Evert Taube

Evert Taube
Evert Taube in 1961.
Background information
Birth name	Evert Axel Taube
Born	March 12, 1890(1890-03-12) Gothenburg, Sweden
Died	January 31, 1976(1976-01-31) (aged 85) Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	Folk music
Occupations	Musician Author
Instruments	Vocals, Lute
Years active	1918–74
Website	Everttaube.info (unofficial)

1985 statue of Evert Taube at Järntorget in Stockholm.

Taube's grave in Stockholm

Evert Axel Taube (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈeːvɛʈ ˈtoːb] ( listen); 12 March 1890-31 January 1976) was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is best known for his folk songs, and is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians.

Biography

Evert Taube was born in Gothenburg, and brought up on the island of Vinga, Västergötland, where his father, Carl Gunnar Taube, a ship's captain, was the lighthouse keeper. His mother was Julia Sofia Jacobsdotter.

In 1925, he married Astri Bergman Taube, a painter and sculptress. He died in Stockholm and is buried on the graveyard of Maria Magdalena Church on Södermalm.

Having spent two years (1907–1909) sailing around the Red Sea, Ceylon and South Africa, Taube began his career as a singer-songwriter and collector of sailors' songs, and on Christmas Eve 1908, on board the Norwegian ship SS Bergen headed for Spain, he performed "Turalleri, piken fra Hamburg".

Following a five-year stay (1910–1915) in Argentina, he developed an interest in Latin American music and introduced the Argentinian tango to Sweden in the twenties. Contrary to widespread perceptions, Taube did not work as a gaucho (cowboy) on the Pampas but as a foreman supervising workers who were digging canals designed to prevent flooding on the vast plains.

He is perhaps best known as a depictor of the idyllic, with motifs from the Swedish archipelagoes and from the Mediterranean, from a perspective every Swedish four-week holiday tourist could recognize. But he also wrote the most hitting anti-fascist anti-war poem in the Swedish language, "Målaren och Maria Pia", about the Italian war in Abyssinia, from the late 30s, as well as the anthem of the budding environmental movement in the 70s, "Änglamark" (originally written for the successful 1971 "Hasseåtage"-film The Apple War).

On his 60th birthday in 1950, Taube received the Bellman Award from the Swedish Academy and in 1960 he received an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University. He was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1970.

Among Taube's most famous songs are "Calle Schewens vals", "Min älskling (du är som en ros)", "Dans på Sunnanö", "Flickan i Havanna", "Änglamark", "Sjösala vals", "Fritiof och Carmencita", "Så skimrande var aldrig havet" and "Så länge skutan kan gå".

Taube is regarded as one of the finest troubadours in Sweden. There is a complete pavilion, opened in 2008, dedicated to him at Liseberg Theme Park in Gothenburg.

On 6 April 2011, the Bank of Sweden announced that Taube's portrait will feature on the 50 kronor banknote, beginning in 2014-15.

Children

1. Per-Evert Arvid Joachim Taube (1926–2009)
2. Rose Marie Astrid Elisabet Taube (1928 - 1928)
3. Ellinor Gunnel Astri Elisabeth Taube (1930–1998)
4. Sven-Bertil Taube (born 1934)

See also

• List of Swedes in music

Publications

• Sjösalaboken (1942), with illustrations by Roland Svensson.

His works in English

• Sea Ballads & Other Songs (1940) - (trans. by Helen Asbury)
• I Come From A Raging Sea (1967) - (trans. by Paul Britten Austin)
• CD: A Talk While Dancing (1999) - (trans. by Emily Melcher)

Biography in English

• I Come From A Raging Sea (1967) - (Foreword by Inga-Britt Fredholm)
• A History of Swedish Literature (1989) - (Ingemar Algulin)
• A History of Swedish Literature (1996) - (Lars G. Warme)

External links

• Evert Taube's (unofficial) home page
• Taube Society (Swedish only)
• Helen Asbury's translations at Evert Taubes hörna
• Taube biography at Allmusic - Enter "Evert Taube" in Artist/Group window.
• Works by Evert Taube on Open Library at the Internet Archive