Songlist	Audio
Part 1 with Aldrig Ensam and Instrumental by Jakob	MP3 13,9 MB
Part 2 with Tvivel and Keep My Heart	MP3 11,9 MB
Part 3 with Inte dö and Instrumental by Jakob	MP3 11,7 MB
Part 4 with För Dem Som Vandrar I Mörkret, Underbart Är Kort,	MP3 20,5 MB
If You'd Ever Change Your Mind and Life Is A Flower
Part 5 with Instrumental by Jakob	MP3 6,7 MB
Part 6 with Att Vara Rädd	MP3 10,0 MB
Part 7 with Min Kärlek, Välsignelsen, Give Me The Faith	MP3 17,7 MB
Part 8 with Instrumental by Jakob and Bridge Over Troubled Water	MP3 16,0 MB

Report by Sara West

It's similar to the Hunnebostrand concert but with some differences. Many people were there who knew Jakob, so the concert has more focus on him and his works. His piano work never ceases to amaze me. It's so complex, yet, there's a simplicity contained within it. I wrote down my thoughts about it all shortly after the concert took place. Jenny sang a song during this concert that has never been published. It's on the third part and it's called "Du för inte dö" (rough translation: 'You can't die') It's supposed to be from the "Psalmer för Livet" CDs but I don't think it's one Jenny sings on the cd. Someone else must sing the cd version. It was an emotional performance from her. The song is about what Mary might have said after Jesus died. Rough translation..."You can't die. You can't go. You must stay with me, for how can I live one single day without you? No, you can't die, you can't go.." There were a few other PFL songs that night and the crowd was encouraged to sing along, so during those parts Jenny isn't very audible but the crowd is. This has nothing to do with the concert itself, but I must mention that the people at Lärjungagården were so nice to me. They were very welcoming. After the concert, we had coffee and cookies and the people I sat with were so nice and genuinely interested in speaking with me (even with my broken, difficult to understand Swedish). A few of them said they went to Jenny and Jakob's wedding even! (I didn't think to ask them any details though.) They also kept mentioning how well Jenny and Jakob performed. The owners of the center even gave me a place to stay for the night after the concert was over. So, kudos to them! The people who were there will surely never read this post but I won't forget them because they made me feel like I was a part of the organisation.

The report

Sunday, October 10th was quite an interesting day for me. I was supposed to speak at a school in Skene, just outside GBG, on Monday the 11th. I had booked my train tickets and everything when I find out Jakob and Jenny would be giving a concert that Sunday evening just outside of Skene after I was to arrive. So, I was happy and on Sunday the journey began.

I had gotten up at 7 in the morning to get ready, got on the train at 10, got off the train at 15.00 and then grabbed something to eat and got bus tickets, then on to the bus at 15.15 for a long ride to Skene. I get off the bus at Skene and realise that there is no bus that will take me to the place where the concert will be, Lärjungagården. You could best describe it as a Christian retreat center. So, here I am, one hour from concert time and 17 km away with no way to get there. Hmm...thinking thinking! Taxi, bingo! So, I call the taxi company and get a very expensive ride to the center. 250kr lighter I arrive at the center.

Thinking I could stay there for the night because the center was supposed to have rooms to stay in, I took all my luggage with me to the center. I walk in with all this junk hanging off my shoulders and a few women walk up. I ask them about a room to stay in and they explain to me that the rooms aren't open during the autumn months. But, the woman who owned the center (with her husband) said that I could stay with them in their house for the night. How great is that?!!! So, I had a place to stay and they let me put my heavy bags in another room.

I speak with the woman who co-owns the place and she looks out the window and says, here come the two musicians now. Out the window was Jenny and Jakob walking up the hill. Jenny had a business suit on with a dark pink shirt, Jakob a beige suit with a tie. They looked good, as usual. Yeah, so at this point, I look really awful because I have been travelling for almost 8 hours. I take a little break to make myself look presentable. I then sit down and wait to purchase a ticket. I have a nice conversation with the woman selling the tickets. She was also there when I came in and heard my "place to stay" dilemma. She asked about what I did and I told her about going around talking about student exchange and I mentioned YFU. Then she says she was an exch. student to Iowa with YFU. Small world! She was really nice and we had a great conversation about Sweden and exchanges. So, I purchase a ticket from her and decide to go to the concert room. All the people I meet are very nice and welcoming, even though they don't know who I am. Really nice! I walked around the corner and down a hall and stop to pull out my camera and waste the last pictures I had on the film to put in a new one. (You'll read a bit later why this was totally a waste of time..lol). While I was doing this I was leaning up against a wall and beside a door. A man walks by me and opens the door. I look up and it's Mr. Petr? walking in the door. Yeah, a little suprise there. Obviously, he was getting ready for the concert in that room. Anyway, I continue into the room and someone hands me a little folded paper with some concert info. I go into the room which is the size of a large classroom. Not very large at all. There were about 80 seats crammed together, very closely together. I chose a nice seat in the second row. First row is a bit daunting even for me..lol! The room fills up quickly and I am the only person in my age group (so I stick out like a sore thumb). There was a piano in the front and a microphone with a stand. I was about 7 feet away. We wait for the concert. To the left of me was the woman who was the exch. student and her husband. To the right of me is the woman who co -owned the center. The concert is supposed to begin at 6 but starts at about 10 minutes later. The woman's husband gets up and starts to introduce the concert.

