| This
is a unique label, used only for one single issue. It was produced and
sold as a part of the carnival arranged by the students at the
university of Lund in 1934. The Lundian carnival tradition dates back to
1849 and different forms of specially written songs have long been a
part of the tradition. During the early 19th century certain songs
tended to become official ”theme songs” of the carnival, and special
comepetitions were arranged for music and lyric writers among the
students. The theme song of 1934, ”Prins Karneval regerar” (= Prince
Carnival rules), was composed by Gösta Olsson with lyrics by Åke
Ohlmarks who would later become famous as the Swedish translator of J R
R Tolkien’s ”Fellowship of the ring” among many other things. It
was backed by a waltz called ”Karnevalsvår” (= Carnival spring). Although the music was the work of amateurs the record itself was entirely professionally produced. The lyrics were sung by Hilmer Borgeling (1904-69) who was for more than two decades one of Sweden’s most prolific studio vocalists, and the music was arranged and conducted by Hanns Bingang (1894-1950) who was at the time head of recordings for the Swedish branches of HMV, Kristall and Odeon. Strangely enough none of these companies but the fairly new Sonora company seems to have been responsible for the production of the record. Apparently the record was not a financial success for the students, and the next attempt to release a commercial recording of the carnival theme had to wait until 1966! And since not all the records of 1934 were sold there is still a small stack of mint condition copies left in the archive and museum of the Academic Society (Akademiska Föreningen) in Lund. Unfortunately they are not for sale… My thanks to Fredrik Tersmeden for the scan and information about this label. |
