Per posted the info this afternoon on Roxette Official: the title of the DVD will be “IT ALL BEGINS WHERE IT ENDS”. The title says it all and reading the comments, it seems to be very popular among all magic friends. How couldn’t it be?
Don’t forget that you can watch a shortened version of the documentary soon on SVT and as Per informs, more international TV channels will follow shortly. Hopefully, we are not kept waiting so long for the release date of the DVD itself.
In cooperation with the author of the book, Maria Sörgjerd, we are giving away 2 copies of “I en underbar ballong”.
Since the book is about what it is to be a Roxette fan, we would like to hear your story. Write in a few sentences what it is for you to be a Roxette fan or your best memory from the 2011 – 2012 Roxette tour. Note that we will randomly select the 2 winners and your story will be published here.
Write an email with your name, address (so we can send the book) and your story to contest@roxetteblog.com until December 21st.
Good luck!
And here is the small letter, contest conditions
– In order to participate, you have to send an email to contest@roxetteblog.com with name, address and your story. We will consider all emails we receive until the 21st of December, 2012, 23:59 CET time.
– 2 winners will be picked up randomly among those who have participated.
– As it is usual, you can only participate once, any attempt to participate twice will lead to your disqualification.
– Prizes won’t be paid out in cash. Prizes will be sent by standard mail only once (so basically, if the envelope gets lost.. we won’t be able to send a replacement).
– Winners will be announced on this website and your story will be published here. You will also be notified per email and you’ll be required to answer to the notification email.
– Stories sent in by all participants may be used as well on the website, anonymous if wished.
I just finished reading “I en underbar ballong” (“In a wonderful balloon”), written by Maria Sörgjerd from Sweden and published by Fenomena. Maria, who studied psychology and music psychology, spent two years collecting information about being a fan and interviewing Roxette fans for her book.
I read the book quite fast, one of the reasons being the fact that I know most of the interviewed fans, even though most of them got aliases, if you’ve been around long enough you will recognize them and their stories. And of course, because I recognize, even if not relate to some of them, many of the topics which are treated in the book, being a fan myself. You may explore these romance books to read when you just want to unwind and relax.
The first part of the book is an introduction to what it means to be a Roxer and to go to a concert for the fans, meeting all the other fans and friends, but also fighting for the first row or meeting Per and Marie or the musicians after a concert. It also contains a short biography of Roxette & co, with comments of Roxette’s position in the music market and how Roxette is seen by the media and “outside”.
In the second part of the book, the author goes deeper in the psychological aspect of belonging to the fan(atic) subculture and having Per and Marie as idols. Not everything is a wonderful balloon though: some may take their fanatism to extremes of stalking, and there is also a lot of competition about who is first to break the news or who has met Per and Marie most times, jealousy and hostility among fans. It has become less with the years, but unfortunately, is still present.
Luckily, there are a lot of positive aspects as well, such as friendship and love stories – many found their best friends or their partners because of Roxette – and how fans help each other sharing videos, pictures and stories via fan communities, from the old times via Friendship Books to the internet era.
The last part of the book concentrates on music and how it affects our brain and feelings, and how music serves as therapy and makes us feel better in hard times and happier in happy times. The author comes to the conclusion that it’s not just the melodies that matter, but also the texts and voice, and has a special mention about Marie’s voice.
All in all an interesting book that should not be missing in the private library of a Roxette fan, both for fans who have been around for a long time and fans who recently joined the fun and want to understand the reason behind some rituals, behavior and stories and jokes. It might not be that interesting to read for “outsiders”, it may help other music psychologists and sociologists though, since the market lacks books like this.
Brazilian fan page www.roxettebrasil.net has done 11 Q&A sessions with people working with/for/as Roxette during the World Tour – including Marie Fredriksson, Dea Norberg, Calle Brattberg, Danne Persson, Peter Fredriksson, Jakob Johnzen, Anders Molund, Mikael Svensson, Tumppi Haaranen, Sven Lindstrom (who took his time to answer those question not as others ;-), Ulf Brynte and last but certainly not least – Bo Johansson.
If you had problems with remembering who did what during the tour (expect Marie and Per singing), so this guide will take you through all other people that need to be remembered. And for those who didn’t know – Marie reveals who “Moje” is.
For those who are eagerly waiting for Christmas gifts – there will be a big one from Roxette. You just have to live in Sweden to watch the public channel SVT on Wednesday, December 26th at 10:30pm for the shortened version of the Roxette documentary which will be – HOPEFULLY – out on the DVD next year. If you are living abroad, we guess it will be available in a free-of-charge VOD service on the website later that week. At this point we do not know if the documentary is in English or Swedish.
Additionally – as Roxette Cafe found out – January 2, 2013 at 10:30pm SVT 1 will air a Roxette concert compiled from the 2011-2012 world tour!
We’re keeping our fingers crossed the Gyllene Tider casus won’t be repeated this time…*
Here’s the short synopsis translated by Patricia Peres:
After Marie Fredriksson suffered from a brain tumor in 2002 it was a long way to recovery, and no one could have imagined that Roxette almost ten years later would be revived and go on a world tour again. What started with six planned gigs became a triumphal march around the world that lasted over 19 months. We follow Per, Marie and the band in a documentary about their return, the world tour, work in the studio, fantastic and fanatic fans worldwide with wonderful stories about how Roxette affected their lives and how they live with Roxette’s music.
* GT promised to release DVD with a documentary back in 2004, but firstly they showed the shortened version of the programme on TV and then the DVD was moved in time and with time cancelled…