Press release
07 January 2009
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
The Government's Music Export Prize for 2008 goes to...
The Government's Music Export Prize 2008 goes to Björn Ulvaeus och Benny Andersson for their contribution to Swedish music exports.
Minister for Trade Ewa Björling attended the Swedish Grammy Awards (Grammisgalan) at Hovet to award the prize to the winners.
The Music Export Prize for extraordinary contributions to Swedish music exports is awarded for the twelfth year in a row. The prize consists of a diploma by designer Dan Ahlquist and a glass sculpture designed by Bertil Vallien.
The jury's motivation:
"Good pop songs are often written to capture a magical moment in time, and then - with an effect that is as close to immediate as possible - quickly produce the greatest possible impact. There are very few who are able to create pop music that both flourishes in the present and gains a lasting vitality so that the songs and the melodies live on from generation to generation. Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson belong to that exclusive few who have succeeded with this feat. In 2008, over 30 years after many of the pair's classic songs were first heard with ABBA, they tirelessly continued to break new and completely unparalleled records. In recordings, on the musical stage and now also on film."
Contact
Jens SöderblomPolitical Adviser to Ewa Björling
+46 8 405 27 44
+46 76 766 39 99
email to Jens Söderblom Fredrik Wetterqvist
Senior Adviser
Head of Cultural Promotion and the Image of Sweden group
+46 8 405 32 51
