Vasa Drangar

What Is a Swedish Snaps-Song?
To begin with, to say “Swedish Snaps-Songs” is tautology! All snaps-songs are Swedish. This tradition of writing and singing snaps-songs does not exist outside Sweden and some Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. If you hear a snapsvisa in Denmark or Norway- then you heard a Swedish one or translated from Swedish.

History
The Swedish custom of drinking snaps with a meal is deeply rooted in the souls of Swedes. The tradition goes back to the Middle Age. The Icelandic sagas described how people drank to Oden and other gods. They drank from the same bowl. There were rules describing how the bowl should be passed around, starting with the oldest man. It was very important that everyone had the same quantity to drink, as they passed the vessel all around the table, or around the company= laget om – fagom. From here the Swedish language got its expression “lagom”: not too much, not too little, just right!

A French diplomat visited Sweden in 1634 and wrote about a wedding he attended. Everyone had to stand up and drink toasts for the king of France and the queen. Then they had to deliver a long speech for a table neighbor before the toast passed on. Then people started to quarrel about whether they should repeat everything for the king of Spain. Then they started to throw cups and glasses around.

Throwing the stoup away was a tradition. They were mostly made of tin. But soon people started to drink from glasses. When king Erik the fourteenth in 1563 hosted a Christmas party, 174 glasses were crushed. It did not get any better for his brother king Johan the third, who at a party in 1573 had 375 glasses broken.

How much did they drink?
In the 16th century 3 to 4 liters of beer (one gallon) was absolutely necessary every day. Rich people drank more because they also drank wine.

What did they drink?
Beer was the center of all kinds of events. Wine was a luxury. Water was not a good choice because it was rarely clean. In a book printed in the 18th century a farmer wrote: “Water is drunk by all dumb animals that rarely get anything else to drink”. Coffee and tea did not show up in Sweden until in the end of the 18th century. Alcohol was in the 15th century used only for the manufacturing of gunpowder. But 100 years later it became a luxury beverage, at first as medicine. It was considered good for everything. In the 18th century snaps became more an more common and of course the drunkenness increased and so did the number of restaurants. In 1754 the number of restaurants, inns and taverns in Stockholm was 723, equal to one of every 79 residents. In 1829 5½ gallons alcohol per inhabitants was produced in Sweden – moonshine not included. On the countryside everyone was treated with a so-called morning-bite at 3 am. This breakfast consisted of a piece of bread and a snaps that normally was at least 10 cl – 3.3 ounces. The farmer himself then treated himself with a snaps or two with every meal.

Toasting rituals.
The word “skal” probably came from the Low German language: “enes schale drinken”, which means to drink to someone’s prosperity. It was extremely important to a person to accept a toast that was dedicated to him. Refusing could have ill-fated consequences. A story from the 17th century tells about a man at a restaurant in Stockholm’s Old Town who got killed with a knife after he refused to accept a toast from a
“friend”. Carl von Linne (Linneaus) describes in a book how he, while visiting a farm, had to drink a “welcome toast”, a full drinking-glass that must be emptied. Linne felt like “his stomach was about to burst, his head to crack and the health and all life’s pleasure to say good-bye”.

The singing.

Early Greeks and Romans sang to the toast. Even Swedes have been singing to the toast for 500 years. Many -; songs came from German immigrants who brought manners and customs, such as maypoles and Walpurgis

Night bonfires. But nowhere in the imported songs, not even in Bellman’s production, is the word “snaps” mentioned. That word is to be found for the first time in 1799. Then in the 19th century snaps became Sweden’s favorite beverage and the snaps song was born. And the snaps songs are not only typical Swedish­they are uniquely Swedish. You find them in Sweden and the parts of Finland where Swedish is spoken – but not in Denmark and Norway, other than a few snaps songs translated from Swedish.

In the first half of the 19th century the snapses were numbered, Helan, Halvan, Tersen, Kvarten etc., followed by the expansion of this systematics. Today no less than 20 snapses are numbered and entitled.

The singing of snapsvisor became extremely popular because it increases the atmosphere of the party and has a nice side-effect: You drink less because you are busy singing! So the singing is more important than the drinking. The unwritten rule is that you don’t drink until you have first sung a snaps song. You don’t even touch your glass before the first snaps song is executed!

What makes a good snapsvisa?
There are 5 important components:

1. It must be written to a well-known melody so everyone can sing along. No sheet music should be used. Melodies can be: Children’s songs, folk-melodies, popular songs.
2. Each syllable must follow the music exactly.
3. It should be funny, with a joke, and put into rhyme.
4. It must be easy to learn and remember.
5. It must be short – the snaps it waiting!

