Moraeus med mera = Moraeus With More

Celebrating 30 years of collaboration, Benny and Orsa Spelmän appeared on Kalle Moraeus' programme Moraeus med Mera. Filming took place in front of a live audience, under a big top tent on a lakeside campsite in Orsa, 4 hours north (by car) of Stockholm.

Benny and Orsa Spelmän played three tracks together;

1. Födelsedagsvals Till Mona
2. Rättvikarnas Gånglåt
3. Gladan

Orsa Spelmäan performed Underbart minus Benny - it had reached the semi-finals of Melodifestivalen in 2010. For Rättvikarnas Gånglåt they were joined by a 50-strong group of local folk musicians. Benny told icethesite why he had chosen that particular tune: “When I was just 19 or 20 years old and had my first flat in Stockholm, I used to play Rättvikarnas Gånglåt on a small plastic gramophone first thing every morning, day in-day out,” he said. “It’s wonderfully uplifting music…but not very rock’n’roll!”

Benny recalled his first meeting with Kalle Moraeus in 1986, "We were celebrating photographer Anders Hanser’s 40th birthday here in Dalarna,” he said. “Anders and Kalle were old friends and Kalle had brought his fiddle along to the party. We played a few tunes together and I asked him if he had any pals that would like to be on my next record.”

When the pair met up again the following year, they were joined by Kalle’s brothers, Per-Erik (Perra) and Olle Moraeus along with Nils-Erik (Nicke) Göthe and Leif Göras. Benny continued, "When they took out their fiddles and played the first few bars of some tunes I had sent them, it was such an incredible feeling. A magical moment I shall never forget,” Benny said. “It was as if they had given my music life.”

Benny told icethesite that he has so many happy memories from working with Orsa Spelmän over the past 30 years, however, there is one occasion that truly stands out for him: "Bringing them to the UK to play old Swedish folk tunes in front of 50,000 people at the Thank You For The Music concert in Hyde Park was a once in a lifetime event,” he said. “It was such an overwhelming experience and I am so happy that we were able to do that.”

This edition of Moraeus med mera, which also featured Lisa Miskovsky, girl duo Good Harvest and hip-hop star Linda Pira, was scheduled to be broadcast on SVT in autumn 2017.

Gävledala (Benny), 2011;
Moraeus med mera (Benny), 2011;
Moraeus med mera (Benny), 2013;
Moraeus med mera (Benny), 2015;
Moraeus med mera (Benny), 2016;
Moraeus med mera (Benny), 2017;

Thanks to Pascale Ranson c/o ABBA Village and Chris Williams c/o ABBAtalk.
Huge thanks to icethesite.com.
YouTube link c/o inomadi100