Annual meeting of the Swedish IAML Branch

The following report comes to us from IAML Secretary General Pia Shekhter on the recent annual meeting of Sweden's national branch of IAML.

Greetings from the Swedish National Branch!

Since I wrote a short report about my visit to Oslo the other day I thought I should also send you greetings from the Swedish IAML Branch! We had our annual meeting on 14-15 April. The venue on Thursday was Stadsbiblioteket i Borås (Borås public library) with Ingrid Boström and Martin Edelfeldt as our hosts. On the programme was, among other things, a lecture about the The Moravian Church's music aesthetics by Christina Ekström. There was a vital community in Borås during the 18:th century. We were all invited to sing Fridas sommarvisa (text: Astrid Lindgren) -- a popular Swedish summer song, in the style preferred by the believers: soft, mild and sentimental:-). Bengt Andersson then talked about the Borås composer Knut Håkansson (1887-1929). In the evening we performed a jazzy tune as "the Library Choir" accompanied by "Synthorkestern" at a church concert. The orchestra consists of 12 synthesizers(!) and is founded by its conductor Staffan Jullander. Thanks to clever and artistic arrangements made by the conductor Synthorkestern can play almost anything from the classical repertoire!

Friday morning was devoted to a guided tour of Göteborgs stadsbibliotek (Gothenburg Public Library), which has recently been reinaugurated after an extensive rebuilding. Boel Enbågen and Niklas Persson were our cicerones. After the compulsory fika we walked across the street to the Academy of Music and Drama where Alfons Karabuda, executive Vice-President of IMC (International Music Council), gave an inspiring presentation of the Five Music Rights. He emphasized the important role libraries play to give access to musical involvement through participation, listening, creation, and information."

Photographer: Lena Nettelbladt - the new Chair of the Swedish IAML Branch