How to toast and how to drink.
There are some, mainly unwritten, rules for how to toast. A foreigner described the Swedish toasting technique in a book in these words: “With your best Sunday-look you lift your glass up to a level of an imaginary third uniform button, while starring the person you are toasting with in the white of his eyes. After doing this you are allowed to drink, but you still have to look straight into the other person’s eyes. Then you can put down the glass. Everything must be with a facial expression of ceremoniously pleasant gravity, that for many foreigners would take years to learn.”

These are some of the rules, actually still strictly followed at formal, full-dress dinners. But otherwise very relaxed, if at all practiced. For instance most women will not hold back toasting with a man.

• DO NOT touch your glass before the host takes hold of his, proposing a welcome toast.
• Men are supposed to toast with the lady on his right.
• DO NOT toast with the host. No one is allowed to toast with the host.
• ” DO NOT toast with the hostess if there are more than 8 at the table.
• Never clink with your glasses!
• A lady never toasts with her cavalier.

Cold and freezing cold beverages effectively kills any taste. If you are having a Budweisser or any other tasteless beer it does not matter, because you are not drinking it for the taste -you could as well drink water. But if you like a good beer, like an ale from a microbrewery, DO NOT chill it too much. It should not be colder than about 55-60 degrees – otherwise it will loose its taste. Same with the snaps – do not serve it colder than about 50-55 degrees, and DO NOT put it in the freezer! If you enjoy a nicely spiced snaps you will effectively loose the taste if you serve it frozen. But if you are drinking a cheap vodka or moonshine then you should serve it as cold as possible.

Of the same reason -the taste – always drink the beer from glasses and not too cold. You never drink wine from the bottle, so why drink beer from the bottle? Microbreweries understand it. If you come to taste their brew they always serve it in glasses.

Finally here is a good snaps-songs, first in Swedish and then in an English, singable translation. The melody is “He’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”.

//: Du ska fa mitt gamla snapsglas nor jag dor. ://

Nar jag reser mig ur askan
dricker jag direkt ur flaskan.
Du ska fa mitt gamla snapsglas nor jag dor.

//: You’ll inherit my old shot-glass when I die. ://

When my mortal time elapses
I’ll be swigging all my snapses.
You’ll inherit my old shot-glass when I die.

Goran Rygert

Swedish choir-singing has become a trademark of the highest grade. It’s called “The Swedish Choral Wonder”.

It is believed that the Swedish choir movement started in Uppsala in 1808. It happened during a peace march in connection with the war in Finland between Sweden and Russia, when male students sang together in parts. The singing united them in this common cause – the national freedom. Unfortunately, Sweden lost Finland to Russia, but the choir-singing continued.

During the 19th century it spread to churches, schools, working-class movements and gave birth to choral societies. Choir-singing became used as a tool for unity.

Women did not take part in this singing until the middle of the 19th century.

Today about 6% of Sweden’s population – that is about 600,000 people – sing regularly or occasionally – in a choir. Many of them are under 25 years old, linked to schools, universities.

As time went on many new choruses developed, as well as choir-associations. Now professor-ships in choir-conducting and composition are established. Symposia for choir-singers are popping up, courses for children-choir leaders are arranged, and much more.

According to statistics, culture customs are taking more and more space in Swedish people’s lives. The activity of singing in a choir is increasing in Sweden as well as in the other Nordic countries. A study from 2006 showed that Sweden was the most culture-active country in Europe.

More and more of Sweden’s choral groups participate in international choir competition, often very successfully. Maybe the so-called Swedish choir-sound has contributed. It was legendary choir-leader Eric Ericson who personified this ideal of sound that has characterized Swedish choir-singing since the 1950.s. He for instance wanted to sing more rhythmically and intonationally exact. His singers learned to read the music accurately, no vibratos, and be careful with placing the consonants.

Finally, it is a medical fact that we feel better of singing in a choir. Research show that choir-singing can make us live longer!

Göran Rygert

Source: Gunnel Fagius: Det svenska körundret.

In August 1996 seven guys from Atlanta came together to practice singing for the Nordic Lodge #708 at its crawfish party later in the same month. They were Bruce Larson, Sam Linden, Gunnar Carteng, Sten Ekberg, Dale Nordin, Dennis Carlson and Göran Rygert. We were able to put together a 30-minute program from Sweden’s well-known repertoire for men’s choir, including also a few schnapps songs. We called ourselves “The Vikings”. The performance went well, we sounded pretty good and got an appetite for more and started rehearsing on a regular basis. Then we changed our name to “Vasa Drängar” (meaning Vasa Farmhands). The name Vasa Drängar was inspired by the famous Swedish men’s choir Orphei Drängar of Uppsala.