He mentions that Jenny was in a famous band called...(well, you know). He said that anyone under 40 would remember that band and almost everyone there laughs. Almost everyone was over 40 I think. And he says that Jakob is an accomplished composer and pianist. He then continues to say that the two have toured everywhere and said something about how they said that they barely need a place to live in GBG because they're rarely home. Then he welcomed them in..

Big applause... They come in and I they probably gritted their teeth when they saw me... ("oh, great, an Acer". haha...no just kidding!) They look great! Jakob is wearing the same thing as before when I saw him. Jenny is wearing something a bit different. A black dress with white pearls creating a belt and white dots around the waist, long black boots that go to her knees, and a yellow shirt over the dress that looks kinda like the WMA Ravine shirt or the shirt at Victoriadagen (I think she had a yellow shirt?). She had a sunburn too. ('Wonder what that's from', I thought. 'Oh, honeymoon probably', I reasoned. We would hear later that they had been to Greece for their honeymoon.) Oh, and the ring. Wow, sparkly and bigger than the normal Swedish ring I believe. Quite nice. She didn't hesitate to show it, ..lol!

They start of with a song... (The concert was similar to Hunnebostrand but with a few differences) -- "Du aldrig ensam" - The acoustics in the center are good but not as in many churches. I did record the concert but it was not the best recorder one could say. But, it's on tape anyway. The song sounds excellent! A great choice to start the concert.

A little talk after the song. Jenny said she travelled all the way from GBG for this concert (little snickering) and then Jakob said that this area was like his home area. He then talked about the next song he would play. He said it was called "Dr?mar" (Dreams) and that he wrote it before he moved away from home.

-- "Drömar" - The song was played at HBSTRND too but we didn't know it's name or background then. Amazing the way he plays. He could play for hours and hours and I wouldn't get tired or stop being surprised about how amazing he plays. Maybe he'll release his own cds too.

Jenny talked about that it would get dark outside during the concert but that there would be lights on them. Then she mentioned the fantastic colors on the leaves right now and that it was quite beautiful She then mentioned about the next song that she had 20 minutes to learn the song before she was supposed to sing it at a church concert. Jakob then talked about the song and talked about the most important part is to believe but also it is important to also dare to doubt as well.

-- "Tvivel" - Here the song was a bit different. Jakob sang the first verse and the third verse, I believe while Jenny sang the other parts. Quite different to hear them singing alternating verses. Big applause after this one. Jenny continues on, "we like love, me and Jakob. It's good" (laughing.) She then mentions what the next song is about... to promise to stay together..

-- "Everywhere We Go" - The song is very catchy and the crowd gets into it a bit. The woman who owns the center sitting beside me liked it a lot. Then there is a little more talk.. Jenny says that we rely on strange things in life. She takes taking a bus as an example. She says that when she takes the bus, she relies on the fact that the bus driver knows the way and will drive safely and so she falls asleep. Then she adds, "then I ususally wake up like this" and turns her hand downward (to show how your head slumps over??). The audience didn't get it so not much reaction...Jenny speak there...lol! The next song is "one that Mary Magdeline could have sang. She relied on Jesus. He was executed and died. She would be surprised (later on)"

-- "Du för inte dö (You can't/mustn't die). A lot of emotion in this song. It was written by Lars Westerberg so I believe it to be a part of the PFL series. We might see it on cd a bit later on in the year. Don't know if Jenny will be singing it there though. Jenny mentions we will listen to a bit more of Jakobs compositions. Jakob describes that this song is from a musical he was writing. The musical was about a guy who knew he was going to die and was searching for answers. The song expresses both joy and sorrow. (He had little jokes throughout each description. He is a funny guy and can really hold an audience's attention).

