Trettioåriga Kriget (Swedish for ''
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
'') is a
Swedish progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
group, formed in
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
History
Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon W ...
, south of
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
in 1970.
Biography
The band was formed by members Stefan Fredin and Olle Thörnvall while they were still in high school. According to Fredin, during a history class Fredin shared with another original member Pocke Öhrström, "After a history lesson covering the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, we both found that this name was perfect for the band. The reason was that it sounded both powerful and Swedish".
The group was a six piece at first, including members Dag Lundquist, Johan Gullberg (who has since designed album covers for the group), and Dag “Krok” Kronlund. Gullberg, Öhrström, and Gullberg left the group in 1971.
Singer Robert Zima joined shortly afterwards, along with guitarist Christer Åkerberg in 1972. A year after they received a record contract from
CBS Records and recorded their debut ''Trettioåriga Kriget'' (1974), along with ''Krigssång'' (1975). In 1977, multi instrumentalist and Fredin's and Thörnvall's former schoolmate Mats Lindberg joined the group
and with him they recorded ''Hej på er'' (1978), and ''Mot Alla Odds'' (1979).
After Zima left the group in 1979, the band temporarily shortened their name to "Kriget" and released one album under that name, ''Kriget'' (1981). Afterwards the group split up due to the members wanting to pursue solo careers. The group then reunited on two occasions in the 90's; once in 1992 to celebrate the re-release of Krigssång and without Lindberg, and in 1996 for two concerts in Mosebacke Etablissement in Stockholm, with Lindberg but without Zima. Then the group permanently reunited in 2003 with the return of both Lindberg and Zima and released ''Elden av år'' (2004), along with ''I början och slutet'' (2007), ''Efter efter'' (2011), and ''Seaside Air'' (2016), the last in
English.
Members
*Stefan Fredin - bass (1970–1981, 1992, 1996, 2003-)
*Dag Lundquist - drums (1970–1981, 1992, 1996, 2003-)
*Robert Zima - vocals, guitar (1971–1979, 1992, 2003-)
*Christer Åkerberg - guitar (1972–1981, 1992, 1996, 2003-)
*Mats Lindberg - keyboards, saxophone (1977–1981, 1996, 2003–)
*Olle Thörnvall - harmonica (1970–1972), lyricist (1972–1981, 2003–)
*Johan Gullberg - drums (1970–1971), cover design (1973–1981, 2004–)
*Dag “Krok” Kronlund - piano (1970–1972)
*Pocke Öhrström - guitar (1970–1971)
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Trettioåriga Kriget'' (1974)
* ''Krigssång'' (1975)
* ''Hej på er'' (1978)
* ''Mot alla odds'' (1979)
* ''Kriget'' (1981) (as "Kriget")
* ''Glorious War 1970-1971'' (2004)
* ''Elden av år'' (2004)
* ''I början och slutet'' (2007)
* ''Efter efter'' (2011)
* ''Seaside Air'' (2016)
* ''Till Horisonten'' (25th of March 2021)
References
External links
Trettioåriga Kriget's official webpageTrettioåriga Kriget's Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trettioariga Kriget
Swedish progressive rock groups
Musical groups from Stockholm County
Saltsjöbaden