On Saturday September 29, Melodifestivalklubben OGAE Sweden held its annual club meeting and convention in Karlskrona in the south-east of Sweden. Over 80 members attended, a record breaking number for a Swedish club meeting. Guest stars of the evening were Tina Leijonberg, Gladys del Pilar and Fredrik Kempe.
The day started off with the annual meeting, and the elected board for the year 2007/2008 looks like this:
President: Maria Niklasson, Göteborg
Vice President: Mikael Olofsson, Nacka
2nd Vice President: Patrik Rosell, Växjö
Board members:Tommy Grundström, Helsingborg, Jens Johansson, Stockholm, Lizbet Brittsten, Falun
Inger Hellberg, Huddinge
Substitutes:1st, Magnus Andersson, Växjö2dn, Katarina Daggert, Vålberg, 3rd, Annika Jansson, Falkenberg
The meeting took place at the Statt Hotel in Karlskrona. After dinner everybody got the chance to
show off their skills in a Melodifestival/Eurovision quiz. Then it was time for the highlight of the evening: the show with Melodifestival guests! Before they got on stage the audience was warmed up by some classic Melodifestivalsongs performed by Sophia Ljungberg, the arranger of the club meeting and hostess of the evening, and her showgroup from Karlskrona. The first past Melodifestival entrant to enter the stage was Tina Leijonberg, who started off with with the song Närmare dej from 1993.
After this she sang Himmel på vår jord, the song that she performed together with Monica Silverstrand in Melodifestivalen 1995.
Next one on stage was Gladys del Pilar, one third of Afrodite, who started her performance with Det vackraste jag vet which came 2nd in Melodifestivalen in 1994. She also performed the Afrodite song from 2003, Aqua playa and her solo entry Baby I can't stop from 2005. Gladys was in a great mood and shared her memories from the times she took part in Melodifestivalen.
The third and last guest was singer and composer Fredrik Kempe. He performed his Melodifestivalen
entries from 2004 and 2005, Finally and Du och jag mot världen .And then the audience got to hear him performe Cara Mia, the song he wrote for Måns Zelmerlöw and which, 2 days after the club meeting, was voted the winner of OGAE 2nd chance contest 2007! Fredrik also performed Vincero, one of his big hits that has not taken part in Melodifestivalen.
After the performances was over for the night the artists all took the time to talk to all the members and have their pictures taken, while DJ Kris "Diggil-ej" Boswell took over and played Eurovision and Melodifestivalen classics for the crowded dance floor, and everybody danced the night away.
If you would like to know more about Melodifestivalklubben, please visit www.melodifestivalklubben.se or contact [email protected].
A very special thank you to Maria Niklasson for the submission of the report.
