Vote for Carola!!

Carola's 1991 Swedish Song Contest song "Fångad av en stormvind" is one of five finalists in Swedish radio P4's contest "Best Swedish Song Contest Song on the Svensktoppen Chart Ever".

These are all songs nominated:

ABBA "Waterloo", 1974
Björn Skifs "Michelangelo", 1975
Carola "Fångad av en stormvind", 1991
Måns Zelmerlöf "Cara Mia", 2007
Sanna Nielsen "Empty Room", 2008

Please take a minute to vote for Carola on Radio P4's website!

Link: Vote here

New song : "Wings of Compassion"

At last's night charity concert, Carola sang this new song called "Wings of Compassion". The video is uploaded by Alexander Busk (visit his blog here). Thank you!

Photos : "Hopp för Haiti" concert

Photography © Peter Karlsson 2010

These are photos taken by Peter Karlsson at the "Hopp för Haiti" concert in Stockholm on Thursday night.

The songs Carola performed, among others included the new song "The wings of compassion", "Jag ger allt", "Så länge jag lever" with the composer Stefan Almqvist, "Tro" with Sarah Dawn Finer. All artists joined in "We are the World", "Man in the Mirror" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

Thanks to Peter Karlsson for photos and information! More pictures to come...

"Hopp för Haiti" tonight

Web-TV : "Förkväll"

Carola on "Förkväll", TV4

Tomorrow, Wednesday February 24, Carola and LaGaylia Frazer are guests on TV4's "Förkväll" to talk about Thursday's charity concert "Hope for Haiti".

"Förkväll" airs on TV4 at 5.00 pm Swedish time.

Thanks to Peter Karlsson for the information.

Web-TV: "Gomorron Sverige"

Carola answered her critics in a TV interview this morning. She was asked about her controversial statements about the "end of days" and the perfume she gifted the boy she is sponsoring in Haiti. She answered these questions quite well and with great passion!

Concert review from Sundsvall

Photo: Andreas Libell / Dagbladet

On Saturday, Carola performed the second "Carola & en flygel" concert in Sundsvall. Click the link below to read a good review (4 out of 5) from the local newspaper Dagbladet.

Link: Read review from Dagbladet

Carola on "Gomorron Sverige", SVT

Tomorrow, Monday February 22, Carola and photographer Nils Bjuggstam are guests on the Swedish TV morning show "Gomorron Sverige" to talk about their visit to Haiti.

Don't miss it! The interview airs on SVT1 at 6.50 am Swedish time.

Thanks to Peter Karlsson for the information.

Interview about "Carola & en flygel"

On Saturday, Carola performs the second concert on the mini-tour "Carola & en flygel". The local newspaper Dagbladet has interviewed Carola about the concerts.

To make the concerts more personal and exclusive, Carola has packed a suitcase full of personal items that she associates with the songs on her playlist.
- It's memories, private things that I show and talk about. It could be an album cover, a letter or clothes that are associated with a song. So the suitcase is quite full! On the flight up to the first concert in Lycksele, the crew asked me if I was moving, Carola says with a laugh.

(Translation by Carola International)

Link: Read the article

The biggest hits of Melodifestivalen in the 00's

Surprisingly enough, Carola's "Evighet" (2006) did not qualify to STIM's (Swedish Composers International Music Agency) list over the 20 songs from the Swedish Song Contest in the 00's that played most on radio. Perhaps less surprisingly, Johnson & Häggkvist's "One Love" (2008) did not make the list either.

Other songs from 2006, that DID make the list include Andreas Johnson's "Sing For Me" (no 4), Linda Bengtzing's "Jag ljuger så bra" (no 6) and Patrik Isaksson's "Faller du så faller jag" (no 12).

