A What do Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Usher and Lady Gaga have in common apart from being highly popular, and rich, music singers? The answer is they all owe some of their success to people behind the scenes from a relatively small country in northern Europe – Sweden. Ever since ABBA exploded onto the world stage in 1974 by winning the European song contest with their easy-to-sing-along hit “Waterloo” Swedish groups, and more importantly the people who make the groups what they are, have had a disproportionate influence on modern music. To understand why this should be so it is important to see how Sweden nurtures its musical talent.    

B All Swedish children are encouraged and expected to learn how to appreciate music and play an instrument from kindergarten onwards. After-school music lessons are inexpensive and instruments may be rented. Music education is supported by the government as may be seen by the recent establishment of the Academy of Music and Business (AMB) in southern Sweden by two music producers and teachers, which receives funds for each of the students enrolled in the school. The school aims to develop both creativity and commercial success in young musicians by preparing them for the enormous changes the music industry is facing. Note the second half of the school’s name is “Business.” This is a clear recognition of the fact that in Sweden music making is about making money. In 2011, Sweden’s foreign music sales earned the country US $135 million, which placed it third in the world after the USA and the UK and the highest in the world on a per capita basis.

C So who are the people responsible for making money out of music and helping the big name stars achieve such popularity? The man credited with starting Sweden’s creative push into modern music is Dag Volle aka Denniz Pop. It is claimed that he discovered the Swedish group Ace of Base in the early 1990s when the group’s demo tape got jammed in his car stereo and he had to listen to it over and over again. He loved the song so much that he decided to release it to the public. Their new title, “All That She Wants” became a smash hit. He subsequently opened a recording studio, Cheiron Studios, and it was there that he produced the debut album for one of the biggest boy bands of the 1990s, Backstreet Boys. Volle worked collaboratively with, and mentored, a number of young songwriters until his death in 1998. Perhaps the best known of these today is Max Martin.

D Max Martin, whose real name is Martin Karl Sandberg, has written a string of hits for some of the biggest recording artists in the world today. These include Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love,” and Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time.” Other prominent Swedish songwriters and producers include Andreas Carlsson, who co-wrote “Bye Bye Bye” for NSYNC, Shellback, Bloodshy and RedOne, who co-wrote and produced two of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance.” If you have not heard of any of these people maybe it is because the Swedes famously do not like standing out from the crowd, but prefer to work their magic behind the scenes.

E Aside from writing and producing hits, Swedes are also activein other areas of the music business: as sound and video engineers and technicians, the people who make the music sound the way it does; choreographers and directors who put together the all-important videos that accompany songs and often do so much to shape the image of the artist, especially when seen by millions on YouTube; Sweden also has a great number of music teachers and voice coaches, managers, marketers and promoters. The fans who buy the star’s music may be unaware of these teams of people working in collaboration in the background, but these professionals are all crucial for the ultimate success of the artist’s work.

F One reason why Sweden is so active in the music field may come down to its adaptability. Ola Hakansson, a singer whose career spans fifty years, says, “We’re a small country, so we can’t set any trends, but we’re really good at picking up on other people’s, and we’re really good at mimicking.” A case in point is ABBA, whose records mix jazz, blues, and keyboard style with local folk music, and have sold over 380 million copies.

G Another reason is that nearly all Swedes are fluent in the music world’s lingua franca – English. In order to be globally successful songs need to be written and performed in English. Swedish groups are well placed to capitalize on their linguistic prowess. Since ABBA, other Swedish artists making waves in the music world include Roxette, The Cardigans, Avicii and Robyn.

H So the next time you buy a CD or download a song by a band or singer that you like, why not check out who wrote it, who produced it, who directed the dance moves on the video, and who manages the artist. You may not now be so surprised to find that someone from Sweden is behind the effort to create the perfect pop song!

