Que tal? Wie gehts? How's it going? Läget?

Here's just a quickie on the family blog to say that during december 2012 you can follow Praise Unit on www.praiseunit.blogspot.com .

Merry Christmas everybody!

More pictures

If you are Facebook friends with us you can access the three photo albums I made from our time in Spain. It is just a few pictures, but for us it brings back many memories.

We also want to thank everybody who puts pictures from our different adventures on their walls. It is a great way for us to keep the memories alive!

We miss you SO much!

We had a great week, last week, with typical swedish summer celebrations with a lot of friends from the past and the present. But today is a grey day, with lots of rain, cold winds and lots of cleaning up from last week, and unpacking things that have been in suitcases since we came home from Spain. Today is a day when we think about our time in Spain and our spanish friends even more. We miss you! Hope to see you soon!

Arenius en España

There are so many things to say about our three months in Spain. I could easily write a book about all the impressions and experiences, but I think the book will have to wait. Many people ask us if Spain was what we expected. My answer is “we did not know what to expect, but it was much better!”

The best thing, for me personally, was to see how Stella and Aina loved living in Spain, learning the Spanish culture, trying to communicate with our new friends and talking about the differences between Sweden and Spain. Stella and Aina were also close to my work in the churches. So they always had an idea of what daddy was doing when he had “ensayo” or meeting with the band.

We did missionary work in Spain, which means that we were not paid for our work, but we asked for money from churches and others who wanted to support us. It was great to trust God to help us with enough money, and it was great to see how Stella and Aina understood that we have been living for three months like this, and God provided.

Hopefully my daughters will be inspired to go into the world, share their gifts and trust God to provide for them. But whatever they choose to do I know I will love them just as much!

Swedish church music

I am at a conference in Sweden right now with thousands of christians from all over our country. An hour ago I came back from a seminar about the future christian music of Sweden. In my opinion it was a terrible seminar! Sweden has some of the most gifted singers and musicians in the world, and especially in the churches. But for 90 minutes we were just sitting and talking about the good old days. Or maybe that’s not fair. For 80 minutes we were talking about the good old days, and for 10 minutes we talked about that we hope that somebody else will change the music in the churches so that it becomes good again. That was depressing.

There are so many things we can do, if look at ourselves and into our own hearts and ask the question “what can I do?” No matter if you are a musical person or not, if you always wait for somebody else to do something, NOTHING will happen!

Lumen

The second weekend of June I was in Trnava, Slovakia, where we had a concert with Praise Unit at the Lumen festival. The concert was in the centre of the city on an outdoor stage. It was hard for us to imagine there would be thousands of people in a Slovakian city jumping and singing with the Praise Unit songs. The festival was great and the people took very well care of us.

The festival was organized by the catholic church, which gave me a lot to think of. I had just come home from Spain, where I felt that some catholics did not want to communicate with me, because I was from a different church. But at the Lumen festival there were several catholics who took my hand, looked me in the eye and told me that they wanted me to testify and speak ackording to my evangelical faith, even if the festival was organized by catholics. I hope I remember to greet them with the same friendly attitude when they visit my country!

Spinning around

For the past days I have been thinking about when Praise Unit went to New York a few years ago. More exactly I have been thinking about when some of us went to the Six Flags amusement park and spent ten hours riding America’s highest and fastest roller coasters. We bought “speed pass”, which meant we did not have to wait in line for the next ride. So we just went from one ride to another, and spent more time in the air, than on the ground that day. After that day my head was dizzy. It was difficult to go to sleep because I could feel my brain spinning around and I almost fell out of bed.

I have a similar experience right now. Not because of roller coasters, but because of all the things that have happened in the past weeks. My head is dizzy from all the places I have seen and all the people I have met lately.

But right now I am relaxing in a caravan in Sweden with my family, and just thinking about all the blessings in my life!

Taking a break

I took a break from writing on this blog in the beginning of June, when we came to Dortmund for the big gospel festival, Gospel Kirchentag. Since then I have been busy with some other travels, and the things that were waiting for us in Sweden.

I want to write a few more messages here, about our adventure in Spain, Gospel Kirchentag and other things, and then this blog will take a break until the Arenius Familia goes on a new adventure, or I have another reason to continue writing here.

Ultimo ensayo

Tonight was the last rehersal with Coro Gloria. Many hugs and tears afterwards. It took more than an hour to leave the room because of all the good-byes. Stella and Aina miss their spanish friends already so much. We know that we will come back soon!!!!

Schedule in Dortmund

Follow Joakim & Praise Unit at these hours:

Friday, 1st June
20.00 Concert with Praise Unit at the main stage
23.00 Concert with Praise Unit at the youth location

Saturday, 2nd June
10.30 Joakim conducting SoulTeens Mass Choir (2 Songs)

14.00 Concert with Gospel de España

15.30 Concert with Gospel de España

16.00 Concert with Praise Unit at the main stage   
17.45 "Open singing" rehersal with Joakim for everybody, some old songs and some songs from the new CD "Inspired"

Sunday, 3rd June
10.00 Joakim conducting Gospelkirchentag MassChoir (1 song)
14.00 Final service with all singers and musicians

Packing the bags

We leave tomorrow... (and a little tear runs down my cheek...)

Today is packing and cleaning. Tonight we meet Coro Gloria for the last time. Tomorrow we get in the car and we will sleep the following night in France.

Love and marriage

Laura is the woman who has control of the work I have been doing in Spain for the past three months. The schedule has changed many times and I would have been lost without the organizational expertise of Laura's mind. There has always been an email or sms or phone call from Laura to confirm the dates and hours. I don't know if the people I have visited in different cities in Spain know how much Laura has done to make everything work in every city. She has always been one step ahead, and the only time she looked tired was when I took my swedish friend Anna to her apartment at 2.30 in the morning.

Laura was so great at helping me from the very first day, so my first thought was "wow, she really likes me", but then she told me why she really likes to help...

...and the truth was...

...she really likes José.

The first time I was in Spain with my family was at the Camp Toral, a camp for gospel music in a small village where everything smells like cows. At the camp was Laura and it was there that she fell in love with her future husband, José. So whenever I teach a gospel song Laura closes her eyes and remember her first love for her husband. Hmmmm, and I thought my music was the good thing...

Anyway, José gave up his Madrid life to move to Valencia for Laura, and we are so happy for that! 

Yesterday me and Thorine sang "All the time" together with Laura and José (who are great singers too) and the church choir from our church in Valencia. It was great and I hope we do it again soon!
Well, when I first got to know José everybody called him "JB", and to my swedish friends who want to call him "JB" it is pronounced "schååååtahweee".

Gloria a dios

We just came home from a wonderful concert with Coro Gloria in a park in central Valencia. I did "Shabach" in spanish with the choir, and some other songs, and I sat in the sunset together with my family and listened to many songs from Coro Gloria's original repertoire. It was a great evening, but also sad because we feel that it is time to go home soon. We stayed long after the concert, talking, hugging, taking pictures, and Stella and Aina did all kinds of stuff with their spanish friends. Tomorrow we will sing in the church service.

Not ready

I have bought new tires to my car, so it is now ready for the long journey back to Sweden, via Dortmund. Gospelkirchentag next weekend will be great, and I am really inspired! But I don't feel ready to leave Spain yet. On saturday this week we have a concert with Coro Gloria in a park, and I am sure we will have a great time! We will really miss our spanish friends and our life here.

Gospelkirchentag 2012

It is monday and it is less than two weeks to Gospelkirchentag 2012 in Dortmund, Germany.

