Swedish SuperHeroes

Where is ABBA when you need them?!

ABBA made the dancingest music of all time. ABBA music makes me gloriously carefree for the moment (feeling like a number one). When I hear it I cannot stop my body from moving nor my mouth from singing (without a song or a dance what are we?). It only takes a musical phrase (da-da-da DA-da-da .. Waterloo!) to trigger the joy. Sweet and aching. Just thinking the word "ABBA" transports me to halcyon head space.

I went to Sweden. There, ABBA is a revered national treasure. Actually ABBA owns Sweden (it's a rich man's world). Even though they are not together any more ... (breaking up is never easy, I know) infinite sorrow. Nevertheless, they long ago gained immortality as true super-heroes. Gracias por la musica!

You'd think a tourist spot would be loaded with ABBA souvenirs. The music, yes, of course. So where was the tacky, portable gimcrackery I wanted ... like keychains or teatowels or Tshirts to proclaim my allegiance to the planet's most epic music group? Is the absence due to respect for privacy concerns by one of them? Or is reproduction of those famous faces strictly controlled?

Instead, a one-day stroll around the southern city of Malmo revealed that souvenirs of Sweden consist of Viking trolls (disagreeably unattractive), a folk-art-painted horse (charming but of unknown significance), and a familiar-looking moose. The latter caused an excited discussion to erupt on whether Sweden had misappropriated the animal rightfully belonging to Northwestern Ontario and Newfoundland and at least half of Canada.

To my horror — having returned ABBA-less to the other side of the world — I learn THERE IS AN ABBA MUSEUM (click on link). In Stockholm, where else. So close and yet so far. Crushed barely describes my feeling upon this belated discovery.

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They were photographed together this past January for the first time in years. Rumours never die: a reunion would make the entire earth tremble like never before (masters of the scene). Could it happen? Ask Agnetha.

© 2016 Brenda Dougall Merriman