-- Musical Composition -- Jakob did not mention the name of the composition. Jenny mentioned the "beautiful cross made by Eva Spögberg" which sat on the wall behind them. (She said a few more things but don't have that down on paper.) Then she mentioned that we could put in names of people we knew or thought about during the next song as a sort of prayer for them while she was singing. The song has lyrics about praying for different people in different situations. They turned off the lights for the first few verses and before she started singing, Jenny said "oh how cosy, how cosy" in a joking way when they turned them off. (or maybe it was when they turned them on? lol..in any case) The lights were turned on and she mentioned that some of the lyrics were in the program we got and that we were going to learn the song, that we could sing along during these verses if we wanted to.

-- "Juldagen" (PFL) - It was nice to sing along with this song because this is one of my favourites from the PFL series! Jenny does not sing on the original on the cd but it is an excellent song!! After the Juldagen song, she talked about a guy telling her she would sing about flowers when she was 16 and at that time she didn't think it would be (shades of Hunnebostrand..*smile*) but she then mentioned that she's written a lot about flowers. She then said that when the CD came out in the US it had a rose on it (ok, someone's a bit fuzzy here I think.) and that she was attacked and wrote a song about it and the only word she didn't write in the whole song was flower. She had written plant there instead but Tommy Ekman came up with flower for the song. She then said she was going to sing three songs about flowers, 3 "autumn flowers". She mentioned that "Povel sang the first" (Povel Rommel is an older Swedish singer).

-- Song by Povel Rommel, "Underbart är kort", "If I thought you'd ever change your mind", "Life is a Flower" - LIAF was a bit more jazzy than I remember in Hunnebostrand. Excellent! Jenny then says "Mer Kärlek" to Jakob and he says "Mer Kärlek" back. I think it was a note to him where to go in the program. Jakob then talks about a song he wrote for a friends wedding last summer. His friend asked for a song that he could dance to. So Jakob wrote a song in the style of a waltz. But, when Jakob played it for the friend, the friend said that he couldn't dance to it. Then Jakob stops and says to the audience "it doesn't seem like you understand anything" jokingly. There was no reaction from the crowd, like they didn't get what he was saying. Then the crowd laughed. Jakob then went on to describe the song as ups and downs in love. Sometimes it storms and the wind blows and that was reflected in the piece.

-- A song (Not sure the name) - This song might have been played at Hunnebostrand but I cannot recall. After the song Jenny continues on. "There is one, yes, three, two, three words - Psalmer för Livet - in your program there" and she says it is a project of Jakob's. She tells the crowd to sing along and learn another one of the songs. She says they will turn off the lights during the first and second verses for a "light effect of some sort". They turn off the lights then Jakob explains further about the song. He said he got the idea for the music thinking about a child standing outside of a playground. He said the music in the beginning doesn't really sit with the rest of the song and said listen and we'll discuss it afterwards, jokingly again.

-- "Att vara rädd" - The intro sounds just like the one on the CD but you don't, of course, hear the children talking and playing in the background on live versions. It sounded great. One of my faves again. Jenny actually does sing this one on the CD and I was singing it on the way up to the concert... "att famla fram mot en ok?d ort" (<--thinking literally when I was on the bus on the way there). On the last verses people sang along with the lyrics in the program, just as they had done before. They were supposed to turn on the lights for those verses so people could read the lyrics but it didn't happen. You could see Jenny nodding to someone by the lights but they didn't get the clue. Afterwards, Jenny said it was fantastic to stand up there and be able to hear how nice it is (the singing from the audience), "fantastic it is".  Then, Jenny says that she'd like to read a passage from the Bible. "It is long, so relax and listen but with your heart and the rest." She read the majority of Jesaja 43 verse 2-5 Which is Isaiah in English...

2 When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

3 For I am the LORD , your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; ...

4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

and because I love you,

I will give men in exchange for you,

and people in exchange for your life.

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you ...

She continues on and says that God has something special with our names. She talks about when she was confirmed and tells a story. I didn't quite get the whole story but I'll have to fill that in a bit later. The point of the story I got anyway.. lol. Here was the point, after her confirmation she said "God owns me", "I do what he wants". She said a bit more. And then she talks about God's love as a strong love that burns and ignites and we can go through fire and water. He does so that we will go to Him. And she mentions that there is a Eurovision song - Min Kärlek - "May I sing it for you?" she asks. And continues, because I believe Ingela "Pling" Forsman has read Jesaja 43 (Isaiah 43)... the room gives a little laugh. Don't know if it was an inside joke or what. Jenny continues to say that the song is something that God says to us...

-- "Min Kärlek".... I didn't finish writing down the rest of the info.. It ended with Min Kärlek. But, I guess you get the idea.

© The Jenny Berggren Source