Here's the complete list:

1. Sonja Aldén "För att du finns" 2007
2. Jill Johnson "Crazy in Love" 2003
3. Sarah Dawn Finer "I Remember Love" 2007
4. Andreas Johnson "Sing For Me" 2006
5. Lena Philipsson "Det gör ont" 2004
6. Linda Bengtzing "Jag ljuger så bra" 2006
7. Sanna Nielsen "Empty Room" 2008
8. Shirley Clamp "Min kärlek" 2004
9. Sarah Dawn Finer "Moving On" 2009
10. Afrodite "Never Let it Go" 2002
11. Måns Zelmerlöw "Cara Mia" 2007
12. Patrik Isaksson "Faller du så faller jag" 2006
13. Nanne Grönvall "Håll om mig" 2005
14. Andreas Johnson "A Little Bit of Love" 2007
15. The Ark "The Worrying Kind" 2007
16. Magnus Carlsson "Live Forever" 2007
17. Marie Lindberg "Trying to Recall" 2007
18. Shirley Clamp "Att älska dig" 2005
19. Mendez "Adrenaline" 2002
20. Alcazar "Alcastar" 2005

BUT, and this is interesting, STIM announces that if Carola's 2003 song "När löven faller" wouldn't have been disqualified from the Swedish Song Contest, it would have been no 10 on the chart!

Link: Read STIM's press release

Stockholm Film Festival Junior

The Norwegian movie "Yohan" in which Carola has a small role playing herself, will be shown during the Stockholm Film Festival Junior in April.

19.4 Yohan, Grand 1, 10.00 am (English subtitles)
22.4 Yohan, Skandia, 9.00 am (Swedish dub)
23.4 Yohan, Grand 2, 9.30 am (Swedish subtitles)

Thanks to Peter Karlsson for the information.

Link: Visit Stockholm Film Festival Junior's website

Link: Read all news on "Yohan"

Carola & en flygel

Photo: Jesper Stenmark / Folkbladet

When Carola did her first of three concerts titled "Carola & en flygel" in Lycksele on Saturday night, she brought a suitcase on stage and pulled from it old record covers and stage costumes from her long career.

Carola will perform the concert once more in Lycksele on February 27 and in Sundsvall on February 20.

Link: Read a concert review from Folkbladet

Link: Buy tickets

Poster for "Hopp för Haiti"

This is the poster for the charity concert "Hopp för Haiti" that takes place on Thursday February 25 at 7.00 pm at the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm.

Link: Buy tickets here

About the Aftonbladet article

Aftonbladet published an interview with Carola today, in which she allegedly makes some remarks about the catastrophe in Haiti could be part of the Biblical "End of Days". I would hope Carola tries to clarify this statement if she has been misunderstood or misquoted.

Since Carola International went from being a regular fan website to a blog, I feel freer to make personal comments about what's going on around Carola and her career, and I would just like to say that I find her remarks unnecessary, totally uncalled for and wonder how they could be interpreted by her younger fans.

The remarks also cast a shadow on the good work she and Hoppets Stjärna were hoping to do for Haiti. It should also be said that the newspaper Aftonbladet carries a responsibility for changing the narrative of her visit to the country as well.

Carola in Haiti

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson / Aftonbladet

Carola has visited Port-au-Prince in Haiti to witness the magnitude of the catastrophe caused by the earthquake. She has also met with her current sponsor child Eden and her previous sponsor child Celecuinne, who is not 29 years old and work as an educator.

You can read about her visit to Haiti in many Swedish newspaper today, when she has been in sms contact with journalists to continuously bring attention to the severe situation in the country. She has also given an interview to Swedish radio show P4 Extra.

Link: Read about the visit on Carola.com

Link: Listen to the radio interview

Link: Read article in Aftonbladet

Link: Read article in Expressen

Tickets for "Hopp för Haiti"

Tickets are now on sale for Carola's charity concert "Hopp för Haiti" ("Hope for Haiti"). The concert is organized by Hoppets Stjärna (the Swedish Star of Hope organization) and the money will go to the work to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake. Among the artists scheduled to perform, you'll find LaGayla Frazier, Sarah Dawn Finer, Samuel Ljungblahd, Gabriel Forss and his gospel choir among others. The concert takes place on Thursday February 25 at 7.00 pm at the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm.

Carola left for Haiti on Monday and will return to Sweden on Friday.

Link: Buy tickets here
Link: Hoppets Stjärna's website