Livets Orkester: Nu slår en blomma ut, Stallet (Stockholm) Dec 2023

Livet Nord with Livets Orkester, performing "Nu slår en blomma ut" (Now a Flower Opens) at Stallet Folk och Världsmusik in Stockholm December 2023. Release concert for Livet's album Paperbird, released by Kakafon Records 2023.

Lyrics by Stig Dagerman (1923-1954)
Music and arrangements by Livet Nord

Livet Nord - Violinquinton and Vocals
Petra Haraldson - Grand Piano
Emma Augustsson - Cello
Catarina Skoog - Viola
Nils Berg - Tenor Saxophone
Sara Fridholm - Accordion
Lisa Grotherus - Bass Clarinet
Ola Sandström - Electric Guitar
Daniel Wejdin - Doubble Bass
Stian Grimstad - Tuba
Moa Danielsson Grimstad - Percussion

Sound by Johan Adling
Film by Petter Berndalen / Playing With Music

STIG DAGERMAN (1923-1954), Swedish writer and journalist, broke onto the literary scene at twenty-two. He enjoyed phenomenal success publishing four very different novels, a unique travel book from Germany in 1946, short stories – one of which became an instant classic – as well as essays, poetry, and plays. He was a prolific commentator on current events through satirical verse. Then, suddenly, he fell silent. In 1954, Sweden was stunned to learn that Stig Dagerman, the epitome of his generation of writers, had been found dead in his car.

The poem "Nu slår en blomma ut" was written shortly after the detonated atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively in August 1954.

The lyrics in swedish:

Nu slår en blomma ut i kalla kvällen.
Nu lyfter fågeln som är gjord av eld.
Kort är flykten för en sådan fågel.
Hastigt vissnar trädgårdar av ljus.
Kort är livet hos de ting som brinner.
Snart slocknar vingar över mörka hus.
Snart slocknar rosorna i nattens trädgård.
Men aldrig slocknar längtan efter ljus.

English translation by Thomas and Vera Vance, Poetry Magazine, January 1964.

A Flower Opens…
A flower opens in the cold of night.
A bird of fire is rising to the sky.
The flight of such a bird is fleeting.
Gardens of light quickly wither.
The life of things that burn is fleeting.
Wings over dark houses soon will dim.
The roses soon will dim in night’s garden.
But the yearning for light will never dim.

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