When I have tried to explain what Gospelkirchentag is to my spanish friends I realize how much this festival has meant to me. I have been at every Gospelkirchentag and it has always made an impact on me.

The first one in Essen, 2002, I was there with Joybells and we opened for Edwin Hawkins and other artists. It was the first time I met Helmut, Hanjo, and the team of musicians I have made many great concerts with since then. It was the first time I met Martin, the man with the loud laughter, who always introduces the whole festival.

Martin had faith in me and invited me as mass choir director for the festival in Bochum, 2004. Me, Helmut, Tore Aas and Andrae Crouch worked with the mass choir and I think it was the first time that I met a really large audience in Germany. Some people remember me from Bochum because I carried my two year old daughter Stella on my shoulders when we did the final song at the final concert.

In 2006 me and Praise Unit had our first concert in Germany in Düsseldorf and our first CD was brand new. We were surprised to see that so many people had already bought our CD and knew the songs, although it was so new so we hardly knew them ourselves. This was also the first year for German Gospel Choir, the choir of choirleaders, that I directed during the first years. I often meet people who were in that first choir and we speak of those times as a little bit confusing, but very inspiring and good times.

Kirk Franklin came to Hannover in 2008, and Praise Unit was the opening act at the concert. That was of course a great moment for me to share the stage with him. But it was also great to feel that over the years I had gotten a close relationship to so many people who were at the festival. When the audience was singing "It's a good life" and jumping around in that crazy gospel praise style it was really that kind of party that I love so much.

I was not an official person in Karlsruhe in 2010, so this year was much more relaxed for me. I introduced the Oslo Soul Teens from Norway, who I had been working with for some time, and after this the Soul Teens movement started in Germany. That is one of new exciting things that is starting to spread over Germany now.

Gospelkirchentag 2012 starts in a few days. This year I will direct "Inspired" from the new songbook with songs written especially for my workshop weekends. I will also direct two songs for the Soul Teens choir. Praise Unit will be at the opening concert, and then again perform at night at the teens festival. My wife and daughters will be with me, because we go home from Spain in our car, and we stop in Dortmund on the way to Sweden. To show my family the beautiful people of Germany and introduce them to the friends who have helped me become a part of the german choir family is the best thing of all!

I thank God for all the festivals that have been, I pray for many more to come, and I know that this year will be one of the best!

Amen?

My superheroes

If you are my Facebook friend you will find one photo album from our first month in Spain and another one from our second month. An album for the month of May will come in a few weeks.

Hamburgers

My wife and daughters have not tried any of the weird food that I tried (and enjoyed) in Madrid this weekend. But they did enjoy some hamburgers and from what I understand they enjoyed the company of many nice friends.

We are still apart (I go back to Valencia tomorow), but Thorine just told me via Skype about the concert last Saturday, where she played the flute, and all the people they met and all the places they visited over the weekend. They seem to have enjoyed our spanish home while I was in Madrid.

Smile

A whole day of singing and playing with the worship team from Lacy church in Madrid is over. We had a great time, as always! We did Kirk Franklin's "Smile" in spanish (Rio), and we also practised the swedish song "Blott en dag" (Dia en dia), which we will sing tomorrow.

For dinner Juan Marcos took me to a nice tapas-place (which was not tapas, but I did not understand why), and I tasted octopus that has one bone. Yes, there is an octopus that has a bone, the size of a toothpick in its body. The food is different here in Spain, but still very good!

Countdown

In a few minutes I will start working with the singers and musicians in the church of Juan Marcos in Madrid. This is my last weekend away from Valencia. Then there is only more rehearsals and a concert with Coro Gloria in Valencia, and after that get in our car and drive to Dortmund for Gospel Kirchentag. It is sad to feel that this wonderful time in Spain is soon coming to an end, but it will be good to meet our friends in Germany and Sweden soon.

Shabach

"Ensayo" with Coro Gloria tonight. We did "Shabach" with a lot of fiestaaaa-feeling. My girls were there too, dancing and singing with me and the choir.

Tomorrow it's Madrid again. Unfortunately I go alone this time, but I think Juan Marcos will keep me pretty busy.  :)

Frozen coffee

Swedish people drink a lot of coffee. I like to do it more when I am working with something. The other day when I came to Sergio's house he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee and I said yes, of course. But instead of going for a pot on the stove, he opened the freezer and took out two glasses of frozen coffee. My first thought was "what have you done to my coffee?!?!?!?!?!?!?", and I felt like I just saw the train leaving and I was left alone on the station. But we mixed it the spanish way with some milk and/or other stuff and it tasted very good. Better than that frappucino they have at Starbucks. Maybe I will bring that habit to Sweden?

Un paso mas

Yesterday my GPS took me on a cruise for almost 90 minutes when I tried to go to Sergio's house, which is really only 15 minutes away from us. Then we spent two hours on three measures of an accapella song that he is working on. That's life as a musician!

Today more people from Coro Gloria met at Sergio's house to work on new songs. Sometimes the room was full of inspiration and the energy was kicking in! Sometimes we worked slowly and tried to find the best idea for a certain part of a song. That's life as a musician!

Trouble in paradise

Sometimes we think that we are doing something wrong here in Spain. All the people we meet are wonderful and all the adventures we have though my job are exciting. Should it not be painful and miserable to do missionary work? Finally we came to some little trouble this week, which I think was good for us.

The first problem was a leak of water in the house where we live. Thorine was able to locate what was wrong, but the whole basement was flooded and it could have been a disaster. Fortunately the heat makes the water go away quick and I think the damage was very little. It seems ok now.

The second problem was some financial things that we need to work out for the spanish people who wish to travel to Dortmund to experience German gospel music in June. I hope we can work that out too, and I know that life is full of worse things to worry about. We are working on fixing this too.

The third problem was that we met some very rude people at the restaurant of the museum at the city if science and arts today. But I guess the problem is more in myself if I actually have the energy to bother about rude people in a restaurant. I should just let it go, shouldn't I?  :)

Well, at the end of the day I am still so grateful for the things we learn here, the people we meet and things we are able to give to the music ministry here.

Warming up with Praise Unit

New clothes and new coreography while I am here in Spain. I have no idea how Praise Unit is rehearsing right now, but it seems to be pretty interesting. I will meet my PU friends again in Dortmund in June. They have emailed me some movies of the new coreography. When I look at it I miss them a lot! It is such a blessing to me to work with the talented people of Praise Unit and I am glad that we meet soon to do concerts at Gospel Kirchentag and other places in Germany and Slovakia. I hope you will be there too!

Four brothers

In Albacete I was unfortunately without my family, because they needed to rest in Valencia after lots of travelling. But I got to know an interesting family who plays a big part in the Coro Gospel de Castilla La Mancha. They are four brothers, who all play in the band for the choir. Their father, Pedro, is a kind of administrational leader for the choir, or at least for the band and I think that's a great idea to have a person, besides the director, who does a lot of planning and organization. In many choirs the director has to do all the job and often works too hard and too much. The director in this choir is also named Pedro, and he is a man with a vision and great plans for the choir.

We had a concert last saturday, north of Albacete, in a theatre. It was hot in the auditorium, and the choir made the temperature rise the whole evening. The audience seemed to love every minute of it!

No!

Many people ask me if I ever get tired of music, or gospel music in particular, or working with christians, or travelling, or working with amateur choirs, or other questions that start with "do you ever get tired of...", and the truth is "no"!