                                                                                                                                   (875 words)

贾斯汀•比伯、泰勒•斯威夫特、凯蒂•佩里、亚瑟小子和LadyGaga都是广受欢迎又多金的歌手，除此之外他们还有什么共同点呢？答案就是，他们的成功多少都归功于幕后的那些人，他们来自北欧一个相对较小的国家——瑞典。阿巴合唱团凭借朗朗上口、节奏感强的单曲《Waterloo》在1974年欧洲电视歌曲大赛中获奖并迅速在世界舞台上走红，自此以后，瑞典团体，当然更重要的是成就了这些团体的人，就对现代音乐产生令人惊异的影响。让我们来看看瑞典是如何培养她的音乐天才的，这对了解上述现象的成因至关重要。

在瑞典，所有小朋友从幼儿园开始就承载了要学会如何欣赏音乐及学会一种乐器的期待，并受到鼓励。毕竟学校的音乐课程并不昂贵，乐器也可以从学校借。音乐教育受到政府支持，这一点可以从新近成立的音乐与商业学院（AMB）上看出。这所院校建在瑞典南部，由两位音乐制作人和教师创办，每招收一名学生就能获得一定数额的资金。该校致力于让学生做好应对音乐产业巨大变化的准备，以培养这些年轻的音乐家们的创造性，帮助他们获得商业上的成功。注意，该校校名的后半部分可是有“商业”二字的。这意味着该校清楚地认识到这样一个事实：在瑞典，音乐制作即赚钱。2011年，瑞典的国外音乐销售让该国获得了1.35亿美元的收入，在世界上排名第三，仅次于美国和英国，在人均收入上则位列第一。

那么，那些负责用音乐来赚钱并帮助明星大腕们大红大紫的人究竟是谁？那个推动瑞典创造性地一脚踏入现代音乐界的人就是丹尼斯•帕普。据称正是他发现了爱斯基地。那是在20世纪90年代初，该组合的试唱带卡在了他的汽车音响里，他不得不一遍遍地听这盘带子。他实在是太喜欢那首歌了，于是决定公开发行。这首新歌成了轰动一时的《All That She Wants》。后来他开了一个录音棚，即凯荣录音棚，20世纪90年代最大的男子团体组合之一——后街男孩的首张专辑正是在那里录制的。沃尔于1998年逝世，生前不仅与许多年轻的作曲家们共事，还成了他们的良师益友。如今其中最为著名的恐怕就是马克斯•马丁了。

马克斯•马丁，其真名为卡尔•马丁•桑德伯格，为当今世界几大音乐艺术家们写了一系列风行一时的曲子，其中包括凯莉•克莱森的《Since U Been Gone》，亚瑟小子的《DJ Got Us Fallin’in Love》，还有布兰妮•斯皮尔斯的《Baby One More Time》。瑞典还有其他一些杰出的作曲家和制作人，包括安德烈亚斯•卡尔森，超级男孩的那首《Bye Bye Bye》就是他与人合作的；还有谢尔巴克、布拉德诗艾和芮德旺，Lady Gaga的著名单曲《Poker Face》和《Bad Romance》就是由芮德旺与人共同编写和制作的。这些人你要是一个都没听过，那是因为他们不喜欢在台前受万众瞩目，相比之下更喜欢在幕后发挥其魔力，这也是瑞典人的一大特性。

除了作曲和制作流行乐，瑞典人也活跃在音乐产业的其他领域：音视频工程师和技术员负责让曲子听起来一切正常；舞蹈指导和导演负责把曲子和至关重要的视频合成起来，这通常会起到塑造艺人形象的作用，尤其是投放到YouTube上供百万人观赏时；瑞典还出了大量音乐老师、声乐教练、经纪人、营销人员和筹办人。购买了明星音乐作品的粉丝可能并不知道幕后还有这一群群的合作者，不过所有这些专业人士对艺术家作品的最后成功都起着决定性的作用。

瑞典人之所以在音乐领域如此活跃，原因之一就在于其适应能力。奥拉•哈克逊当了50年歌手，他说：“我们是个小国，所以没法引领潮流，但我们很会捕捉别人的流行元素，也很会模仿。”在这一点上，阿巴合唱团就是一个典型的例子，他们的唱片将爵士、蓝调和键盘乐的风格融入到当地民谣中，售出了3.8亿张。

另一个原因就是，几乎所有的瑞典人都能说一口流利的音乐世界通用语——英语。为了让曲子在全球范围内获得成功，作曲和表演均得用英语完成。瑞典团体语言上的专长得到了充分利用。自阿巴合唱团之后，在音乐界呼风唤雨的瑞典艺术家还包括罗克赛特、羊毛衫乐队、艾维奇和罗宾。

那么，下次你购买喜欢的乐队或歌手的CD或是下载他们的歌时，不妨看看这首歌的作曲家是谁，制作人是谁，视频里的舞蹈指导是谁，以及这位艺人的经纪人是谁。要是发现某个瑞典人也为打造这首完美的流行歌曲出了力，学了这篇课文以后的你就不会觉得惊讶了。