Jojje Wadenius about the new record: a tribute to my dead wife

– I told her that I loved her, that I was there with her. And that I would forever take care of her daughter. She was barely conscious but I saw that she got tears in her eyes. So I said again: « I love you and am here with you. » Then it didn’t pass ten seconds so she stopped breathing.

For an hour, Georg « Jojje » Wadenius has told the audience personally and extradition about his life together with his beloved life -mate Brit Grønnevik, who in 2022 passed away in cancer.

It is a Wednesday in April and lunch performance at the Soppteatern at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern. The crowded room is in the dark besides a single headlight aimed at Jojje Wadenius and his pianist Lotta Hasselquist Nilsson.

– I usually think, he continues, that Brit’s last big gift to me was that I had to take care of her during the illness period. It made me find a force in my soul that I had no idea.

Jojje Wadenius says that in early youth he sees how a guy in the class increases his attraction when he produces the guitar. The young Jojje with poor self -esteem thinks that a guitar would change his life too. The result is no more admiring girls, but he himself was enchanted by the guitar. Over time, he becomes one of the very best guitarists and music a part of his life – as a rock star in the United States, studio musicians, children’s music legend and producer for many other artists.

In the saddest of the show Parties are allowed to fight Jojje Wadenius himself to hold back the tears, he says afterwards, while at a table at the end he sells the records he has done in recent years. A new recording of the children’s songs that made him popular, a couple of records with his own band Cleo and of course the new album « Life is more than music ».

– There are some words in some texts that make me have to sharpen extra.

One such occasion in the performance is when he tells of an episode early in their relationship when he has to reveal that he has been unfaithful during a tour and he thinks that Brit will leave him, but she forgives him and says, « You are my husband. »

– It’s strong every time, because those words changed my life. She was an exceptional, amazing person. So this is a tribute to her.

Jojje Wadenius has done The music after author Lotta Olsson wrote texts based on their conversation about grief. Her husband children’s book author Ulf Nilsson died in 2021, one year before Jojje Wadenius’s wife Brit. They had previously worked together several times and among other things wrote a review together.

– When we wrote the songs, it was only as a therapeutic thing for ourselves. And then when we had four or five songs the idea appeared in my head that you could make a plate or a performance of them.

Some older songs are also included, such as the instrumental « love morning » that he wrote already 20 years ago.

– It was one of Brit’s favorite songs and I played it at her funeral as well.

« We said only death » And « extinguish you » are almost hymn -like songs that speak easily about the most difficult feelings in a person’s life. It goes in the minor but Jojje Wadenius’s melody feeling is as unmistakable as in the beloved children’s music as he did to Barbro Lindgren’s lyrics in the late 60s, but which is still alive and listened to by new generations of children.

– « We said that only death » I could not sing for several weeks. When I played it, I just started crying.

Is it the same Jojje who makes these songs that he made children’s music?

– Yes, in a way. The children’s songs were very direct. I didn’t try to complicate anything. I just went on the first intuition and the first idea of ​​all the texts I got. And it’s a bit like me that I do with these too. I’m not trying to make it more complicated than necessary.

Many from the audience Coming afterwards and tells us how taken they are. A woman cries, she has gone through the same thing.

– There is a consolation in not being alone in an experience as well, even if it is individual and different for everyone, says Jojje Wadenius.

How did you handle the grief after Brit?

– I don’t go and dig myself down. They are not located in my nature. But it is many times … like when I was out playing with Helen Sjöholm a couple of weeks ago, then I had not lived in a hotel for about half a year, as well. Then you wake up in the morning at the hotel and first it is like … « Oh, I’ll call Brit and say … » « No, sure no. » Then I cried a splash.

Do you become less afraid of death when making music and telling it?

– Yes, in a way you can probably change your attitude to it. I think about how Lotta’s man Ulf was dealt with it, which made it much easier for his family as well. He was not scared and anxious, just calm and grateful. It is not certain that I am strong enough to be, but I would like it.

– Death is a difficult theme just because our society makes it a difficult theme. But it is one of the things included in life. It should end sometime. We will not be here forever. If you are lucky enough to have had a very nice relationship or feel that you have had a good life, then I do not think it is so scary to leave.

Lotta Hasselquist Nilsson, Who accompanied the piano on stage, emerges. Her husband, the composer and pianist Stefan Nilsson, passed away in 2023 in ALS. His death was portrayed by Tom Alandh in the documentary « My death is mine », which was shown in SVT last year.

After his friend Stefan Nilsson’s death, Jojje Wadenius invited Lotta Hasselquist Nilsson to his apartment in Nice in France. They started playing together and they turned out to work together musically.

– Jojje has been absolutely fantastic. I was so deep down in my grief and the missing after Stefan is terrible. I can’t release it. Doing these performances with Jojje is my rescue, she says.

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