No, I don't get tired of doing what I do. Sometimes I get tired of my own personality, because I have some kind of extreme desire to always do things that nobody else did before me, and that is often bad for myself, my family and my closest work buddies. But even if I have this desire to explore new things and new music, I have not forgotten the love for my roots. "Oh happy day" is a gospel classic that people outside of church always want to listen to, and gospel choirs always are tired of singing. With "Gospel Coro de Castilla La Mancha" I was priviliged to direct "Oh happy day" and I loved every minute of it. I did not have much time to get to know this choir, so when I was directing them in concert I had to look into their eyes to see if they were up to doing something fun with the song.... and I was glad to see that they were! We had a great time with "Oh happy day"! I am so glad that there are choirs who like to bring their energy into this song, and I am glad that I still have the love for this song!

No, I am not tired of doing the classic songs. How could I be?

Snails and pigs

I have been away from the Internet over the weekend, so I could not write about my experience with the singers and musicians in Albacete, Castilla La Mancha. I will write about it tomorrow, and leave no details.

There is lots to say, of course, but before I forget it I want to share my first meal with the Albacetians with you!

Pedro and Pedro is kind of the central figures in this choir. Last Friday, after Pedro, Pedro and I had picked up the new drum kit for the concert, we had a meal in some restaurant in a suburb of Albacete. We had "tapas", which means that everybody around the table share the same plates. Something unusual for a swedish person could be that one of the plates was full of snails (I counted and estimated between 80-100 snails on the plate) and another plate had pieces of the tail of a pig ("knorr" for my swedish friends). I am not sure how big the tail of a pig really is, but I ate five pieces and ackording to my spanish friends I probably ate almost a complete tail. It tasted, well, it was kind of... pigtailish.
The snails were ok. I have eaten snails before. The difference this time was that they were smaller and the eyes were still pointing out at me. So every snail was kind of looking at me with that typical "why me"-look that only a snail can give you. But I ate them anyway and tried to not look them in the eyes before introducing them to the pigtails.

After this interesting meal started my weekend in Albacete which included a talented piano player that I had already worked with in Alcoi and four brothers who I have heard stories about in every city I visited in Spain. Stay tuned...

Deutschland? Sverige?

As we have just a few weeks left in Spain, and we are going to the festival in Dortmund, I feel the need to write some thoughts on my other "home" -Germany.

When I started with gospel music in the 90's I had no idea that Germany would be such a big part of my work and take such a big place in my heart. Thanks to Creative Kirche and Gospel Kirchentag I made many new friends quickly, and today I feel like I have a german family too.

When I started travelling to Germany I was talking to Thorine about doing what we are doing in Spain right now -stay there for a longer period to get to know the country and share my music ministry with some choirs for more than a weekend. But I was nervous about that, because the german language was then, and is still, difficult for me. I don't know what would have happened if I lived in Germany for a while, but even if I have not (yet) done it, I have still followed the development of music and gospel music in particular.

In my opinion many of the most exciting things in gospel music happens in Germany these days. There are many well organized festivals with a clear vision and great ideas. New choirs pop up here and there like they used to in sweden in the 90's. There is the full spectrum from advanced and creative singers and musicians to amateurs who create a better atmosphere in their neighborhood through their music.

I have already criticized Swedish church music in my blog, and I don't have to write the same thing again. But I need to mention one more thing that has made the german gospel scene more interesting than the swedish. Sweden (and often also the other nordic countries and some other countries as well) like to invite african american artists to teach gospel music, and nobody else. In Germany there is an interest in other european artists, not only african american, which has given character to the german gospel sound. While many swedish choirs aim for the american sound, many german choirs aim for their own sound, and I think it makes them strong as a group and interesting for the listener.

Again I make generalizations that are not always true, of course. And I know some people say that I am the most americanized song writer you can find in Sweden, so who am I to talk? Well, I like to talk about it, and you are free to comment on this blog or email me. ;-)

Desafinado

I forgot to mention that Jon brought his mandolin and ukulele yesterday. So I grabbed my bandurria and we had a little jam session. We sang some of the old american folk songs. We all tried to sing and sometimes Stella could join us on the ukulele. Thorine, Anna and me tried to sing something swedish. We did 12 seconds from "Uti vår hage" and then I messed it up with my unreliable tenor voice.

The guitar was used too, but the D-string is actually constantly out of tune, or "siempre desafinado".

Family

Today my sister Josefine and her husband Johan shared the hot Valencia weather with us in the swimming pool. Stella and Aina loves to have new friends to play with in the water and it seems like the visitors from Sweden appreciate the sun and the heat.

We had friends over for lunch. Jon, Meta and Alena came all the way from Zaragoza to pick up Anna who will be working with them for the next few days and we all ate salmon that Thorine had cooked. When the cities come together like this (in this case Zaragoza and Valencia) it is encouraging for me who travel from one place to another, because I get the feeling that we are family too. Hopefully Juan Marcos from Madrid will visit us next week, and last weekend Laura and José from Valencia showed up in Madrid. It is fun and inspiring to remember friends in different cities.

It is good to be mindful of your family!

More visitors

Tonight Anna came to the Coro Gloria choir practise and taught some of her vocal techniques. I think in the beginning the choir looked like Anna was saying something like "if you pour a glass of lemon juice over your head you will be rich and happy forever", and by that I mean that they did not seem to connect with Anna at first. But I think after just a few minutes everybody was inspired and ready for the advanced vocal class that Anna gave. The choir sounded great and I think Anna came through with her message!

Today we also got a visit from my baby sister Josefine and her baby boy Johan (her husband) to our house. We enjoyed the sun (that we did not see so much in Madrid) together with them, and enjoyed the spanish siesta techniques.

Last night in Madrid

Nancy invited me and my family, and the Madrid choir to her house last night (monday), and it was a special moment for many of us. After the party we had to drive during the night back home to Valencia, so we should not really stay long in Madrid. But it was such a blessed time at Nancy's place and so many important things that had to be said, so we had to stay late anyway.

On the way home Stella and Aina watched "Trassel" together with Anna who followed us to Valencia. When my daughters fell asleep Anna, Thorine and I talked about music, Spain, God and kind of the meaning of it all. It is not many people who work in a similar way that we do, so it is nice to talk with someone who have similar experiences.

Wild...

...and crazy, was the concert last night! I don't have time to write about it now, but I can say that most white people are not used to the extra hour of party praise music at the end of the concert with Coro Gospel de Madrid, their director Nancy, Anna from Sweden, Amos the pastor of the nigerian church, the great singers and musicians of the choir and all the people who had come to join us in this celebration!.

Christian parking

I know that many people who read this blog don't share my faith, and because of this I get interesting responses to some of the things I write. I like it and hope it continues!

Yesterday my faith came to a whole new level. It was one of those times when I had been looking for a place to park my car for over 20 minutes. My patience diminished and my ego grew -"ME needs a place to park MY car NOW!"

I followed my spanish intuition and made up a parking place where I thought I deserved it. When I got out of the car and looked at my parking I realized that I was blocking two other cars, plus a garage door, and 80% of the car was on the sidewalk. I looked it for ten seconds, then I thought "nah, this is not how a christian should park". So I got in my car and moved it, and in that same moment another car drove out from its parking space so that I could go there and be comfortably and legally parked.

Alright, this is blog is not to be taken as a serious testimony. It was just a glimpse of life in Madrid.

The New York of Spain

Tonight Coro Gospel de Madrid has a concert in a nigerian church here in Madrid. We rehearsed for the concert during the past days and I am pretty sure it will be an intense experience. Madrids gospel choir is directed by Nancy from the USA, the singers are spanish, the church is nigerian and I am from Sweden. You never know what happens when people from many parts of the world come together.

