Make yourself a cup of hot and strong tea, coffee or cappuccino and make your self confortable.

Foto: SVT

In May 1991 I was seventeen and as a huge ESC fan I was watching the festival from Rome when Carola Häggkvist from Sverige ran onto the stage with her powerful voice, beautiful smile and eyes, singing and dancing 'Fångad av en stormvind'. She captured my heart instantly, and I knew she's going to win.

You know the story about tight voting and that she won based or more ten points. I've lost my fingernails during the voting and almost trashed the room when Mr. Neaf pronounced Carola won. Of course she won, she was the best performer there, I shouted at him dancing in front of my TV screen and Carola confirmed that with the fantastic reprise.

Unfortunately, the same year the war started in Croatia, so Carola with that song helped me get through the tough times or in svenska 'Som en bro över mörka vatten' . In Carola's songs there is no politics - only pure love towards every single human being. There isn't anything more beautiful than that.

The next year, at the ESC in Malmö, Carola walked in wearing that white gown like an angel of hope and gave me 'All reasons to live' and later to laugh by 'fixing her chair'. She showed that she isn't just the best singer, she is one of the best entertainers I've seen and I like music and fun so I've heard and seen a lot.

In 1993 I managed to get into college and my parents gave me 50DEM to buy myself whatever I wanted. And one of my classmates had some relatives in Sweden so I ordered Carola's and Roxette's cassettes. They brought me Carolahits with 14 of her songs and Roxette's 'Tourism' with a lot of their hits. They costed 50DEM, so my parents were a bit angry at the beginning but it was OK later when they realised how happy I was. For weeks I was just turning the sides in my recorder listening to those songs over and over. The best food for my spirit were 'Fångad av en stormwind', 'Främling', 'Liv', 'På egna ben', 'Mitt i ett äventyr', 'Det regnar i Stockholm', 'Runaway' and 'I'll live'.


Two years later we had to move to Croatia. I haven't told you before that I lived in Serbia for 21 years. My parents exchanged our house and they went to Daruvar, the small but beautiful town I live now, my sister had to go to Zagreb, because there was a pharmacist's highschool, my brother had to go to Germany to avoid Serbian mobilization, my granny decided to stay in our village, but she endured only a few months so she moved to my parents' and I had to stay in Novi Sad to finish my college. Carola's songs and singing in the Chatedral's choir helped me get through it.

After I left college, new beginning - new place to live, language was a bit different, not a one familiar soul in the streets, about six months lost for the citizenship, and you know whose songs helped me in those times. This cassette has got really great quality cause it was very often in my player, and it's still like new. Fortunately, war finished, and life became easier.

Years later, in 2006, one Saturday evening I was vacuum-cleaning with my kid and on the TV was some show and guess who came to sing? The Invincible Carola. Oh, if I only knew! I would surely come to the studio and say to those two monkeys that call themselves TV hosts to show some respect to the winner of the ESC and to sit and watch the real entertainer performs. The same emotions flooded me and I thought she's going to win again, so after the ESC I was a bit sad for not winning but happy for seeing her again at the top of ESC.

Soon I signed in Carola's informal site 'CarolaInternational.com' and I've read and seen almost all there is at Carola.com, Carolatribute, YouTube and other sites wanting to learn Swedish by translation Carola's and other Swedish songs. Fortunately, on YouTube you translated me Du Gamla, Du Fria and offered me a help in learning svenska.
Tack så mycket, Brian. Varsågod.


Dear Carola, Ha en bra dag!

/Danijela