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| Cultural origins | 1970s, Sweden |
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Dansband (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈdânsˌband]ⓘ; "dance band"), ordanseband in Norwegian and Danish, is aSwedish term for a band that playsdansbandsmusik (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈdânsˌbandsmɵˌsiːk]ⓘ; "dance band music").Dansbandsmusik is often danced to inpairs.Jitterbug andfoxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired byschlager,country,rock'n'roll and someswing. The main influence for rock-oriented bands is the rock music of the 1950s and 1960s.
The termsdansband anddansbandsmusik were coined around 1970, when Swedish popular music developed a signature style. The genre developed primarily in Sweden, but has spread to neighbouring countriesNorway,Denmark and theSwedish-speaking regions of Finland. When the music came to Norway it was first called "svensktoppar" (from the Swedish radio music chartSvensktoppen, which was a major arena for dansband music before its rules changed in January 2003).
A dansband oftentravels 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 olddance orchestras, often named after theirKapellmeister. 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.
Dansband lyrics are often upbeat, and are mostly about love,friendship andpeace. Other lyrics are about dancing. Some lyrics are inspired bynational 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 dansbandOle Ivars has also, with much humour, written lyrics that are more about society than traditional dansband lyrics.
The lyrics are often inSwedish in Sweden, and inNorwegian in Norway.
In the 1990s, special "dansband songwriters" broke through, among themLasse Holm,Gert Lengstrand andTorgny 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]
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 theshowband scene in Ireland, which had many similarities with its Nordic counterpart, especially in the influences referenced in creating a homegrown music scene such asjazz, American and British pop music,swing, andcountry.
The golden era of dansband music was the 1970s, with bands likeThorleifs,Flamingokvintetten,Ingmar Nordströms,Wizex andMatz Bladhs. There were at most around 800 full-time working dansbands in Sweden; by the late 1990s this number was down to around 500.
The termdansband was coined in Sweden in 1976, to sound more modern and tougher than the earlierdansorkester (dance orchestra), but later many of the bands have begun to call themselves "live bands".[2]
In 1977, the song "Beatles", performed by Swedish dansbandForbes, won the SwedishMelodifestivalen 1977 and finished 18th (last) in theEurovision Song Contest 1977.
For tax reasons, it was possible towrite-off "fantasy" outfits in declaring of income, on the grounds that it would not be possible to wear such outfits in everyday life. This led to many bands wearing highly extravagant matched outfits in their stage performances.[3]
By 1976–1977, pop groups likeABBA,The Bee Gees andBoney M. came to dominate dance floors and pop charts withdisco. Some dansbands, likeSten & Stanley, "became turncoats", performing their own disco covers, and followed the disco fashion. However, most of these changes failed and "Dansband death" became a common expression. Several dansbands disbanded and soon only the full-time bands remained, highlighted byMatz Bladhs andVikingarna. Performances often took place on boats and attown hotels, with male members appearing in asuit, which for many years would become a dansbandstereotype.
In 1987, the song "Fyra Bugg & en Coca Cola" (renamed "Boogaloo" because of commercial controversy about the lyrics), performed by Swedish dansband singerLotta Engberg, won the SwedishMelodifestivalen 1987 and finished 12th in theEurovision Song Contest 1987. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lotta Engberg gained popularity in theNordic region with a sound including several catchy and joyful melodies as the lead singer inLotta & Anders Engbergs Orkester.
In the late 1980s, the decline of discothèques once again gave dansbands more space. They became more visible in the media.Sveriges Radio began broadcasting of "I afton dans" from several dancing venues, andcafé programmes inSveriges Television invited dansbands ashouse bands. The early 1990s also saw a new period of popularity forSven-Ingvars.
In 1993, the song "Eloise", performed by Swedish dansbandArvingarna, won the SwedishMelodifestivalen 1993 and finished 7th in theEurovision Song Contest 1993. Arvingarna had a more pop and rock-oriented dansband sound, and gained popularity among many teenagers.
In 1999, Wizex singerCharlotte Nilsson performed the song "Tusen och en natt", with lyrics in English known as "Take Me to Your Heaven", winning both the SwedishMelodifestivalen 1999 and theEurovision Song Contest 1999.
Vikingarna was one of the more popular dansbands in Sweden before being disbanded in 2004, but during the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade), they also toured (Germany) and recorded albums in German.
After a substantial decrease in the broadcasting of dansband music on radio and television in Sweden during the early 2000s (decade), despite their continuing popularity with the wider public, the dansbands declared that they were being discriminated against in August 2007, since Sveriges Radio plays many different genres of music, especially if the songs are written or performed by Swedes. The dansbands reported Sveriges Radio toGranskningsnämnden för radio och TV (the Swedish Broadcasting Commission) in what became known asDansbandsupproret ("the dansband rebellion"), which was covered widely by the mass media. However, a few days later the commission decided not to take up the matter.
In recent years, artists have begun to mix dansband music with other genres.Per Arnez, for example, has gained some fame by remixing dansband withhip-hop.
Dansband has been split into many sub-genres, arguably due to the aging audience and the influence of pop-music.
The SwedishSveriges Radio chartSvensktoppen 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 inBingolotto untilLeif "Loket" Olsson resigned as presenter in 1999.