On top of this my friend Anna from Sweden is here right now, giving song classes and also working with Madrids gospelchoir. Anna directed Joybells, the same gospel choir I used to direct, and she has been in Spain many times to inspire singers and choirs. It's great to work together for a weekend! She will also follow us to Valencia for a few days.

Nancy has taught me many things about what it is like to come to Spain from another country and work with music. We have also spoken about how different Madrid is from other cities in Spain. To me it seems a bit like Madrid is like New York in the USA or Berlin in Germany -a huge city which is like a country inside the country, with its own ideas of culture, politics, religion and so on. An example of the difference is that in Madrid most choirs sing in english, but in the other cities almost every choir I meet sings in spanish.

If you are in Madrid today come to Iglesia Bride of Christ Alcala at 19.00 and enjoy the concert!

The world

Here in Madrid we live with Oscar and Christina. They have a large map of the world on the wall, which we have looked at many times and discussed politics, religion and other things. When I grew up we had a large map of the world in our kitchen. In mine and Thorine's house in Sweden there is also a wall with a map. I think my desire to travel has come from looking at that map with curiousity. Growing up with an image of the world on the wall made an impact on me. Maybe I should recommend more people to put a map of the world on a wall in their house?

Maybe she was right, the beauty queen in this classic youtube clip:

We need more maps

The soul of Spain

Today we had music theory again. We started with listining to some gospel classics that I have recorded in more modern versions and then I answered questions about why I chose certain ideas and we spoke about alternatives that also could work. The workshop was with a group from Coro Gospel de Madrid, and my swedish friends Anna and Jakob was also there. We also spoke about how you define soul and why you sometimes feel it and sometimes you don't.

Earlier today me and my family was at the bull fighting museum in Madrid, where we learned that the soul of Spain is connected to the bull fighting, whether you like it or not. I don't know if that's true, but it was interesting to see that the matadors were once treated like we treat celebrities like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga today.

Bruises

We are now in Madrid and I just finished an evening together with the musicians from Coro Gospel de Madrid. I knew some of the musicians from before, but most of them were new to me. It was a great gang of people and I think we all had fun together. For some reason I started playing on the cymbals with my bare hands, so now my hands are full of bruises. I think there is a reason why drummers play with sticks.

Death

It is nice to read about what happens to your friends on Facebook. But sometimes Facebook delivers the bad news. I just opened my Facebook page and I realize that I have several friends who are sick and fighting for their lives right now. Life is not fair and I don't understand why there is such pain in this world.

I am grateful for these friends and I pray that death will lose its grip on them.

Spain or Sweden?

We have lived in Spain for two months now. I think a lot about the things I have learned here. What is different in this country from other countries?

A lot of Swedish musicians, including myself, often think that we can perform music better than other Europeans. That is not true, of course. Sweden is a country full of music, and you can easily find many great musicians there. But in Sweden you can also find many musicians who have forgotten their first love for music. "Great music" is different from "great musicians" and it takes more than just technique and skills to do "great music".

A big difference between Spain and Sweden is that it is much harder to study modern music in Spain. In Sweden you can learn just about anything in just about every city in just about any way you want to. In Spain the musical education is not prioritized by the government. There are many talented singers and musicians here who are frustrated, because they wish to learn more.

The good side of this is that the music in the churches here are full of soul! Because what is lacking in education is compensated in enthusiasm and energy. Best of all is that many singers and musicians turn their lives over to God and let Him model their lives! It comes natural to many christian spaniards to serve God with music. Many swedes are more focused on producing a perfect sound, or cool harmonies, or constantly renewing the repertoire.

I know I make generalisations now, and I am sorry if I offend anybody. But my point is that I wish to keep some of the spanish desire to worship that I have seen.

I intended to compare also with Germany, another country that I love, but that will be next blog I guess.

Still a good life

Yesterday I noticed that I was driving my car without being amazed about all the beautiful mountains around me. I am already used to living in such a beautful country, so I forget to be thankful and enjoy it. Isn't it sad that we forget the good things we have around us so quickly?

My grandfather

At the morning service today we sang "Mi padre (My father)". We were in the church in Malvarosa and the pastor was talking about how God comes to us as a father. So my song fit very well in the service.

Again Thorine and Stella played the flute, and this time I also played the drums with the worship team. Always new challenges! :)

A couple of days ago we were at the house of some friends, and there David mentioned he was encouraged to see God as his father, not his grandfather. That is so true. A grandfather is usually somebody that comes in and out of your life's situations, but a father is involved in everything you do (in one way or another). You can love your grandfather, but he is not as close to you as your father. God wants to be your father.

"When I live my life against your will
You tell me that you love me still"

Mas canciones

Yesterday was a day of composing. From morning until evening we were more than 20 people in the church on Quartz street, who composed new songs and worked with old ideas. I think it's so cool to meet people who want to write new songs for european gospel choirs. Some of the people who were there yesterday were new to composing, but other people have written many songs, and I have heard songs that I hope will travel around the world. The best thing, if you ask me, about the spanish composers is the desire to glorify God in music. In my home country many great christian composers are tired of church music, and don't know how to find words to make worship songs fresh again. I think we have a lot to learn from spanish composers!

Dunka Dunka

"Dunka Dunka" music is what old swedish people call the music of the young that they don't understand. My problem is that nobody understands my taste in music. When I was a kid we could not listen to my "Dunka Dunka" music in the car because it was "disturbing". Now, when we drive around in Spain, my own kids don't want to listen to dad's "Dunka Dunka" music, because it's "disturbing". Is it just me or are we a generation who have to use headphones if we want to listen to our favorite music, so that the older or the younger people don't complain?

Worship

I have lead worship in christian fellowships only a few times. It is something I love to do, but I am not sure if it is my gift. Most of the songs I write are songs about life, which of course includes God a lot, but only a few of my songs are songs of worship. For me it is easy to direct a choir or an ensemble of different musicians or even an orchestra, but to be the worship leader in a church I think I still have a lot to learn. Maybe it will come to me soon?

Tonight I practised worship songs with my friends in Malvarsoa, and I felt really good to be a part of it. I will also join their praise team at the service on Sunday, but Ruben will lead the group, which he is very good at!

Minutes

In Santo Domingo, our little "pueblo", there is a school where the students get their education in english. Our friend Alina works there, and today she had invited me to speak to one of her classes. I just took a walk down the hill, and came into a school which is very different from Karolinska skolan, where I work in Sweden. But I think I was able to communicate with the 14 year-olds that I met today. I spoke about why I work with music. Then I also taught them "Minutes" and explained the idea of that song. I will have another class on friday and I hope it will be just as fun!

Oh happy day

Our friend Sara is always invited to sing wherever she comes, and now the people of Valencia also know her voice. Or at least the people of Coro Gloria. Sara teamed up with the choir and did some good old gospel. "Oh happy day" of course, but also "He's got the whole world", my arrangement that Sara does the solo part for on the Joybells CD. We also tried to remember Jericho, and got a lot of help from Eva who turned the song into a nice duett with Sara. I just enjoyed listening.

Quiremos dar te gloria

We wrote a new song today. I had my first composition workshop with Coro Gloria today, and in a few minutes we had the basic idea for a new song. It was only a small part of a song, but it was fun to see what we could do with it.

I tried to present some things that I believe are important when you compose music. It was a lot of interesting questions and good thoughts about how to compose from the other singers and musicians. On saturday we will meet again to spend the whole day together composing. Maybe there are some complete new songs after that?

