I’m a member of Svenska Tecknare, a kind of union for Swedish cartoonists, illustrators, comic artists, animators etc. December 6 we had our annual meeting in Malmö Form/Design Center amidst the exhibition “En bit av mig”, displaying samples from 50 years of feature film animation by Per Åhlin, a living legend in Swedish animation.

Special guest (and also member of the organisation) was none other than the grand old man himself, and his long time collaborator Pelle Svensson who curated the exhibition. I took some crappy iPhone pictures and put togeher a little something to pay tribute to the humble master. The soundtrack is me playing the theme of Karl-Bertil Jonsson’s Julafton, Per Åhlin’s and Tage Danielsson’s classic short film, shown by Swedish television every christmas eve since 1975. The title photo of the film was taken 11 years ago, when I interviewed Per for the Växjö youth magazine Zalt. Unfortunately, I don’t think he remembered this momentous event…

Karl-Bertil och Per Åhlin from Andreas Qassim on Vimeo.

The music was written by Gunnar Svensson (1920-1995) and played originally by another legend, Swedish saxophone player Arne “Dompan” Domnérus (1924-2008), compared to whom I’m just a simple amateur. Our version was recored at Lund’s Stadsteater 27 Nov at Bobbe Big Band’s All That Jazz – a Christmas Jubilee, a concert celebrating Bobbe Big Band’s 5 years of existence, with symphonic extension and a gospel choir (!). Peter Isberg and Martin Nilsson at Sonatina did a great job recording us. Thanks guys!

If you happen to be in the neighbourhood of Form/Design Center, the Per Åhlin exhibition “En bit av mig” is on until 9 Jan 2011. Thank you Per Åhlin for all your wonderful characters and stories through the years! And to all of you, God Jul & Gott Nytt År! See you next year!

Andreas

All drawings in this post are ⓒ Per Åhlin and Pennfilm