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MELODIFESTIVALEN

Swedish TV song signer becomes global star

UPDATED: A Swedish sign language interpreter has become an overnight global celebrity after videos of his enthusiastic signing and dancing at this weekend's Melodifestivalen went viral.

Published: 16 March 2015 21:26 CET
Updated: 17 March 2015 11:49 CET
Swedish TV song signer becomes global star
Melodifestivalen signer Tommy Krångh. Image: SVT/YouTube

While the competition was won by Måns Zelmerlöw, as The Local reported on Sunday, sign language interpreter Tommy Krångh was seen by many to have stolen the show with his emphatic gestures and dance moves.

A video of him performing alongside contestant Magnus Carlsson that went viral in Sweden over the weekend reached international audiences on Monday, clocking up almost a million hits on YouTube and scoring global newspaper headlines.

The British version of Metro suggested he must have had Grease and Abba videos "on repeat" in recent weeks, while The Huffington Post argued that Krångh, from Örebro in central Sweden, had been "stealing the internet's heart" with his version of Magnus Carlsson's track.

US satire site College Humor said: “In the world of sign language, this man is Michael Jackson”.

Some of Tommy Krångh's new fans turned to social media to call for the signer to represent Sweden in Vienna this May, instead of this year's winner Måns Zelmerlöw.

Even The Local received messages from international readers asking if we could somehow influence the decision.

"I am overwhelmed, happy, thrilled," Krångh told The Local on Tuesday.

"I am still trying to understand it all. There has been so much love. I have heard people have been discussing me on TV in Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, Belgium, Spain…I hope that this will help more people understand that sign language isn't just about two deaf people communicating. It is creative, it is an art."

Asked if he would like to compete in Eurovision, he added: "If I go to Vienna, it will be as a signer. I have had some conversations about this, so it is a possibility."

In case you've been living under a rock for the past five weeks, Melodifestivalen is the national television show that selects Sweden's Eurovision entry each year and is one of the biggest nights in Swedish television.

Last year, almost 3.4 million Swedes packed themselves in front of the TV to send Sanna Nielsen off to Eurovision, a huge number in a country with a population still shy of 10 million.

It's not the first time that a sign language interpreter has become a star of the show. In 2012, Tommy Fransson's interpretation of a heavy metal song by the band Dead by April went viral in Sweden.

INTERVIEW

‘My song is about resilience’: The Ukrainian in Sweden’s Mello song contest

Maria Sur, 17, arrived in Sweden in March after a journey of hundreds of kilometres through Ukraine and Poland from Zaporizhzhia, her home town. She tells The Local's Yuliia Kyzyk of what she hopes to gain from taking part in the Melodifestivalen song contest.

Published: 27 December 2022 14:22 CET
'My song is about resilience': The Ukrainian in Sweden's Mello song contest

THE LOCAL: After weeks of war, a long journey, and emigration to Sweden, you still found the strength to participate in charity concerts in your first month here in Sweden. Tell us about your journey to Melodifestivalen. 

Maria Sur: The next day after I arrived in Sweden from Ukraine, I started looking for opportunities to work. It was obvious that whining and suffering would not help anyone, so I had to do something that would give me strength and help other people.

Since my passion is singing, I decided to continue working on it. I literally wrote to a lot of popular Swedish singers to find a way of making my dream come true and eventually, one of them helped to take part in my first charity singing festival for Ukraine.

As a result, we collected €8 million to help Ukraine. A few days after the festival, I got spotted by Warner Music Sweden. After a meeting and talk about my goals and skills, we started cooperating with them, and after a few months of hard work, we decided to take part in Melodifestivalen.

Maria Sur had been a participant in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: Maria Sur
 
Before the start of the Russian invasion, I was already working on a singer career in Ukraine. I took part in national singing competitions, and I was quite successful. It seemed like the best time in my career was approaching. I lived, dreamed, and acted, and then one day someone just came and took it all away. Everything just broke down. And suddenly I found myself in a situation where I needed to start all over again.

Now I live for today. Now I know that no one in the whole world can know what awaits us all tomorrow. Of course, I continue to dream, it helps, but I can no longer plan, or live in illusions. And it’s scary that young people like me think this way. That we live one day at a time.

My first goal at Melodifestivalen is to do a really quality performance that I will be proud of. I want to feel after the performance, “I did everything I could. I did the best I could. It was honest. People felt it.”.

That is more important for me than results. 

Maria Sur on stage in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: The Voice Ukraine

THE LOCAL: Your song for Melodifestivalen is called “Never give up”. What is the message your song has for listeners?

Maria Sur: “Never give up” is a song about my way, about my personal fight. This is my motto. You have to go forward no matter what. This is about my experience before the war, when I fought for a long time to end up singing on a big stage in Ukraine. And this is about my road now, when despite the war, separation from relatives and home, I still go on. With this message, I want to encourage Ukrainians and everyone in the whole world who needs to know it, to continue fighting on his own path. I don’t want to be pitied or win sympathy. My song is about resilience. My story is sad, but it is about strength.

Maria Sur (centre), surrounded by the team backing her at the Swedish arm of Warner Brothers. Photo: Maria Sur
 

THE LOCAL: Russia’s full-scale invasion caught us Ukrainians sleeping. What were the first weeks of life in the new reality in Ukraine like? And how do you see your journey as a refugee shortly afterwards?

Maria Sur: I remember February 24th clearly. Early in the morning, I had online lessons at school, I was going to go to an English class, and in a few hours it became obvious that the war had started. It was very unexpected for me personally. We hadn’t had any conversations in our family about it before it happened. 

I remember very well how many people I saw panicking, at the same time air raid sirens were sounding continuously and everyone ran to the basement. My family could not believe that all those things were happening. We were convinced that everything would be over in a few days. That is why we didn’t want to leave Ukraine. 

My family always stick together. However, in two weeks it became clear. We must leave my city, Zaporizhzhia. For three days we could not pack for the journey. Whenever we attempted to do it, we sat down and cried. Eventually, Dad stayed at home, and Mom and me were forced to go. 

I remember the train station in my city at that time – huge queues, a lot of people and everyone crying, saying goodbye to each other. The trains were completely packed with children and women. It was impossible to cross the carriage of the train because of the hundreds of people inside.

My city is located in the southeast of Ukraine, so we were evacuated to Poland by travelling almost through the whole of Ukraine. It took a very long time. At the border with Poland, they did not want to let the train pass, because it was completely full of people.

So we were sent back to Lviv, a city in the west of Ukraine. Still, a few days later we got to Poland. Later in March we flew to Sweden to my aunt. 

Maria Sur is interviewed on stage by the Norwegian TV host Fredrik Skavlan. Photo: Zap Group
 

How you have changed in the months that have passed since the war started? 

Maria Sur: I have grown up very quickly. I started to appreciate things that I used to ignore. I started to support my parents and my friends. I look differently at things such as happiness. For instance, I was happy when I got the news that I had been selected for Melodifestivalen. But it was not the same joy as I felt before the war, especially since, five minutes previously, I had talked to my dad, who is now in Ukraine, and told me everything that is happening there now.

Despite everything, we must go on living. If we have this chance to live, we should take everything from it to the maximum. That’s what I’m trying to do, and that’s what I’m singing about.

Today, we must not stop talking about the war in Ukraine, we must continue to organise charity concerts, as well as make music to support people.

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