Spanish parking

I don't think anybody is surprised if I say that traffic in Spain is very different from what we are used to in Sweden. I don't want to go into that too much now, but I had an experience yesterday that I want to share. At 14.00 many shops close for siesta, and I needed to get to a music store before they closed. My friend Paco, who has helped me with my computer and phones, told me about a music store that was only five minutes away from his store. It was no problem to get there in time, but to find a parking place was difficult as always.

In search of a parking place I made a left turn, after another car, and we both came up on a street where there was some kind of flea market going on. I would have thought that this street was closed and it was impossible to park or even drive my car there. But I was lucky because the car in front of me made its way through the flea market, by honking the horn and pushing people out of the way. I was a little bit scared about how the car in front of me made everyone and everything move away, but I was lucky too, because it was my only chance to go anywhere. Without that car, I would have been stranded.  Then the worst thing happened...

In the middle of the flea market the car in front of me stopped. An old lady came out of the car and started taking out the scarves that she wanted to sell at her stand in the market. I had been following a vendour, a person who wanted to be in center of the market, which I really did not! Now I was really stuck.

My only way out of there was backwards, so I started backing. By honking the horn a LOT and driving like a spanish person I eventually made it out of there and came back on the road. I backed my car three blocks through a flea market. Something I have never tried before. But I made it!

On the beach

Next sunday we will celebrate the morning service in the church in Malvarosa. Yesterday I was at the rehearsal with the singers, and we will meet again on thursday. The church is just two blocks from the beach, which my family enjoyed yesterday. While I was in the church Stella and Aina was trying the different playgrounds on the beach, and bathing their feet in the water. Thorine and Sara, our friend from Sweden who is with us this week, was probably less in the playgrounds and more at one of the café tables.

We had dinner at Lemon Grass, the restaurant that has become the favorite place to eat for Stella and Aina. Sara, who has swedish days and nights in her blood, was trying to not fall asleep at the dinner table, while Stella and Aina explained that it's perfectly normal here to have dinner at 23.00 on a monday night, even you are six years old.

Siesta

Today was a day of rest, which we needed much! We usually don't take siesta when others do around here, but today was siesta almost all day. But we started the day early (yes, 10.00 is early for us here), and went to church. Again Thorine and Stella played the flute together in church, and Thorine played to many of the hymns as well, and Laura accompanied on the piano. It was beautiful music and a beautiful feeling to have the family involved in church. 

We have eaten so much good food together with friends lately, so dinner today was "thé och mackor" as we say in Sweden, and that was a good way to end an afternoon of relaxing.

In a few minutes I will go to the airport to pick up Sara, one of our friends from Sweden who will spend a week here with us.

Blau

I left the party in Xativa a little early today, so that I could visit the choir practise of Blau Gospel. Some of my friends from Alcoi were there. Pau and Deborah were there of course, and I met some new friends. This is another spanish choir with a great sound, and I enjoyed being part of their fellowship for one evening.

Eat before you eat

Me and my girls have become spanish in our eating habits. Well, not completely... we still prefer a swedish breakfast with bread that takes more than 2,7 seconds to eat and cereal that is made of something other than sugar. But for "comer" and "cenar" we all like the spanish way! Last thursday we had a great dinner with some friends in central Valencia. While Thorine and I enjoyed talking to our spanish friends and eating great food, the children had time to present the swedish and the spanish Eurovision contestants to each other. Stella and Aina showed Loreen, and Maria and Inez showed the spanish winner, on the computer.

Today we were with some friends in the antique city of Xativa and enjoyed Gaspacho. Not the cold tomato version that comes from coast, but the hot pasta/chicken/meatball/vegetable-version that they make in the same oversized frying pans where they make the paella. It was delicious!

If you ever eat with some spanish people, but you are not sure if the food is spanish, this is how you can tell:
You eat before you eat! If the actual meal is Gaspacho or Paella, before the meal you eat peanuts, oysters, mushrooms, chips, peppers, yellow things, pickles, cheese, sausages, ham, brown things, peas, beans, onions, more sausages, green things, more cheese, bread, olives and maybe some red things. Then you eat the actual meal. It works very well for the Arenius family, because it means a lot of time to chat with good spanish friends!

The cross

In Dénia Pau showed me the cross on top of one of the mountains next to the school (there are always mountains in Spain). He told me it takes four hours to walk up there, and then there are four hours to walk back. I think a lot of spanish evangelical churches are doing the slow, tiring, walk up the hill right now, and very soon they will be able to stand next to the cross at the top, look around and see all the beautiful things that God had prepared for them there! The work will not be over then, but at least it will be some time to enjoy the view!

School

On our way home from Torrevieja we passed Dénia, a city on a peninsula that has the Mediterranean ocean on three sides. There is a school, Alpha y Omega, with 400 students, from little children to teenagers. It's a christian school with extra teaching in music and arts and foreign languages. Pau and Deborah showed me the school and told me about its history and what they do there. I was fascinated and and inspired! A lot of churches in Spain have great people, great singers and musicians and a great vision, but not so many material resources. Here in Dénia there are also resources, which they seem to use very wisely.

Pau and Deborah are also directors for Coro Blau, a gospel choir where also Charly, my friend from Alcoi, function as a director. It is a choir that has singers from three different cities and I think they inspire people in even more cities.

Meeow

If you have been to one of my workshops you know that I like to work a lot with the "meeow-muscles", which you practise by saying "meeow" like a cat. Aina noticed that we sing a cat-song here in Spain, "Christo meeow meeow". The real lyrics are different of course, it's "Christo me ama", which means "Jesus loves me". But Aina's version is cute.

Svenskar

Right now we are in Torrevieja, a city in Spain, which is full of swedish people, "svenskar". Actually it is full of people from many countries, and particularly in the summer time. Johan, is a swedish pastor who works in Torrevieja and we have spent half of the day in Torrevieja with him. The "Arenius Familia" was invited to his church tonight, to serve with music and testimonies. This was family time of a completely different kind than yesterday.

I taught "Let yourself be loved (En la soledad)" to the congregation, and lead worship. Thorine played a hymn on the flute, and I accompanied on the guitar. Aina and Stella sang a swedish worship song, and for the first time ever Thorine and Stella played a flute duett together. Thorine introduced our work in Spain to the congregation, and I did a bible study from Luke chapter 5. It was good old tradtional church, and it felt great to have the whole family involved.

We met some visiting "svenskar" at the church and we had lots to talk about. At the dinner table Johan told us a lot about his experience from living as a swedish person, with an evangelical faith, in Spain.

Again I am thankful for all the things I have learned today, and excited about what will happen tomorrow!

Family time

If you have the kind of job that I do it means working a lot of weekends and a lot of evenings, which is usually (hopefully) family time in many families. The worst part about my job is the fear of being away too much from the family. But sometimes it works out really well. Like today, when we visited a huge zoo with animals only from Africa. Yesterday it was packed with people, because it was holiday here, but today there were only a few tourists walking around. It felt like we had the zoo to ourselves. My favorites were the hippos, but I think my daughters preferred the surikats. 

Our backyard

When my parents came to visit we went for a walk up the hill behind our house. From the top of the hill we have a pretty good view over this part of this beautiful country!

Gracias a Zaragoza

I had joy, I had peace

After one week of practising with the singers and musicians of the gospelchoir of Alcoi, we are now back in Valencia again. Even if I had a good time the whole week, I think the concert we did today was the most fun for all of us. The church was full of people and we shared testimonies and songs that I think will fill Alcoi with joy for a few more weeks.

It is sad that it is over now, because I made a lot of new friends. But I hope that one way or the other I will be back .

