Povel Ramel

Early life

Povel Ramel was born in Östermalm, Stockholm into an affluent noble family. His father, Karl Ramel, was a lawyer. At a young age, Ramel found a loving audience for his talents in the family nurses, maids and cooks, and also his parents. His family often went on extensive holidays, and on such an occasion, on a beach in Belgium, when Povel was two years old he stepped on a nail. With the wound infected Povel was not expected to survive, although he recovered, with a slight permanent injury.

Ramel's school-life was troubled. He cut classes, often going to Skansen, an open-air museum and zoo, favouring their monkey house. To avoid getting into trouble, Ramel told his teachers that he had lost his attendance book, thereby getting a new one, while showing his parents the old one, free from absence remarks. However, one day his father spotted Ramel visiting the monkey house. Subsequently, his father tried sending Ramel to various schools, but with little success.

At the age of 15, Ramel accompanied his parents on a car trip. There was a collision and Ramel's mother, Märta Tesch, died the following day in hospital. His father died a few months later.

Career

After his parents' death, Ramel was raised by his paternal aunt, who recognised his artistic potential. He went to art school, but his infatuation with painting did not last. However, he developed a love for playing the piano and for words, as he became inspired by musicians such as Bing Crosby, Fats Waller, British trumpeter Nat Gonella, Spike Jones and British dance band leader Harry Roy. Entering Aftonbladet's talent hunt, Vi som vill opp in 1939, Ramel sang and yawned his own composition, "En sömnig serenad" ("A Sleepy Serenade"). By this time Ramel was already a prolific songwriter. His aunt wrote the lyrics to one of his songs, "En vår utan dig" ("A Spring Without You"), which he recorded. Ramel's lyrics are noted for their humor and dramatic wordplay. Musically he was able to adopt styles from most types of music for his own purposes.

Later, when called to do his military service, his foot condition kept him out of active duty, and he was given an administrative role. When studying the military code, he learned that most everything was forbidden. But, with no rules to be found against Boogie Woogie Waltzes, he dutifully wrote Johanssons boogie-woogie-vals, the song that was later to become his first hit.

STIM (a musical copyright agency) required the record have a label, banning its airplay. As a result, the sales were minimal. Then a friend at the record company sent a copy with the label pulled off to Radiotjänst (The Swedish Broadcasting Corporation), and the sales jumped. Ramel was hired by Radiotjänst in 1945, which ushered in a new era of radio entertainment. With several series of innovative radio shows featuring the crazy style of humor, he became a household name in Sweden.

Knäppupp

In 1952, Ramel and Felix Alvo started the Knäppupp AB (Unbutton Inc.) company. The Knäppupp vaudeville shows were popular with Swedish audiences. His first vaudeville show was "Akta Huvet" ("Mind Your Head") and Ramel made his entrance hanging from a cable over the auditorium. The show opened at the Cirkus theatre in Gothenburg in 1952. Knäppupp AB also produced a number of movies, such as Ratataa in 1956. Ramel had several pub shows such as, "Karamelodier". "Karamelodier" is one of Ramel's typical puns, as the word karamelodier is a combination of the words "karamell" (bon-bon), "Ramel" and "melodier" (melodies).

Some of his most famous songs

Ramel made somewhere around 900 songs in total

Here is a list of his more famous ones:

Johanssons boogie woogie vals (Johansson's Boogie Woogie Waltz)

Måste vägen till Curaçao gynga så (Why must the Boat to Curaçao sway like this)

Gynga is a broken Swedish version of Gunga (Swing/Sway)

This song was written by Povel on the M/S San Blas, in a storm, and sung at the stage in San Blas later.

Lingonben (Lingonberry legs)

Släkt-huset (The Family House, mocking "the old family fam" theme)

Högt uppe på berget (High up on the Mountain)

Swedish version of On Top of Old Smoky

Far, jag kan inte få upp min kokosnöt (Daddy, I Can't Break Open my Coconut)

Swedish version of I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, featured in My Life as a Dog

Skratt (Laughs)

Presented with some "laughing types" as the engineer's laugh "Hoho hooooooooo" (Like a steam whistle), "ping-pong laugh" Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Underbart är kort (Wonderful is short), one of the few Ramel songs that are purely romantic

Nya Skrytvalsen (The New Bragging Waltz)

Later years

While he wasn't much of an active dubber, he did at one point voice Professor Archimedes Q. Porter in the Swedish dub of Disney's Tarzan from 1999.

Karamelodiktstipendiet

In 1982, in connection with his 60th birthday, Ramel founded Karamelodiktstipendiet, an award given annually to a Swedish entertainer or group of entertainers, known for inventiveness and renewal in their use of Swedish, or for important musical contributions. Ramel personally selected the recipient each year; after his death, a jury led by his daughter Lotta makes the selection. The name of the prize is a pun on karamell (piece of candy) and Ramel, melodi (melody), and dikt (poem or inventive story). The award itself consists of a paper cone filled with sweets, which alludes to one of Ramel's songs, a diploma, and a sum of money which is "sufficient to make the recipient financially independent, at least for the rest of the day". As of 2014, the prize sum was 20,000 SEK.

The prize ceremony is held at the beginning of June each year, and it was led by Povel Ramel until 2007, when he was unable to attend due to his failing health; he died on the following day from a heart disease. From 2007 onwards, it has been hosted by Ramel's children Mikael and Lotta. The awardee is led onto the scene of the venue covered by a sheet striped in red and white (an allusion to a polkagris, a form of peppermint rock), which is removed as the identity of the recipient is revealed through a poem written for the occasion.

Holders:

2020 (ceremony postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) – Bengan Janson

2019 – Suzanne Reuter

2018 – Felix Herngren

2017 – Lisa Nilsson

2016 – Per Andersson

2015 – Niklas Strömstedt

2014 – Kristina Lugn

2013 – Carl-Einar Häckner

2012 – Eva Rydberg

2011 – Johan Glans