ABBA THE MUSEUM TO OPEN IN SWEDEN
SWEDEN: The world's first museum dedicated to Sweden's iconic
disco group ABBA is set to open in Stockholm on Tuesday, offering
visitors a chance to get up close and personal with the 1970s foursome
with a little help from modern technology. Fans have been eagerly
awaiting the opening, with many sharing their excitement on the museum's
Facebook page: “I'll be there,” vowed Bea Schroeer of Berlin, while
Alexander Kossovsky of Saint Petersburg wrote: “Can't wait to go!!
Hurray! After all this time!!” In Stockholm, rental bikes and cars
brandishing the museum's logo have been criss-crossing the city for
weeks.
Ads have been running in newspapers and on television, and some of
the band's costumes are even on display at Stockholm's Arlanda airport
arrivals hall to promote the capital's newest cultural institution.
At ABBA - The Museum -- a wink to the title of the 1977 film ABBA -
The Movie -- visitors can pretend to be the fifth member of the band,
appearing on stage with the quartet and recording a song with them
thanks to a computer simulation.
Another room dedicated to the song Ring, Ring features a 1970s
telephone, to which only four people have the phone number: ABBA members
Agnetha Faeltskog, Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and
Bjoern Ulvaeus.
They are expected to occasionally call to speak live with museum
visitors. The group dominated the 1970s disco scene with their glitzy
costumes, kitsch dance routines and catchy melodies such as Voulez Vous,
Dancing Queen and Waterloo, the song that won the 1974 Eurovision Song
Contest and thrust the band onto the international scene.
They have sold some 378 million albums worldwide, outdone only by
Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
Their popularity has continued to grow over the years, with the 1999
hit musical Mamma Miaand the 2008 film of the same name starring Meryl
Streep bringing their music to a whole new generation of fans.
ABBA aficionados are not expected to tour the museum to hear the
band's songs, which most of them know by heart, though there will of
course be plenty of music on offer. -HINDUSTAN TIMES |