Some singers from the choir are interested in going to Gospel Kirchentag in Dortmund, and I really hope that works out. Slowly the spanish choir for Gospel kirchentag is growing... 

A Good Life

I just felt like quoting myself. This is one of the songs from the first Praise Unit CD:

It's a good life
It's a good life
Living with Jesus in my life

It's a good life
It's a good life
I've got a good God on my side

Concert tomorrow

At 18.00, tomorrow Sunday, the Alcoi gospelchoir has a concert at the Mt Zion church in Alcoi. We will do some of my songs, but also songs from their previous repertoire. There will also be a special appearance by Thorine, which is something to look forward to!

We have been singing and playing together the whole week and the singers and musicians sound great!

Sväng

I need help from all musicians in the world to find a universal word for what we in Sweden call "sväng". If you translate "sväng" into english it really means "turn", but in music it means that the music has a groove that makes you want to dance or at least nod your head up and down. Great musicians are often able to create great "sväng", but all you need is one musician in the band who is playing in a different style, and then there is no "sväng" at all.

You can have different opinions on "sväng". In my opinion there is a lot of "sväng" in music that comes from James Brown, Aretha Franklin and many of the african american gospelchoirs. Other people prefer the "sväng" in Rockabilly music or Country or other. I also like music with no "sväng", like some of the progressive artrock. Rush, Yes and Genesis are groups that I like a lot (their music from the 70´s), but there is no "sväng" in the music (except maybe "Yyz"with Rush and "Roundabout" with Yes).

The english closest word I know is "groove", but if we're splitting hairs the actual swedish word for groove is "stuk". The groove describes the certain feeling and rhythmic sense of a song, where as the "sväng" is just there or not. You can have a good groove or a bad groove, but with "sväng" you have it or you don't. Spanish people also talk about groove, or sometimes "sentimiento" which is better explained as "feeling". "Feeling" is vital for "sväng". First you have "feeling", then comes the "sväng". In german there is also groove, but I have not heard a german word which is close to "sväng". Maybe the english word "swing" is the origin of "sväng", but today it is two completely different things.

So are swedish people the only people that like to talk about "sväng"? Is there a word in another language which is similar, or should I try to implement "sväng" into all other languages? Or can we live without it?

Alcoi

South of Valencia, on the road to Alicante, is a city called Alcoi (or Alcoy if you speak the "other" language). Again it is mountains and valleys on your way to get there, and this city lies surrounded by mountains, and a little more trees than I we usually see in Valencia. I am working the whole week in a church called "Mt Zion", which is the same name as my "second" church in Staten Island, New York, the african american church where I often went to the 8 o'clock service before I continued to my church, Salem EFC.

Laura had told me that the choir in Alcoi is good, and she was right. I get excited when I work with these singers and musicians and sometimes I forget that my spanish is not so good. It happens that I smile and express my joy with a loud voice. Then I look around for people to share my joy, but all I see are people who are trying to understand what I am talking about. Well, I guess it's alright as long as we have a good time together.

On sunday we have a concert at 18.00 and if you are in Alcoi around that time you should come and enjoy good music and good fellowship.

Chimo

A couple of days ago I wrote that the short version of Joaquin in valencia is "Chimo". Today I heard it for the first time about me, from the choir in Malvarosa. But I heard a lot of other things too. They are nine singers and four musicians, and they have a lot of love for worship music. We practised some songs and we talked a lot about how to bring your music to the people in the room, and how to focus on the important things. I think we learned many things from each other.

I have three more evenings together with them and I feel that we have meaningful things to work with!

Bandurria, Udd and Guitar

We invited friends to "our house" in Valencia last night. The dinner was a mixture of swedish and spanish food, and languages spoken were a mixture of spanish, english, swedish and sign language. I have already said so many times on this blog that we are grateful for the friends we have here, but is worth saying again. Sergio and Jorge encouraged me to try the gift I got from Zaragoza, the Bandurria. Sergio joined in on the Udd, which is an instrument that looks like a bigger Bandurria, also with twelve strings, and Jorge joined in on the guitar, which is an instrument that looks like Bob Dylan without Bob Dylan. The three of us formed a succesful trio which might show up on Youtube before you know it.

The famous spanish processions

Yesterday we went to a part of Valencia where the catholics do their world famous easter procession. It happens all over Spain around easter and is popular both for tourists and those who believe in its religious meaning.  If you want to know more about it I think it is better that you watch Youtube clips, because it takes too long for me to explain. The closest thing to this that I have experienced before was when Thorine and I watched the halloween parade on sixth avenue in New York. Maybe somebody says that I should be ashamed when I compare the holy easter parade to the pagan halloween parade. But to be honest they looked the same in many ways. When I looked in the eyes of the parading people yesterday, I did not get the feeling that they were celebrating that Jesus rose from the dead. But...

...on the other hand...

...who am I to judge? What do we do to celebrate the resurrection of Christ in Sweden? On resurrection sunday I think many swedish christians do one of the following:

-sleep a little longer in the morning
-have a picknick in the woods with family or friends
-wash the car
-pick flowers for the kitchen table
-have a cup of coffee on the doorsteps

And how many other swedes are honestly affected by this easter manifestation by swedish christians?

Hmmm, maybe we should come together and do a procession after all? A procession where we parade while singing songs that without a doubt celebrate that the King is alive!

Easter saturday

Every year I wonder what this day was really like 2000 years ago. The first easter saturday. The day after Jesus died, and the day before Christians, like myself, believe that He rose again. Technically this day is the only day that everybody, christians, atheists, moslems, and so on, believe that God was really dead (except maybe hindues who believe that He was reincarnated into a cow or a lizzard or something else). Did this day, easter saturday, have any effect on the world? Did the Apaches in North America or the Massais in Africa notice anything different on this day?

What I do know is that easter sunday, or resurrection sunday, has changed the world more than any other day in history. No matter if you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or if you believe that He is still dead, you can not find any other day in history that has changed the world so much. That is something to think seriously about for a while...

Oh, la sangre!

Last night was the Good friday (viernes santa) service in "our" church in Valencia. As in many parts of the world several churches came together to celebrate unity and together remember what the death of Jesus means to us to today. There were three pastors that preached and the message was about fear. It was interesting to me because I have spoken about fear here in Spain, and also wrote in this blog about it. "No hay miedo" -no fear! Fear often stops us from becoming who we are meant to be. Jesus can take away that fear. If Jesus conquered death, then he can conquer anything, and he can take away the fear that you or I have for certain things in our life.

My biggest fear last night was that the last pastor never would stop preaching. It is funny how some preachers believe that God could create the universe in only six days, but He needs 45 minutes to say "you don't need to worry".

Coro Gloria was great and I wish they had sung more songs in the service. One of their songs was "Oh, la sangre" which Thorine and I sang in english when we were members of the Credo Choir in Stockholm, 20 years ago  -"Oh, the blood". It was great to hear it in spanish!

We took advantage of my parents presence here by asking them to put the kids to bed, while Thorine and I went with some dear friends to a restaurant at the end of the evening. A great way to finish the day!

Mis padres

A couple of hours ago my parents arrived. They will stay with us over the easter celebration in Valencia. When we sit down and talk about what has happened so far on our trip, I think again about what an exciting time it is in Spain right now and that I am so grateful to be part of this. In media it is so much talk about the financial crisis in Spain. But even if the crisis effects a lot of people it also brings forward a lot of people who wish to work for good things and share good news. Like the people we meet in the churches here and the singers and musicians. Thorine and I and our daughters have introduced my parents to a lot of our spanish friends and their work, as we had the first "fika" (a swedish word) a little moment ago.