We grew slowly, were 10 members two years later. Then, after a couple of years with very little activity, we grew again and in 2015 we were 15 members. We sang at almost every Swedish event: The Scandinavian Festival, Valborgsmässoafton, Sweden’s National Day, crawfish parties, Lucia, Christmas dinners – even at Julotta. First mostly in Atlanta but later also out of town. The small town Thorsby, Alabama, founded by Swedes from Värmland, invited us to sing at their Swedish festival. From Raleigh, North Carolina came in 2007 an invitation to sing at their annual Scandinavian Christmas Fair. That became a tradition and we have been there 13 times. Our out-of-state tours also include Charlotte, NC, New Haven CT, Chicago IL and Vancouver WA. More about that later on.

Vasa Drängar is the southernmost-located Swedish choir in the United States. We cover a wide range of music and genres, maintaining Swedish tradition in the southeast. On our repertoire list are about 250 songs: spring songs, folk music, traditional Swedish men’s choir songs, Swedish “visor”, national anthems, schnapps songs, popular American and British songs, Christmas songs – in ten languages.

* AUSS

Vasa Drängar joined the American Union of Swedish Singers in 2007. In 2012 we decided to attend  their National Convention, an event that takes place every fourth year. This time it was held in New Haven CT. As new members of the AUSS we were invited to entertain during the Opening Night. So we did. Vasa Drängar sang eight songs and our Spex Group (see below) two. We performed for a group of 250 singers. They obviously liked what they saw and heard. Afterwards we heard people saying  “This was really impressive!”

The next AUSS convention was held in Lombard, Greater Chicago, in 2016. We performed by ourselves at the “Individual Chorus Night” and also with the AUSS Eastern Division. We of course also were part of the 150-piece large Grand Chorus at the Grand Concert.

The third time we attended the AUSS National Convention was in 2019, this time in Vancouver, WA. We again sang with the AUSS Eastern Division and the Grand Chorus and again performed at the Individual Chorus Night. Because Vasa Drängar this time were not large enough to perform on our own we were lucky to be strengthened by two great Swedish singers, Bengt Olerud from Gävle and Åke Engquist from Stockholm. They both declared that they will join Vasa Drängar at our concert at the AUSS Convention in 2023, that will be held in Atlanta.  Our concert at the Individual Chorus Night went very well. Especially the “Getting Tipsy In the Bar”. All of us ended up laying on the floor and it was a big success with the audience.

* SPEX

The Spex Group, 2009-2014, started in order to present some of the Swedish tradition at Universities of creating fun musicals about (often) a historical person. The tradition started in the end of the 19th century, with only men on stage because there were no women students at universities at the time. But that tradition of having only men performing continued and grew. For instance, students at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg  (not starting until 1948), began to produce a new spex each year, continuing on in this way until 2003. Then they started producing TWO spexes a year, one with only men on stage, as before, but also one with only women. That went on until 2019 when a decision was made to allow both sexes on stage. Vasa Drängar’s spex group consisted of Erik Kind, Sten Ekberg, Magnus Edlund and Göran Rygert, who was involved in Chalmersspexet during his time at Chalmers, picking up repertoire from there. Hans Hörnfeldt joined from time to time. Gabe Granitz was the pianist except in 2014 when Kyle Bennet did the job. We performed at many of Atlanta’s Nordic Lodge (Vasa Order) Scandinavian Show events, as well as in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC; at the AUSS convention in New Haven, CT and at Chalmers’ alumni meetings in Atlanta.

* RECORDINGS

VASA DRÄNGAR’s first and so far only CD is a live recording from our 20th anniversary concert at Winters Chapel UMC in Atlanta, in 2016. It features Vasa Drängar as well as Niklas Björling Rygert, a tenor from the  Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm and an ensemble from Atlanta Balalaika Society orchestra. Jeep Hook, Atlanta, did the recording.

QVARTETTEN has released two CDs: “Ta Dej En Jamare”, 2010, with popular Swedish drinking songs and ending with an excerpt from August Söderman’s “I Bröllopsgården”. The second CD is “Jul, Jul” from 2011 with well-known Swedish Christmas songs. The recordings of both CDs were made by Qvartetten themselves.

All three covers were designed by Pam Minton.

“Jul, Jul” is sold out. The other two CDs are available.

* ASSOCIATION STRUCTURE

In Vasa Drängar’s early years we were not organized as an organization, we had no board of directors, no officers. It was not until 2007 that we voted in Carl Ericsson as our first president and a board of three additional people plus a music director. In 2010 Sten Ekberg took over the president’s duties. In 2020 Jay Lutz became the president and we increased the number of directors to seven. In the beginning of 2021 we became a non-profit entity in Georgia and we were able to open a bank account in the name of Vasa Drängar, Inc. Now is also to become non-profit federally.
Currently the Directors are:
President: Jay Lutz.
Vice President: Sten Ekberg.
Treasurer: Lilian Nordin.
Secretary: Erik Kind.
Master of Ceremonies: Dale Nordin.
Since March 2022 the Conductor and Music Director is Andrew Hershman.
Assistant Music Director and Librarian is Göran Rygert.