Churches turn to pop music hits instead of hymns to attract young…
A Church Remembers Avicii, With Hits Instead of Hymns
http://archive.today/2018.11.21-032222/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/arts/music/avicii-mass-church-stockholm.html
STOCKHOLM — Olle Liljefors stood in a makeshift D.J. booth on Friday evening, spinning tracks by the Swedish musician Avicii, who died suddenly in April. It was not yet 8 p.m., but the cavernous venue was already at capacity, and Liljefors looked slightly nervous. Stepping away from the decks, he swapped his black leather motorcycle jacket for white robes and a gold-color stole. Then, with minutes until Mass began, the Lutheran pastor mixed one last song and bopped his head in time to the electronic beats that filled the grand dome of the Hedvig Eleonora Church, a striking ocher octagon in Stockholm wedged between chic restaurants and a busy shopping street.
The service that followed was intended in part as a memorial to Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, who died in Muscat, Oman, in an apparent suicide. But by replacing the normal hymns with Avicii’s music, the religious ceremony was also part of a continuing effort by Liljefors and other clergy to draw younger members to the dwindling ranks of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Photographs of the musician, who grew up in Stockholm in the parish that the Hedvig Eleonora Church serves, were on the altar. Bergling’s father gave a short speech that brought many in the pews to tears. Liljefors delivered the sermon, which drew on lyrics from Avicii’s songs. “When we sit at home ‘waiting for love,’ or when we are happy and want to dance, or when we feel lost, like ‘wake me up when it’s all over,’ music can bring love, hope, comfort and joy,” he said.
The music, though, was the main attraction. Ulf Norberg turned over his normal spot at the bench of Hedvig Eleonora’s impressive organ — the largest in the Nordic region — to the young organist Sebastian Johansson, and instead played piano and conducted the choir. Though he would return to playing Handel on Sunday, he was, for the moment, appreciating Avicii’s artistry. “His songs have classical elements — lots of long notes and broad lines,” Norberg said. “Some of the rhythms are tricky for the choir.” In the past several years, churches throughout Sweden, including Hedvig Eleonora, have held “Abba Masses,” in which the choir belts out “Waterloo” and other hits by the group. (“Money, Money, Money” is a favorite accompaniment during the collection rounds.) In Jonkoping, a city in southern Sweden, Ljungarum Church has also held services set to music by Sting, U2 and even the Jewish singer, Leonard Cohen. “We want to celebrate a service that can open up and touch people,” said Cecilia Sjoberg, the pastor of Ljungarum, where Avicii-inspired Masses were also held on Sunday.