquitita
2. Björn interview (part 1)
3. Bonnie and José - Andante Andante (Herrinering in Dutch - in ABBA's Polar Music Studio) and Why Did It Have to Be Me? (Ligt dat aan jou of aan mij? in Dutch)
4. Björn interview (part 2)
5. Bonnie and José - The Way Old Friends Do (Zoals vrienden doen in Dutch)
6. Björn interview (part 3)
7. Bonnie and José - The Piper (Flierefluiter in Dutch)

The Björn interview was edited into 3 segments and was in English - but broadcast with Dutch subtitles.

Click here for a TV listing from De waarheid - 27 May 1986, p.2.

Björn wore that red jacket for:
Good Morning Britain
Bonnie en José in Zweden
Rehearsal for Na, Sowas!
Another You, Another Me PROMO

1. The poster behind Björn's head - a promotional poster for the London Chess concert held at The Barbican Hall in London in October 1984.
2. Note that Björn pronounces José like they do in Spain, but it should be like Dolly Parton's song Jolene (ie. a "hard" J).

Björn's interview

Björn: "With Chiquitita, I remember, that we had quite a problem with the backing track. If I remember it all right, I think we had to record that twice or three times. And, uh, also it had, before Chiquitita it had, numerous titles. I tried at least three or four different lyrics before we found Chiquitita which was, you know, immediately when the girls sang it, we could hear that, yes "this is it" and, uh, that’s really something that we, is pretty typical of us, I think. That if we had a good song, we knew had a good song, we never sort of stopped pursuing it to get that feeling - that kick in the studio when you know yes that’s it. At last that’s it, even if you had to go true, you know hours and hours of hard work and and uh disappointments, you still know at the end of the tunnel there is light, and there usually was.

The ABBA-hits seem never really been covered a lot, I don’t know why, some people say, and this is very flattering, of course but all the recordings are the ultimate recordings and when something sounds very good ABBA, people are less likely to try you know a cover. That is possible, but songs like Dancing Queen, there’s no use when uh, but lately it’s been happening more and more. I’m very happy about this Dutch cover I’ve heard from Bonnie and José which sounds very nice and I just hope more people would do the same.

Benny and I have been working together now since '67 or something like that. And it’s been a very good collaboration and relationship. We have more or less the same taste, we have slightly different backgrounds, but still we relate to the same kind of things. So in other words when something good crops up, we usually both of say yes that’s very good. And if one of us doesn’t, it’s up to the other one to convince and if you can’t then out it goes. So it’s a very democratic way of working but is has been very successful and right now I could see no end to it. I think we just go on 'til we are 75."

Archive data from Beeld en Geluid:
Document ID 82183
Uniforme titel BONNIE EN JOSE IN ZWEDEN
prg#BONNIE EN JOSE IN ZWEDEN
Titel BONNIE EN JOSE IN ZWEDEN - prg#BONNIE EN JOSE IN ZWEDEN
Publicaties televisie; 27-05-1986; NCRV; 22'58''
Type uitzending
Uitzenddatum 27-05-1986
Begintijd 00:18:34
Eindtijd 00:41:32
Tijdsduur 22'58''
Tijdsduur annotatie Avail: 22'58"
Technische annotatie Materiaal: Kleur
Distributiekanaal televisie
Zendgemachtigde NCRV
Schone inlas Niet aanwezig
Dragers
Type Soort Formaat Begin- en eindtijd Nummer Volg-
nr. Bewaar-
plaats Archief-
status
MXF Programma 00:18:33 - 00:41:33 BONNIEENJOSEI-HRE0001251A.mxf Digitaal Archief
MPG1 Programma 00:18:33 - 00:41:33 BONNIEENJOSEI-HRE0001251A.mpg Digitaal Archief
DIGI-BETA Programma 00:18:33 - 00:41:33 TD26670
VHS Programma 00:18:34 - 00:41:32 V35918
Samenvatting Muziekprogramma waarin het duo Bonnie en José op
verschillende locaties in Stockholm en omgeving
Nederlandstalige nummers uit het Abba-repertoire zingen.
Tevens een interview met Abba-lid Bjorn Ulvaeus.
Kleur kleur
Genre muziekprogramma, muziekprogramma
Trefwoorden popmuziek
Personen Hoebee, José; St. Claire, Bonnie; Ulvaeus, Björn;
Geografische namen Stockholm; Zweden
Namen Abba
Makers Hoebee, Will (productie)
Hol, Albert (productie)
Veer, Bert van der (regie)
Producent NCRV ism Double Entertainment
NCRV ism Double Entertainment
Beoogd medium televisie
Beschrijving BONNIE ST. CLAIRE EN JOSE HOEBEE met:
28:36 "Chiquitita";
24:36 "Herinnering", opname in platenstudio iav Abba-lid
Björn Ulvaeus en afgewisseld met zw/w foto's van beide
zangeressen;
28:56 "Ligt dat nou aan jou, of aan mij";
32:57 "Zoals vrienden doen";
37:16 "Flierefluiter";
INTERVIEW met:
23:24 Bjorn Ulvaeus, componist en Abba-lid, over repertoire
van Abba en samenwerking met Benny Andersson + va 32:09 en va
36:12.

Thanks to Robin Andersson, Henk, Ronnie Mehlis, Guido, Jozsef and Sam Kentie.
YouTube link c/o Craptastic 80s