That Sweden is perennially ranked as one of the world’s happiest countries comes through loud and clear in the buoyant music of ABBA.
The ’70s Swedish quartet is still revered for the perky melodies, danceable beats and heavenly harmonies of hits like “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia” and “SOS.” Their lyrics may not have always come from a happy place, but their highly polished pop almost always sounded like it did. Onstage, the A’s and B’s of ABBA — Agnetha and Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid — were uncommonly upbeat for the era, even smiling as they sang and played for their effervescent fans. Simply put, you’d have been hard-pressed to see anyone leaving an ABBA concert in a bad mood.
Since the group disbanded in 1982 (if you don’t count the digital avatar “reunion” show, ABBA Voyage), various ABBA tribute tours have kept the good vibes flowing. And one of the most authentic, ARRIVAL from Sweden, transforms the band’s rhapsodic sound and stage presence into a symphonic experience. For this performance, the singers representing the quartet are Daniel Palmqvist, Vickan Eriksson, Maja Samuelsson and Lalle Larsson.
Debuting in 1995 with a name taken from ABBA’s 1976 album, ARRIVAL tours as a 10- to 12-piece group — but it has also performed with more than 100 orchestras throughout the world. And when it appears at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Sept. 14, it will share the stage with our own, the South Florida Symphony Orchestra.
“There’s almost a 60-piece orchestra that’s going to be playing, so it’s going to be quite a stage,” says symphony founder and conductor Sebrina María Alfonso. “We have a big string section, harp, brass, winds and percussion. To have this size orchestra with the group, it’s going to be quite lush. Just the visual of all the musicians onstage is going to be amazing.”
Echoing that sentiment from an audio perspective is Anton Foresta, the tribute group’s longtime sound engineer who’s also become “a self-appointed production manager” for its tours: “The sound of it — these incredible musicians and singers, a professional symphony and all these beautiful scores and these beautiful parts — it’s like a whole other experience. It’s just so big and beautiful. And it’s so ABBA. It’s like over-the-top ABBA.”
He should know. The Coral Springs resident has worked on about 250 shows with ARRIVAL — in addition to his local gig. As director of production for affiliated venues at the Broward Center, Foresta manages the production departments for The Parker, Aventura Arts and Cultural Center, and Miniaci Performing Arts Center, supervising approximately 60 event technicians.
He is in his 12th year as ARRIVAL’s sound engineer. The collaboration began when he was working at the Coral Springs Center For The Arts, which presented the tribute group a couple of years in a row.
“The third year, they approached me and said they enjoyed working with me. They asked if I would like to go on tour with them to do ‘front-of-house’ sound,” he says. “I was 27 years old and had never been on tour before. I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ They sent me a contract for seven weeks of a summer tour. And I have been touring with them on and off, ever since.”
Setting ARRIVAL apart is the endorsement of ABBA itself. It even received a previously unreleased song, “Just A Notion,” from ABBA’s songwriters. Also, several of the musicians who played with ABBA also perform with ARRIVAL on occasion (though they won’t be at the Broward concert).
Another distinction is that, sans symphony, ARRIVAL brings “more of a rock ’n’ roll feel to the show” than ABBA actually did, according to Foresta.
“What sets them apart from any of the other [ABBA] acts I’ve seen is just how extremely live it really is,” he says. “Some of the musicians are also in Swedish heavy metal bands. You’ll get blasted with a couple of incredible shredding guitar solos. The singers are incredible, but it’s really a 50-50 with this band. They really do showcase themselves as musicians.”
With the orchestral collaborations, however, there’s a more complementary tone.
“I don’t want to say it’s a more subdued show, but it definitely lends itself to the symphony,” says Foresta. “A couple of songs have some incredible scores that are played specifically only with the symphony. All the scores were created for and are owned by ARRIVAL from Sweden. The scores really allow the symphony to be showcased. We want people to experience how big the show can be with that symphony.”
Despite that, conductor Alfonso emphasizes that the star of the show is still ABBA’s music.
“We play in most every song,” says Alfonso, a Key West native who founded the symphony in 1997. “But we’re the instrument. We enhance, but the center of it is the ABBA song. It’s for people that love this group, love their music. So it’ll be true to ABBA.”
Still, Foresta says, the symphony’s contribution is significant: “I’d say 50% of the time it’s definitely an accompaniment, but in the other 50% there are incredible parts that the symphony plays that are just completely different from what you would hear in a recording, or what you would have seen ABBA perform live.”
While ABBA’s recordings featured orchestral overdubs, the group was not known to incorporate orchestras into its live appearances. And, in contrast to the enduring tours of ARRIVAL and other tributes, ABBA performed much more as a video act than a live band.
“It’s a lot of fun when you get to do something different,” says Alfonso, whose orchestra has previously ventured into the pop arena, such as with May’s Classical Mystery Tour, a Beatles tribute show for which the orchestra musicians dressed in the time period. It will also perform the score live for a showing of the movie “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” at the Broward Center on Oct. 26.
“When we do stuff like this, we’re getting a mixed crowd. People tell us they’d never been in the presence of a live orchestra before and they just loved it. Also, it’s not just expanding the audience, it’s people learning what else we do. We’re an orchestra that’s very much in the community. For us, it’s important for people to understand that we don’t just do classical music concerts — though those in themselves are amazing.”
And Alfonso says she does like ABBA’s music. “And I loved the movie ‘Mamma Mia!’ I’m actually excited to get to do this.”
She won’t be the only one. “Usually for a symphony show, maybe the audience will be a little hesitant to immediately stand up and start dancing because, of course, ABBA music instantly instills the need to dance, says Foresta. “But usually by the time we get to ‘Mamma Mia’ at the end of the first half, the entire audience is up on their feet. And when we come back out after intermission, now they understand: OK, this is a party.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “ARRIVAL from Sweden: The Music of ABBA,” with the South Florida Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
TICKETS: $55-$145
INFORMATION: 954-462-0222; browardcenter.org
This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division. Visit ArtsCalendar.com for more stories about the arts in South Florida.
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