Dansband
Dansband (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈdânsˌband]; ⓘ "dance band"), or danseband in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish term for a band that plays dansbandsmusik [ˈdânsˌbandsmɵˌsiːk] ⓘ ("dance band music"). Dansbandsmusik is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired by schlager, country, rock'n'roll and some swing. The main influence for rock-oriented bands is the rock music of the 1950s and 1960s.
Dansbandsmusik
1970s, Sweden
- Guitar
- electric guitar
- bass guitar
- drums
- keyboard
- saxophone
- accordion
- steel guitar
The terms dansband and dansbandsmusik were coined around 1970, when Swedish popular music developed a signature style. The genre developed primarily in Sweden, but has spread to neighbouring countries Norway, Denmark and the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland. When the music came to Norway it was first called "svensktoppar" (from the Swedish radio music chart Svensktoppen, which was a major arena for dansband music before its rules changed in January 2003).
A dansband often travels by bus, performing several times every week year-round, outdoors in the summertime and indoors in the wintertime. Performances are also often held on cruise ships.
Several dansbands are named after their lead singer (whose name is sometimes shortened), followed by "orkester" ("orchestra"). The tradition originates from the old dance orchestras, often named after their Kapellmeister. The possessive suffix "s" is often replaced by "z" in dansband names. Some dansbands are named after earlier members.
The main audience for dansband music is middle-aged adults. The music is often performed live by the bands at venues where the main interest of the audience is dancing, rather than watching the performance on stage. However, many dansbands also record albums and singles.
Lyrics[edit]
Dansband lyrics are often upbeat, and are mostly about love, friendship and peace. Other lyrics are about dancing. Some lyrics are inspired by national romanticism, with lyrics about things such as old memories from the past, nature, or native districts. Romantic dansband lyrics are reminiscent of pop, where the singer declares his or her love for the person being sung to, but are often more focused on growing old together and living together until one of them dies. The Norwegian dansband Ole Ivars has also, with much humour, written lyrics that are more about society than traditional dansband lyrics.
The lyrics are often in Swedish in Sweden, and in Norwegian in Norway.
In the 1990s, special "dansband songwriters" broke through, among them Lasse Holm, Gert Lengstrand and Torgny Söderberg. For many years, the same persons wrote songs for most of the major names, but soon dansband musicians became more involved in songwriting.[1]
History[edit]
1970s: Dancing in Folkets park[edit]
Before dansband music became popular, many jazz orchestras played a "schlager-inspired" dance music. Many people believe that the development of the dansbands during the 1950s and 1960s depended on the decreasing interest for jazz, it being replaced by pop and rock as the most popular music among young people. Many Swedish dansbands of the time were known as pop groups during the 1960s, a gestation period shared with the showband scene in Ireland, which had many similarities with its Nordic counterpart, especially in the influences referenced in creating a homegrown music scene such as jazz, American and British pop music, swing, and country.
Dansband has been split into many sub-genres, arguably due to the aging audience and the influence of pop-music.
Svensktoppen and Bingolotto[edit]
The Swedish Sveriges Radio chart Svensktoppen was dominated by dansbands between 1993 and 2002. When the rules were changed in January 2003 to allow songs in languages other than Swedish, dansband music started to decline and was replaced with conventional pop and rock. Dansband music also dominated the musical interludes in Bingolotto until Leif "Loket" Olsson resigned as presenter in 1999.