Musiktidning Feb. 1970

              Official Journal of the American Union of Swedish Singers
Vol. LXIV CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1970 No. 2
AUSS President Martin /llilm Reports
On January 6, our convention co-ordinator,
Bernie Bishop, and myself
attended a joint rehearsal of the St.
Paul and Minneapolis singers. It was
pleasing to note the good harmony
within this group.
Under two top quality directors,
Edward Nyborg of American Swedish
Institute Male Chorus and Donald
Torgersen of St. Paul Swedish Male
Chorus, we heard a variety of songs,
predominantly Swedish, being re-hearsed
for a joint appearance the
following Sunday, but we were as-sured
the San Francisco convention
program is not being neglected, and
to prove this, they sang "Spillemans-hambo"
for us.
Here, as in other areas, the problem
is to recruit new singers. We missed
some of our old friends, but noted
also that new members have been
added.
The interest in the coming conven-tion
is keen and I hope that by now
the questionnaires handed out by Mr.
Bishop have been filled out and turned
in to the respective chorus coordina-tors.
At a meeting with the Twin City
Veterans, a proposal was made for
another tour of Sweden. Since no
AUSS convention will be held in 1971,
that year is suggested and also that
Finland and possibly Leningrad be in-cluded
in the tour. I will report fur-ther
on this in the near future.
On January 18, Florence and I again
had the pleasure of being invited to
the Swedish Glee Club of Waukegan
for their annual meeting dinner, which
is always an enjoyable occasion for
us. This chorus does not seem to suf-fer
from deprivation in membership,
their ranks are well filled. To the
gratification of the San Francisco
convention committee and myself, the
Waukegan singers are planning to at-tend
in full strength. Congratulations
to the Glee Club's newly elected presi-dent,
Mr. Raoul Geary, and to Mrs.
MARTIN AHLM
Evelyn Olson, president of the Ladies
Auxiliary, who, according to Mrs.
Olson's comments, are already well
on their way in preparing for the
1972 Central Division Convention,
which will be sponsored by the Glee
Club.
The Chicago Veterans Chorus has
sent in their choice of songs for the
individual chorus concert on Thurs-day
evening, July 16, in San Fran-cisco,
where they will be joined by
the Twin City veterans.
My own chorus, Svithiod Singing
Club, has added several new members
to the roster and plans to participate
in the convention as well as in the
individual chorus appearance. Here,
in Svithiod, we spend our rehearsal
time almost entirely on the conven-tion
program.
From the Viking Male Chorus in
Chicago, I can also report that the
convention songs are being rehearsed
each week and the majority of the
members are planning to participate.
The AUSS of Chicago Committee,
with Mr. Dan Olch as chairman, is
holding regular meetings in order to
keep all members informed about the
various chorus' activities, as well as
details concerning the convention.
All in all, the prospects for a suc-cessful
convention are good — but
please be reminded that when you
read this report there are only FIVE
months until July 15, 1970! Certainly
no time to waste.
For the first time, as far as I know,
we have appointed a convention co-ordinator.
Support him by promptly
giving the information he needs. This
will benefit us all. Our goal is to make
this convention the most outstanding
in the AUSS history.
In the next issue of MT I will re-port
from the Eastern Division after
the meeting and rehearsal at Apollo
Singing Society in New Haven.
Martin Ahlm
HAR AR LANDET
Har ligger landet, lanclet med ara,
sagornas, minnenas, loftenas trakt!
Sjung den som kan det,
Har ligger landet,
Sverige, var hembygd,
med skordar och allt.
Har just om varen larkorna sjunga,
sa som man aldrig pa jorden det hor.
Medan kring slatter skogarna gunga,
sakta till jubel av vindarnas kor.
Har just mot h6sten tegarna bar a
vete och gungande rag,
medan den bleka hostmanens skara,
lyser de flyktande svanarnas tag.
Var vi an vandra langt bort i varlden,
vait vi an stiava pa levnadens strom,
styr dock var tanke jublande farden
hem, till var hembygd i langtan och
drom.
Sjung den som kan det,
Har ligger landet,
Sverige, var hembygd,
med skordar och allt.
Sangarveteranen
Ivan Krause
Ye Olde Scribe Sez:
Thor, the god of thunder, was the
first man to break the sound barrier.