Axel Evert Taube (; 12 March 1890 – 31 January 1976) was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians and the foremost troubadour of the Swedish ballad tradition in the 20th century.

Early life

Evert Taube was born in 1890 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, and brought up on the island of Vinga,

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

, where his father, Carl Gunnar Taube, a ship's captain, was the lighthouse keeper. His mother was Julia Sofia Jacobsdotter. Taube belongs to an untitled branch of the Baltic German noble Taube family, introduced at the Swedish House of Nobility in 1668 as noble family No. 734.

Career

Having spent two years (1907–1909) sailing around the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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 Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, he developed an interest in

Latin American music The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music highly incorpor ...

and introduced the Argentinian

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

to Sweden in the twenties. Contrary to widespread perceptions, Taube did not work as a

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...

(cowboy) on the

Pampa The Pampas (; from Quechuan languages, Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentina, Argentine Provinces of Argentina, provinces of Buenos Aires Pro ...

s 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 The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, from a perspective every Swedish four-week holiday tourist could recognize. But he also wrote the most hard-hitting anti-fascist anti-war poem in the Swedish language, "Målaren och Maria Pia", about the Italian war in Abyssinia, from the late 1930s. He also composed the anthem of the budding environmental movement in the 1970s, " Änglamark" (originally written for the successful 1971 Hasse & Tage film '' The Apple War''). Taube's literary secretary Inga-Britt Fredholm worked as a secretary at the Park Avenue Hotel in

starting in the late 1950s. There, in 1962, Evert Taube met her and this led to her becoming his literary secretary for more than ten years. During the 1964–1965 period she undertook travel for work, along with Taube, going to the

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and to the

Pampas The Pampas (; from Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all o ...

. She collaborated with Astri Taube on "Vid tiden för Astri och Apollon: okända dikter och berättelser", published in 1964. During the 1960s Fredholm collected Evert Taube's stories and published them in eight volumes at Albert Bonniers Förlag under the shared title of "Samlade berättelser med tillhörande visor och ballader", released 1966–1967. In the 1970s she produced two pictorial biographies of Taube: ”När jag var en ung caballero: en bildbiografi" (1970) and ”Kom i min famn: Evert Taube 1920-1971 : en bildbiografi" (1972). Among Taube's most famous songs are " Calle Schewens vals", " Min älskling (du är som en ros)", "Dans på Sunnanö", "Brevet Från Lillan", "Flickan i Havanna", " Änglamark", " Sjösala vals", " Fritiof och Carmencita", " Så skimrande var aldrig havet" and "Så länge skutan kan gå". In 1976 he released an album of songs (on SR Records) about and by Sweden's 18th-century bard, Carl Michael Bellman, performing 9 of Bellman's '' Fredman's Epistles'' including the ever popular '' Vila vid denna källa'', '' Ulla! min Ulla! säj, får jag dig bjuda'', and '' Solen glimmar blank och trind''. Taube has been translated into English by Helen Asbury, Paul Britten Austin, Emily Melcher''A Talk While Dancing'' CD, trans. by Emily Melcher, (Madison: Emily Melcher, 1999). and others. His songs have been recorded in English by Roger Whittaker, Sven-Bertil Taube, Martin Best, Roger Hinchliffe and Emily Melcher.

Personal life

In 1925, he married Astri Bergman Taube, a painter and sculptor. Taube is the father of Sven-Bertil Taube who also is a well known musician and actor in Sweden. Sven-Bertil along with covering his fathers songs also covered other poets and artists such as Carl Michael Bellman and Nils Ferlin. Taube died in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and is buried on the churchyard of Maria Magdalena Church on

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

. Taube had a summer house called '' Sjösala'', located in Stavsnäs, which was burned down by Mona Wallén-Hjerpe in 1969.

Honors

On his 60th birthday in 1950, Taube received the Bellman Award from the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

and in 1960 he received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

. He was elected as a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music (), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in ...

in 1970. Taube is regarded as one of the finest troubadours in Sweden. There is a complete pavilion, "Evert Taube's World" opened in 2008, dedicated to him at

Liseberg Liseberg is an amusement park located in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened in 1923. It is the second most visited theme park in Scandinavia, with around three million visitors annually. Among the noteworthy attractions is the wooden roller coaste ...

Theme Park in Gothenburg. On 25 March 2010, Norwegian Air Shuttle's (Norwegian.com) new Boeing 737-8FZ LN-NOV (msn 31713) was accepted at the Oslo (Gardermoen) base with the tail image of Evert Taube. On 6 April 2011, the Bank of Sweden announced that Taube's portrait will feature on the 50 kronor banknote, beginning in 2014–15. On 12 March 2013, a Google Doodle was dedicated to him.

Children

#''Per-Evert'' Arvid Joachim Taube (1926–2009) #''Rose Marie'' Astrid Elisabet Taube (1928–1928) #''Ellinor'' Gunnel Astri Elisabeth Taube (1930–1998) # ''Sven-Bertil'' Gunnar Evert Taube (1934–2022)

Publications

* ''Sjösalaboken'' (1942), with illustrations by Roland Svensson.

Biography in English

*''I Come From A Raging Sea'' 1967 *''A History of Swedish Literature'' 1989 *''A History of Swedish Literature'' 1996''A History of Swedish Literature'' edited by Lars G. Warme, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996).

Notes

References

External links

Swedish *
Taube societyEvert Taube
at

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet ...

.
Evert Taube homepage (unofficial)
English
Evert Taube biographyEvert Taube
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Translations
''A Talk While Dancing''
* ttp://johnirons.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-best-bread-song-by-evert-taube.html ''The cheerful baker of San Remo'' (Den glade bagaren i San Remo)br>''Morning song at Baggensfjärden'' (Morgonsång på Baggensfjärden)
;Videos * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taube, Evert 1890 births 1976 deaths Burials at Maria Magdalena Church Swedish people of Baltic German descent Swedish male songwriters Musicians from Gothenburg Swedish male writers 20th-century Swedish male singers