{"id":27651,"date":"2025-12-10T17:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=27651"},"modified":"2025-12-16T16:07:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T00:07:47","slug":"great-britain-abba-star-in-exclusive-interview-with-faith-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2025\/12\/10\/great-britain-abba-star-in-exclusive-interview-with-faith-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Britian – ABBA Star in Exclusive Interview with \u201cFaith Matters\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 London) <\/strong>\u2013 It is not every day that a world-famous rock star dedicates an interview to a school newspaper, moreover, talking about rather unusual topics such as the relationship between music and politics. Yet that is what happened with Swedish singer-songwriter Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus, from the supergroup ABBA, who features in the Christmas edition of \u201cFaith Matters\u201d, just published by student reporters at St John Bosco College in Battersea, south London, under the guidance of editor-in-chief Fr Andrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They succeeded in contacting Bj\u00f6rn through Abba\u2019s manager, G\u00f6rel Hanser – an achievement in itself. Instead of just focussing on the band, Isabella Fletcher and A Level Politics students asked Bj\u00f6rn some very thoughtful questions about music and politics, creativity and human relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole magazine is beautifully designed and laid out. There is some very good writing here – it will be interesting to see how many of the student reporters and editors on Faith Matters go on to become journalists in a few years<\/em> time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is the article published in Faith Matters<\/em> with the interview with Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dancing Queens, Pretty Ballerinas, Money, Money, Money, but what of politics and music? <\/strong>Read on to find out what Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus has to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a quarter of one of the greatest pop bands of all time, Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus is instantly recognized for his catchy tunes and enduring lyrics. However, behind the Aha!s<\/em> y My, my!s<\/em> lies a deep thinker, just listen to the tracks Soldiers and Eagle<\/em>. We wanted to probe a little deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think that music and politics can work well together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think that true freedom of speech should allow controversial lyrics in music that promote harm or hatred?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, ideally not, but it\u2019s very difficult to define \u2018harm\u2019 and \u2018hatred\u2019, so it\u2019s better to avoid listening to or generally ignore such lyrics if they come your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact have conflict and immigration had on music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The influence from different cultures on one\u2019s native culture (if there is one) because of immigration is, of course, immense. I find that the creative communities are more open to those influences than people in general. On a higher level… I think artists should let their voices be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does <\/strong>fostering of community spirit within society, or individualism, encourage creativity in artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative collaboration has been instrumental in my career, so you could say that I\u2019ve been fostering a kind of \u2018community spirit\u2019 even if it sometimes has been a community of two! But joking aside, individualism seems to be a must for a big star. That doesn\u2019t mean that the star has to be a diva. I\u2019ve met many big stars who are as normal as me, but I think you can be an \u2018individualist light\u2019 in a society that fosters community spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you noticed a shift in EU politics following the most recent election in the US and can strong leadership and democracy ever work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I think that we\u2019ve come to, or are beginning to come to, realise that America is not what it used to be. Awareness on every level. We\u2019ve woken up to a reality where we have to defend ourselves without the help of the US. I hope it\u2019s going to galvanise Europe against autocracy and dictatorship. Yes, there are many examples of strong leaders (not strongmen) in democracies. But why would we want \u2018strong\u2019 leaders? Why not intelligent, empathetic, knowledgeable and efficient leaders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think that artists have a moral duty to encourage political participation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always avoided getting involved in national party politics but on a higher level, where equality between men and women, free speech and, indeed, democracy sit, I think artists should let their voices be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To what extent should music artists be free to sample the work of others?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They should ask first. As theatre and music are very personal experiences, is there any point in having art\/music critics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As long as they are knowledgeable and give an accurate picture of what it is they have seen to begin with, they have a function. They can then give their own opinion on it, and if you\u2019ve learned to trust this critic, he\/she can be useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You mentioned in an interview with The Times that human relationships are very important. What would you say are the most important qualities for humans to develop in themselves?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empathy, kindness, an ability to forgive, and critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read the whole Christmas edition of Faith Matters see: <\/em>https:\/\/online.flippingbook.com\/view\/19644336\/<\/a> <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 London) \u2013 It is not every day that a world-famous rock star dedicates an interview to a school newspaper, moreover, talking about rather unusual topics such as the relationship between music and politics. Yet that is what happened with Swedish singer-songwriter Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus, from the supergroup ABBA, who features in the Christmas edition of \u201cFaith Matters\u201d, just published by student reporters at St John … Continuar leyendo Great Britian – ABBA Star in Exclusive Interview with \u201cFaith Matters\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":27654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[831,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-7bZ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-12-2025-ABBA-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27651"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27738,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27651\/revisions\/27738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}