Tomorrow it's goodfriday and Coro Gloria has a concert in the evening.

March pics

If we are Facebook friends you can watch the album I made with some pics from our first month of this adventure.

Some pics from Zaragoza

Aina posing at the Plaza del Pilar.

Stella posing on a funky bridge. 

Piano-class. Which song is this?

All the time

Last monday I met with the musicians in a church in Malvarrosa. I will go there for some mondays and learn about their music ministry and see if I have some ideas for them as far as how to work with their church music. If I went up the street from the church I came to a neighborhood, much like those where many african american churches in the USA are located. A neighborhood that gives you the feeling that "this swedish tourist should not stay long here". My song "All the time" was written in a neighborhood like this in Newark, NJ. So as I drove down this "bad" street I started singing this song:

"God is good all the time
 and all the time God is good"

Home again

We came back to Valencia late last sunday. Stella and Aina have been so full of adventures the past months, so now for three days they have wanted nothing but staying in the house and playing in the garden. It is wonderful to see how they enjoy our spanish "home". Of course they also have to go to school, which they do together with Thorine in our living room or in the garden. Daddy is boring, because he is working so much, but at the end of the day we still have a lot of family time, and time for adventures.

Jocke

I think I was about 19 when I wrote my first song for Joybells. I could not think of a good name for the song, so Magnus, the leader of the band, named the song "Jocke", which is what you are often called in Sweden if your name is Joakim. In my own opinion I did something impressive when I wrote music and lyrics and arranged it all for a gospel choir, when I was only 19 years old! But when I look back today, the song was not really that good. It had a few moments of quality, but over all it was mostly weird. Many 19 year-olds have written songs better than "Jocke". But it was a good start for me as a composer. Of course I was very nervous when I presented the song, and I did many things wrong. But I overcame the fear to present one of my own songs and I learned many things from it.

Last week we had a composing seminar in Zaragoza, where everyone had to write a song in only 15 minutes. It was very interesting and all the songs were good in one way or the other. My teaching was mostly about how to overcome fears you have as a composer, and other things that stop you from being creative.

We will do composing seminars in Valencia too, with Coro Gloria. They already have a lot of great original songs, and I am sure I will learn from them too.

By the way, if your name is Joaquin and you live in Valencia they call you "Chimo".

I am the new student

Yes, I have been teaching a lot this week, but I am definitely taking the place of the student today. I got a gift today which was not only a huge surpise, but very exciting for me. A bandurrio (don't know how to spell it) was given to me! A brand new bandurrio!!! It is an instrument often related to Zaragoza. The look is kind of like a small guitar, but with 12 strings, and you play it more like a mandolin. I know I will have to study and practise a lot to learn this instrument, but it will be worth it. Thank you so much Zaragoza-friends!!!

Zaragoza

All that is left of this week here in Zaragoza is the morning service in church tomorrow, and dinner with some friends at Dani's house tonight. It has been a week full of impressions, hard work, new people and powerful music. I am a little tired right now, but in a good way. It's a happy feeling because we bring many good memories from this week.

This week I have been a teacher in many different situations. I have felt excitement around each new class, because in this situation it does not feel like we are just working on a song, or a particular technique. We are working for a bigger purpose and creating something great together. The musicians and singers I have met have so many different gifts and Zaragoza is lucky to listen to music that comes from them at concerts, churches and in different bands. I hope it will not be long before I hear them again!

Mas

"Mas" means "more" in spanish. I will write "mas" when I am not so tired. Buenas noches everybody!

Kids talk

The most powerful feeling out of all the feelings that comes over me on this adventure, is to see how Stella and Aina embraces the spanish culture and loves to learn about new things. Today Stella helped an american friend of hours with preparing a meal and they communicated in english in a way that I had no idea Stella was capable of. Meanwhile Aina was in the backyard teaching a dog some new tricks. Thorine and I were reminded many times today that our daughters already have a big appetite for exploring the world, and they are so curious about life has to offer them. 

Cejilla

Some spanish words are more difficult than others. Today I was with the guitar players from the ECAZ, the school where I work this week, and I tried many times to say the word "cejilla", which means to play a barred chord on the guitar. I think I gave the guitar players some difficult exercises to work with, and for me it was very difficult to learn "cejilla" (which also means "little eyebrow"). All in all it was a lot of fun again!

In other news the sun and the heat is definitely here now, and I have turned pink like a shrimp on spanish tapas plate.

Congratulations to Sergio and Sara!

Our friends in Valencia just had their second baby, and we rejoice with them! 

No hay miedo

The whole week in Zaragoza I meet students from the Christian school of music here. Yesterday I was with the piano students, tomorrow I will met the guitar players, but tonight was a larger group of all kinds of musicians. We worked with the song "On the cross" and tried to bring as much as we could of the traditional gospel feeling out of it. It was exciting for me, because both the students and teachers took part in it, and we found many different ways to look at how we play this kind of music. Of all the things I said tonight and yesterday I think the most important thing is "no hay miedo" -no fear! Sometimes musicians or singers are shy and insecure, and it sounds like we are afraid of the instrument. We must remind us to play without fear, and instead to bring out what the song says -joy, pain, sadness or whatever it could be. Tonight we played with a lot of joy, and it was great for me to hear the musicians play their instruments without fear and just jamming with the song! 

Another cool thing was that when I opened my email a few minutes ago, my friend Pelle had sent me the same song, "On the cross", as it will be on the "Inspired"-CD. The lead vocal is done by Nina Luna from Denmark and she did an amazing job with solo parts!!! I hope you get a chance to hear her sing it!

I wish

Back from piano class. I think we had a pretty good time together. In the beginning I was worried because of the difficulties with speaking spanish. But after a while we managed to do some pretty meaningful things. I had four students who expressed their wish to play for "alabanzas", worship music in church. We tried a song by Israel Houghton, and another well known worship song. But when we worked our left hands we played "I wish" by Stevie Wonder.

I am your new piano teacher

With my musical background (drums, trombone, acoustic and electric guitar), it was always very strange to play the piano. But in all the choir workshops I have done, I play the piano anyway. My idea is "not knowing how to do it, should not stop me from doing it". But today I am going to teach how to play the gospel piano to some pretty advanced students. To teach something is different from just doing it. The piano students I meet today are from a music school in Zaragoza

It is the second time in my life that I teach the piano. The first time was when we lived in New York and I taught seven year old Hans how to play "Lille katt". But today is a little bit different. I am not sure where to begin, and I am definitely sure where to end. Well...

"I don't know how this day is going to end, but I know that my God is my friend!"

In the light

When we came to Spain in the beginning of March I noticed how different the weather temperature was between standing in the sun or in the shadow. If you walked around a house you wanted an extra sweater where the house blocked the sun, but you could wear a bikini if you were on the sunny side (and you were a woman).

In Sweden I have never noticed such temperature differences. Maybe there are other things with the light we don't notice?

If you are standing in the shadow, but you know the light, then you probably move towards the light. But if everything is just a grey "something" then maybe you forget how good the light is? Maybe you never move at all?

Many swedes live in a grey "something". We have most of the things we need as far as money, friends, work, education and so on, so it's hard to think that we are really missing something. It is when something really important is taken away from us, that we feel like we are in a dark place, and we try to move towards a better place.

It is when you really know you are standing in the shadow, that you know how much you need the light.

