Maria L Hallengren - Himmel Över Svarta Hus - Maria L Hallengren sjunger Stig Dagerman

Facts Marking the centenary of author Stig Dagerman's birth at Norrgärdet farm in Älvkarleby, Maria L Hallengren released the EP Flickan i Gamla stan last fall, featuring new settings of Dagerman's poems. Now she follows up with the full-length album Himmel över svart hus - Maria L Hallengren sjunger Stig Dagerman.

Singer and musician Maria L Hallengren is driven by a passion for setting poetry to music. She has previously composed and arranged poems by, among others, Atle Burman, Gustaf Fröding, Olof Thunman and Zacharias Topelius. This year she received Region Uppsala's cultural scholarship to make a full-length album based on settings of Stig Dagerman's texts. The jury wrote in its motivation: "Maria's voice is a single, rich palette of tones; it brings life to the fragile and the dark, the deep and the powerful in Stig Dagerman's texts."

Dagerman's texts have depth and darkness, and the challenge is to take seventy-year-old texts and make them their own, to do them justice. Together with musician and producer Daniel Östersjö, Maria L Hallengren succeeds, with a musical sensitivity to the quality of the text, grounded both globally and locally, showing today's audience that these songs remain highly relevant.

The new settings build a bridge to a sky above black houses and open a door into Stig Dagerman's world. Besides Maria L Hallengren's and Daniel Östersjö's own new settings, the album Himmel över svart hus also includes settings by Sten Fläder, Jimmy Ginsby, Bengt Söderhäll, Urban Forsgren and Thérèse Juel. The album is produced by Maria L Hallengren together with Ruben Engzell and Daniel Östersjö, who have also been involved as musicians and producers on albums including En lagom liten hund - Elin Lyth sjunger Kristina Lugn and En bättre värld - William Bülow O'Nils sjunger Ruben Nilson.