In Our Pasture

Contrary to what some domestic and foreign politicians believe, we in Sweden have taken strong measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the population. The future, when the pandemic is over, will tell us which actions around the world were the most effective. This year’s National Day celebration was different. Among other things, a distance choir was formed with more than 700 participants to welcome the summer and together sing “Uti vår hage”.

“Uti vår hage” (“In our pasture or meadow”) is a traditional Swedish folk song first published around the 1880s, though it is considered to have origins as far back as the 1600s. The song is well known in Sweden, frequently performed by choral groups. It belongs to the national song treasure, the most popular arrangement being by the composer Hugo Alfvén in 1923. An English translation of the lyrics can be found at: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/uti-vår-hage-our-pasture.html

I attended the big choir as a bass as well as tenor. A video of the recording can be seen at the Facebook wall of the radio program “Klassisk morgon” (Classical morning) at channel P2.