Sin gluten

Wherever we go we look for food, or prepare food, which is not made of flour, "harina", because Stella is gluten intolerant. It's a little bit difficult in Spain, because not all stores have gluten free products. Swedish stores are better in that aspect. But there is one funny thing, that Stella often laughs at -many products in spanish stores are labeled "sin gluten" (without gluten), even if it's a product that nobody would ever suspect contains flour, like ketchup, milk, apples, orange juice and so on. It's one of those cultural differences that put a smile on our face.

En español! Todo en español!

We have arrived in Zaragoza. Another city where we have many friends. I have met the gospel choir of Zaragoza a couple of times before, and it is always a pleasure! It is always a lot of laughter with this choir.

We had a workshop day today. Singing from early morning (well, early is actually not so early in Spain) until evening. The whole day I tried to speak spanish. I think it worked most of the time, but I probably sound stupid every now and then. Only one time did I use a friend, Alena, to help me translate, and it was when I presented Gospel Kirchentag in Dortmund and invited more people from Spain to join us there.

We did the song "Wherever I go" completely in spanish, and for me it was supercool! But it was difficult to remember the melody, all the moves in the song, plus the spanish lyrics. The Zaragoza choir did much better than I did.

We finish the day together with the director, Marta, who together with her husband Samuel always take great care of us in Zaragoza. They have invited more family to come over for dinner. My head is still tired from all the spanish speaking today, so maybe I will not be fun at the dinner table tonight. But you never know?

Desayuno con la Arenius Famila

For Jorge

Coro Gloria was working on a great song called "Tal como soy", and I got an idea for the guitar in my head. Me and the guitar player, Jorge, worked on it for a little bit. Later on  I wrote it down, and took a picture of it, so that I can keep it in my phone. This is what it looks like, and now all guitarplayers who read this blog can play this part on "Tal como soy"!   :)

Getting a haircut

Thorine is a little bit more concerned about who cuts her hair than I am. I can let my kids do it (as you can see in some videos on Youtube), but Thorine has more plans for her hair. When she wants to find a good "peluqueria" here in Valencia, she of course asks other women who she trusts and whose hair looks good. She would not ask one of the bald men who works at the construction site down the road.

I think people act like Thorine in many cases, also when it comes to faith. If an atheist or a muslem lives a life that is more attractive than the christian life, then more people will be drawn to them, not to christianity. This can be tough for christians, because we know that we so often fail in being role models. But a good thing is that God is God, no matter if the people who believe in him represent Him in a bad way.

I can not be perfect and I can only sometimes hide my mistakes. But still I hope and pray that I can live a life that makes people come to me and ask "who is that God you seem so happy about?", just like Thorine ask her spanish amigas "who made your hair look so good?"

Spanish gospel

Our "host-choir" in Spain is Coro Gloria. They are based in Valencia, they have members from many different churches and their leaders are the ones who have helped us with most of the administration and to get used to life in Spain. I have met Coro Gloria a couple of years ago and tonight was my second rehearsal with them since we moved to Valencia. They have so much power and joy in their singing, and their repertoire, which is mostly written by the conductor Sergio, but also other members, is really great to listen to!

Many people from Sweden ask me what spanish gospel really sounds like. I can not give a good answer to that, because there are many choirs I have not heard. What I do know is that there are not so many choirs here, like if you compare to Germany or the scandinavian countries, but the choirs here are always so good to listen to. I am sorry, my swedish friends, but spanish choirs seem to have something natural that we have to work harder for in the north.

Maybe one reason why I like the choirs here so much is that they have taken music influenced by african american gospel, and turned into their own music in their own language, and it works! Maybe I am the wrong person to say this, because I know some people say that I try to be "too american" in my songwriting and performing. But I believe that's the style that fits me, and I still believe that what the spanish choirs do with their own language is a beautiful and great thing!

Soon I will meet choirs in other cities, and I know I have reason to be excited about that. But tonight I am just happy for the time I had with Coro Gloria.

Dios me ama tal como soy!

Rain and sunshine

The first day of bad weather since we came to Spain happened today. It rained the whole day and water was flowing like rivers down the mountain were our little "pueblo" is located. But in the evening it was sunshine. Not the weather, but in my heart. I met with some young musicians and we had two hours of good practice together. They are about the same age as my students at the school of Karolinska back in Örebro, and it is refreshing for me to work musicians who are not only young at heart, as myself.  :-)

Tonight we implemented more rock'n'roll in one of the songs for the church service, and I hope that the congregation will enjoy singing the song in this style. The band did a very good job with it!

Real bombs

I remember when Thorine and I lived in New York that I often thought about how I could understand, a little bit better, the immigrants who come to Sweden. Now that we are in Spain I understand it even a little bit more, because the langauage is much more difficult for us here. Still there are things I can never understand. Here at the Fallas festival in Valencia there are "mazcletas" going on 24/7. That means fireworks and bombs. But in other countries the bombs are real and there is no way to escape it. Today I closed my eyes for a few seconds as we walked through the city and listened to all the mazcletas. Even though I don't like the loud noise from all these celebrations, it is still a lot better than listening to bombs that actually intend to kill you. When I opened my eyes again I was surrounded by people celebrating, some very dear friends and my family. We live in a wonderful part of the world!

We were again out with friends and we celebrated the last day of the Fallas. After this Valencia will be back to normal.

Bonsaullos?

I don't remember the exact name of it. Something like "bonesayos" or "bullsenaños" or "bensadidos". But it tasted great! It is a little donut thing that we eat in Valencia every Fallas, like swedish people eat saffron buns every Lucia. Tonight we were served these "bungseballos" at the house of some dear friends, and they had invited more of the people we are getting to know here. I have said it before, but I have to say it again -it is such a unique and blessed feeling to feel how the love of Christ bring people together in such an immediate and generous way! This time me and Thorine were particularly happy about how all the other kids looked after Stella and Aina. Our daughters did not want to leave the place, because they were having so much fun with their new friends.

Same message

This morning I was at my first church service in Valencia. The pastor really touched me with his sermon. One reason is that two years ago I was with my family in New York, and we visited the church that Thorine and I used to go to when we lived there, Salem EFC. The pastor in New York gave almost exactly the same message from the same passage of the bible as the one I heard today. The name of the pastor in Salem is Edward and the name of the pastor here is Eduardo. The message was from the beginning of the book of Romans, and they preached about how Jesus taught us to not judge people who are different than ourselves. This is one of the things that many christians have a problem with. But it was powerful to hear the same message one more time, in another country, by another Ed. I will read the book of Romans again tonight and think about what this means when you travel from one culture to another.

New phone numbers

Between March 20th-May 20th you will not be able to call me or Thorine on our swedish phone numbers. If you need to know our phone numbers in Spain please send us an email and request it.

Paella

A lot of people visit Valencia for the world famous paella. On the internet you can find lots of websites that recommend certain restaurants or certain areas or certain times of the year to get the best paella. A lot of people go from one restaurant to another to find the best version of valencian meal. But we did not have to do that. Today the paella came to us. We spend the whole day together some old friends, but mostly new friends, from a church in Valencia, and today they had a paella competition. Seven teams prepared the best meal they could ackording to their own recipes, and there was a jury who looked att the presentation, the seasoning, the densitiy of the rice, the color and many more things and finally voted for what they liked the most. The rest of us could just enjoy eating all of this together with so many great people.

I so often think of how great the family of Christ is. There are brother and sisters all over the world who invite me and my family, just because we are family in Christ. What would we do here in Spain if we did not have our christian family? Where would we start? I really hope that me and my christian friends in Örebro, Sweden, are just as good at receiving brothers and sisters from other parts of the world as they are here in Spain. It is so good to know that we have the same father!