"We have met the enemy,"
announced one New York rock critic after being introduced to Abba back in the late
seventies. Beijingers get a fresh helping of sugary Swedish europop this month, served up
in a light classical souffle by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at Beijing Exhibition
Theater on March 5.
Few foursomes could convert better to the hum-along humdrum tunes much beloved on Chinese trains. And no orchestra is better qualified to pump out the Swedish star stuff than the Gothenburg. Since 1997, the orchestra has born the title of Sweden? national orchestra ?a distinction earned on the basis of its outstanding artistic quality and international reputation.
Under the leadership of Jarvi, the orchestra has developed its own special style and artistry. Tours to the Far East and the USA in 1987 placed the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra firmly on the world musical map.
Reviled by rock purists, Abba were nonetheless admired by figures as diverse as Nelson
Mandela and the late Kurt Cobain. Australia and Germany became particularly devoted to
their mainstream melodies. Only in the United States was Abba? success sporadic rather than continuous. Bootlegged Abba tapes
still proliferate across Southeast Asia. The band's legal sales alone allowed them to surpass Volvo as Sweden? most profitable export item in the
late seventies. They scored a seemingly endless string of predominantly bouncy pop hits,
featuring well-crafted catchy melodies and the band? distinctive multi-layered female vocals. 
Abba disbanded in 1982, with Lyngstad and Faltskog going solo and Andersson and Ulvaeus writing for the musical theatre, scoring a massive hit with "Chess." The long-running musical had its premier in London in 1985 and was followed by a double album and a concert version that was a tremendous success in Sweden. The pair's second musical, "Krisina from Duvemala," received its premier in Malmo in 1995 and is currently playing to full houses in Stockholm.
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