The artist Ulf Dageby has died, 80 years old. Cultural journalist Kalle Lind remembers his achievements for the Swedish prog scene.
He captured something in the combination of text and music that people recognize themselves in or understand, he says.
Ulf Dageby was a leading creative force in Nationalteatern and was behind classics like "Barn av vår tid" and "Livet är en fest".
They were songs that were initially written for theater plays performed in Gothenburg's concrete suburbs, which later ended up on records and those records are still being played, says Kalle Lind, who in his Sveriges Radio podcast "Snedtänkt" often returned to Dageby and Nationalteatern.
They are songs that 100 percent took the side of vulnerable kids who lived in the million program areas and sang about their reality. My impression is that even today's vulnerable kids in concrete areas hear when they listen to Nationalteatern that it's about them.
Nationalteatern
In 1978, Dageby made a Bob Dylan interpretation "Men bara om min älskade väntar" ("Tomorrow is a long time").
During the 2000s, there have probably been six, seven covers of it. Håkan Hellström and Thåström did it at Ullevi last year. It's still two of the country's biggest artists who are obviously in agreement that it's a masterpiece, says Kalle Lind.
Anders Melander and Ulf Dageby were the ones who wrote the music to Nationalteatern. But they worked on their own and wrote music for the performances they themselves were part of.
He describes Dageby's talent as unique.
He was actually not an actor, nor was I, but the ideal at the time was that everyone should do everything. All tasks should rotate. So Ulf played theater according to his own mind. He made several unforgettable performances, even though he was completely uneducated. I had a lot of fun with Ulf on stage, it was very fun to see him.
Composed film music
Dageby also composed a lot of film music, including for "Ett anständigt liv" (1979) and "Hotet" (1987) by director Stefan Jarl.
He was my best buddy, simply. It's painful to lose such a fantastically warm person, he says to Dagens Nyheter.
In 2013, Ulf Dageby participated in "Så mycket bättre" on TV4, among others, together with Ebbot Lundberg and Lill Lindfors.
I'm just damn glad I got to know him. He was a completely wonderful person, says Lundberg to TV4.
Lill Lindfors also remembers him warmly.
He was a talented and fine person. A good human being, she says to Expressen.
