Georg Riedel: Composer of Astrid Lindgren songs dead
He wrote music for Astrid Lindgren's world-famous stories. The Swedish composer Georg Riedel has now died at the age of 90.
His melodies adorned many of Astrid Lindgren’s children’s stories: The jazz composer Georg Riedel died at the age of 90. His relatives told the Swedish news agency TT on Monday that he fell asleep surrounded by his family on Sunday evening after a long illness.
Georg Riedel was a part of the childhood of many people in Scandinavia and beyond. In Sweden he is considered one of the most famous children’s song composers. One of his greatest successes was the song “Idas Sommarvisa”, which comes from the stories of Michel and Ida from Lönneberga. In Sweden, the song is sung in kindergartens, schools and even at graduation ceremonies.
Jazz was his great passion
The musician wrote numerous songs that provided musical accompaniment to Astrid Lindgren’s books. He also composed the theme music for “Karlsson vom Dach” and “Michel aus Lönneberga”. He also provided numerous melodies for the Pippi Longstocking stories.
Georg Riedel was born in 1934 in Karlovy Vary in what was then Czechoslovakia. About four years later his family moved to Stockholm. The musician initially learned to play the violin, but then found more enjoyment in the double bass and discovered his great passion: jazz.
Georg Riedel met the composer Jan Johansson, who invented the iconic music for the song “Hey, Pippi Longstocking,” as a young man. The two jazz musicians worked together on numerous works. In the mid-1960s they recorded Johansson’s album “Jazz på svenska” (“Jazz in Swedish”) together, which, according to the Swedish news agency TT, is considered the best-known and best-selling Swedish jazz record.
