"Om himlen och Österlen" (Swedish for: ''About Heaven and Österlen'') is a popular song composed by

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

n Swedish singer-songwriter Michael Saxell from

Ystad Ystad () is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and tourist attracti ...

in 1991. The lyrics are largely

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

; the story of a man who moved to North America from the

Österlen Österlen ()) is a region in the southeast of the Swedish province of Scania (Skåne). Historically, the region was shared between the counties of Kristianstad County, Kristianstad and Malmöhus County, Malmöhus for a small part in the southwest ...

region in southeastern

at a young age and returned to his homeland later in life. Michael Saxell lived in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia in Canada from 1975 to 1991. Michael Saxell wrote the song in the early 1990s and it has since been recorded by many Swedish artists including, Jan Malmsjö,

Östen Warnerbring Östen Warnerbring (22 November 1934 – 18 January 2006), also known as Östen med Rösten (lit. "Östen with the Voice"), was a Sweden, Swedish singer, musician, composer, and lyrics writer who mastered several musical genres. He started as a j ...

, Lasse Stefanz, Danne Stråhed and Wizex as well as by the songwriter himself.Information
at

Svensk mediedatabas Svensk mediedatabas (''Swedish Media Database'') is a search engine for the audiovisual works of the National Library of Sweden. The database contains data about TV, radio, video, movies that have been shown in cinemas, gramophone records, CDs ...

The song has been described as the new

n anthem by Swedish music journalist

Christer Olsson Christer Lennart Olsson (born July 24, 1970) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is the current head coach of VIK Västerås HK in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Allsv). Olsson played briefly in the National Hockey League (NHL) wi ...

References

1991 songs Regional songs Swedish songs Songs in Swedish Scania European anthems Songs written by Michael Saxell Songs about Sweden {{sweden-stub