A visit to Ralph Lundsten and the Andromeda Studio

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Today was a very special day for me. I went to meet the Dream master himself, Ralph Lundsten in his pink castle, Villa Frankenburg. He and Fredrik Walldén, a very nice guy who (among other things) helps Ralph with his digital stuff, were sitting in the garden sofa when I arrived. They greeted me and we went inside the house. For me it was surreal since Ralph, for me, is a concept rather than an actual person, and there I was standing face to face with this charismatic 75-year-old legend. His eyes were piercing, but nice and friendly, and his voice was calm and clear.

As I entered his pink utopia it felt as if I were entering a different universe. Since his 2-year-old daughter was having her afternoon nap we had to go upstairs to his office. He asked me to turn on the cd so I handed it to Fredrik who put it on and while we were listening Ralph started to ask me questions about the music and how I defined it. I said that I called it jazz rock or progressive music. After a while he said that he use to call all the music that is hard to define cosmic music. So I guess for now on we play cosmic music!

We talked about music today and that it was hard to reach out to an audience from within the massive media flow. After talking about publishing rights and exchanging some necessary numbers Ralph said that he liked the music and that it sounded nice and welcoming, which made me very happy.



We went down to the kitchen, his protein laboratory as he calls it, for a coffee and some cookies. Before we went to the kitchen he asked me if I wanted to see the Andromeda Studio. Guess what my answer was! The studio was in perfect shape with a big 32-channel mixer, his Dimi-o and -s, the Andromatic synthesizer a 32-channel tape recorder, great big monitors and some computer equipment. Very interesting. He showed me some stuff and told me some stories about when for example Led Zeppelin visited the Andromeda Studio in the 70s!

Well in the kitchen we had coffee with another guest, his wife and daughter and Fredrik. Only to be in the protein laboratory is an experience. There are paintings and decorations everywhere. In the kitchen there are visual discoveries to be made which could last for a week. We talked about music and Ralph share anecdotes and opinions about everything.

After that we went back to the studio and Ralph played some music and sang and danced a bit. A very lively experience! I bought his autobiography, another book of his called Happy Earthday and two discs called Out in the Wide World and Festlust. I also asked him to sign a vinyl that I brought, Nordic Naturesymphony No.1 "The Neck", which he did.

Order his masterpieces here

After this two-hour-visit I said "thank very much and goodbye". He shook my hand and said "keep up the fight". Fredrik and I also shook hands and i was off with a very happy feeling filling up my mind.

It was a great experience meeting Ralph and I feel motivated by the visit and even more eager to finalize this project with a great result. An nice and inspiring experience indeed!

Thank you Ralph!

To make you even happier I hereby publish another video from Southside Pub. Tax Vobiscum:



Take care and live well!!!
Jesper