Björn Svante Afzelius (27 January 1947 – 16 February 1999 ) was a Swedish singer-songwriter and guitar player. He was an outspoken

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

, known for his support for

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until ...

. His songs are about love, politics and joys and sadness in life.

Career

Björn Svante Afzelius was born on 27 January 1947 in

Huskvarna Huskvarna (; formerly spelled ''Husqvarna'') constitutes the eastern part of Jönköping, a city in the Swedish province of Småland, and has a population of about 24,000. The distance to central Jönköping is about 5 km. The name Huskva ...

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in ...

. His father Svante Arnold Afzelius (1923–1976) was an engineer and his mother Ulla Afzelius (1926–1971) was a housewife. His only sibling is his brother Bengt (b. 1952) who is a music teacher. He came into contact with music from a very young age, because his mother and her side of the family were largely into music. In 1970, Afzelius formed the

progg Progg was a left-wing and anti-commercial musical movement in Sweden that began in the late 1960s and became more widespread in the 1970s. Not to be confused with the English expressions " progressive music" or "prog rock," progg is a contract ...

group Hoola Bandoola Band together with

Mikael Wiehe Mikael Christian Wiehe (born 10 April 1946 in Stockholm) is a Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer. As the main songwriter and driving force of Hoola Bandoola Band he was also one of the most important people in the progg moveme ...

. Wiehe and Afzelius became very close friends and worked together long after Hoola Bandoola had dissolved in 1975. Afzelius released his first solo album in 1974, his last one in 1999. Some of his most popular songs are "Ikaros", "Tusen bitar" (Thousand pieces – which was originally recorded by Danish

Anne Linnet Anne Linnet (born 30 July 1953 in Århus, Denmark) is a Danish singer, musician composer، and writer. She has released a number of solo albums and has also been a member of several bands, such as Shit & Chanel, Anne Linnet Band, and Marquis d ...

as "Tusind Stykker"), "Sång till friheten" (Song for Freedom – which was originally recorded by Cuban

Silvio Rodríguez Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez (born 29 November 1946) is a Cuban musician, and leader of the Nueva Trova movement. He is widely considered Cuba's best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America's greatest singer-songwriters. Known for his in ...

as "El Día Feliz Que Está Llegando"), "Kungens man" (The king's man), "Tankar i Havanna" (Thoughts in Havanna) and "Till min kära" (For my dear). He died from lung cancer in 1999, 52 years old, but he remains one of the most beloved artists in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

. He wrote about 150 songs and sold over two-and-a-half million albums.

Death and legacy

Afzelius died on 16 February 1999 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. The Björn Afzelius International Culture Foundation (BAIK) was set up in his honour. The foundation has in the past sponsored a prize known as the Freemuse Award, which recognises an individual or organisation that "has worked for freedom of musical expression in a remarkable way". The award is given by . Winners of the Freemuse Award include: * 2008:

Tiken Jah Fakoly Doumbia Moussa Fakoly (born June 23, 1968 in Odienné), better known by his stage name Tiken Jah Fakoly (), is an Ivorian reggae singer and songwriter. Early life Doumbia Moussa Fakoly was born on 23 June 1968 in Odienné, Kabadougou Region, nor ...

, Ivorian reggae singer exiled from

Cote d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre ...

owing to his outspokenness about political corruption *2009:

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

, American folk singer and activist *2010: Joint winners, Iranian singer

Mahsa Vahdat Mahsa Vahdat (in Persian مهسا وحدت) (born 29 October 1973, Tehran, Iran) is a Persian classical and world music vocalist. Mahsa Vahdat's music style is contemporary expression inspired by old traditional and folk and regional music of ...

and Turkish- Kurdish singer and activist Ferhat Tunç *2011:

Ramy Essam Ramy Essam ( ar, رامي عصام, ; born 1987 in Mansoura) is an Egyptian musician. He is best known for his appearances in Tahrir Square in Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Ramy is one of the few singers in Middle East to sing ha ...

, who provided the soundtrack for the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...

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Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, Egypt *2013: Festival au Désert, founded and directed by Manny Ansar *2016:

Lavon Volski Leanid Arturavič Zejdel-Volski ( be, Леанід Арту́равіч Зэйдэль-Во́льскі; born on 14 September 1965 in Minsk), better known as Lavon Volski ( be, Ляво́н Во́льскі, ), is a Belarusian musician, writer, p ...

, Belarusian rock musician *2017: Zohra, the first and only Afghan women’s orchestra In 2021, the Freemuse Freedom of Artistic Expression Award was opened for nominations.

Discography

With Hoola Bandoola Band

*1971: ''Garanterat individuell'' *1972: ''Vem kan man lita på?'' *1973: På väg'' *1975: ''

Fri Information ''Fri information'' is the fifth and final studio album by the Swedish progg and rock band Hoola Bandoola Band. It was recorded in August 1975 and released in October of the same year on the record label MNW. The album is the band's first with ...

'' *1975: "Stoppa matchen" (single)

Solo albums

*1974: ''Vem är det som är rädd?'' *1976: ''För kung och fosterland'' *1978: ''Johnny Boy'' (with Björn Afzelius Band) *1979: ''Bakom kulisserna'' (with Björn Afzelius Band) *1979: ''Another Tale to Tell'' (with Björn Afzelius Band) – Read the English lyric
''Another Tale to Tell'' – lyrics
*1980: ''Globetrotter'' (with Globetrotters) *1982: ''Innan tystnaden'' (with Globetrotters) *1982: ''Danska nätter'' (live) (with Globetrotters) *1984: ''Exil'' (with Globetrotters) *1984: ''Afzelius; sång & gitarr'' (live) *1985: ''Nio liv'' (with Globetrotters) *1986: ''Grande Finale'' (live) (with Globetrotters) *1986: ''Björn Afzelius & Mikael Wiehe'' (with

) *1987: ''Riddarna kring runda bordet'' *1988: ''Don Quixote'' *1988: ''En man, en röst, en gitarr'' *1990: ''Tusen bitar'' *1991: ''Nidaros'' (live) *1992: ''Afzelius, Bygren och Råstam'' (live) *1994: ''Nära dig'' *1997: ''Tankar vid 50'' *1999: ''Elsinore'' *2004: ''Björn Afzelius & Mikael Wiehe 1993 – Malmöinspelningarna'' ''(with Mikael Wiehe)'' *2011: ''Tusen bitar – Sånger om kärlek & rättvisa''

Compilations

*1988: ''Björn Afzelius Bästa Vol I'' *1988: ''Björn Afzelius Bästa Vol II'' *1995: ''Björn Afzelius Bästa Vol III'' *1995: ''Afzelius Box (Bästa Vol 1, 2, 3)'' *1998: ''Den röda tråden – Definitivt'' *2002: ''Den röda tråden Vol 1'' *2002: ''Den röda tråden Vol 2'' *2005: ''Björn Afzelius Bästa'' *2006: ''Guldkorn vol.1''

References

External links

Björn Afzelius official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Afzelius, Bjorn 1947 births 1999 deaths People from Jönköping Municipality Swedish songwriters Swedish socialists 20th-century Swedish male singers Deaths from lung cancer in Sweden