Evert Taube: The Swedish Troubadour Who Brought the Argentinian Tango to the North
In short: Evert Taube was Sweden's foremost 20th-century troubadour, a man whose life spanned from the lighthouse of his youth to the global stage. While famous for idyllic songs of the archipelago, he was also a complex artist who introduced the tango to Sweden and penned searing anti-war poetry.
Born in 1890 in Gothenburg, Evert Taube was raised on the island of Vinga by his father, a lighthouse keeper. His early life was defined by travel, including two years spent sailing around South Africa, Ceylon, and the Red Sea. These formative experiences shaped his career as a singer-songwriter and a dedicated collector of sailors' songs. Later, a five-year stay in Argentina between 1910 and 1915 profoundly influenced his musical style, leading him to introduce the Argentinian tango to Sweden during the 1920s.
While Taube is widely celebrated for his evocative depictions of the Swedish archipelago and Mediterranean landscapes, his work possessed significant depth. He challenged the status quo with "Målaren och Maria Pia," a powerful anti-fascist poem written in the late 1930s regarding the Italian war in Abyssinia. Decades later, his song "Änglamark," composed for the 1971 film The Apple War, became the anthem for the burgeoning Swedish environmental movement. His literary legacy was meticulously preserved by his secretary, Inga-Britt Fredholm, who compiled his stories and ballads into eight volumes during the 1960s.
Taube’s influence remains embedded in Swedish culture, long after his death in 1976. He received the Bellman Award in 1950 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg in 1960. His cultural footprint is vast, ranging from a dedicated pavilion at the Liseberg theme park to his portrait appearing on the 50 kronor banknote starting in 2014–15. Whether through his classic waltzes or his environmental advocacy, Taube remains a central figure in the Swedish musical canon, remembered as a master of both the lighthearted and the profound.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Evert Taube
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