Claes af Geijerstam has been a popular musician, songwriter, DJ and radio personality throughout his life. He is now exhibiting his unique collection of guitars at the ABBA Museum in Stockholm. I (Peter) was there yesterday to check out the opening, the day before the exhibition opens for real. Which is today!
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Claes of Geijerstam
Claes af Geijerstam is a truly popular artist with a long list of accomplishments. Originally known as a songwriter and guitarist in the band Ola & the Janglers, he has since done everything from film scores to radio programmes. 'I grew up with this fast-talking man as a DJ and I loved it.
Things have been going well for Clabbe
Claes af Geijerstam has appeared on TV in countless contexts, worked as a DJ, been a sound engineer for none other than ABBA during the crazy hysteria and ABBA fever that prevailed. He has participated in Melodifestivalen several times and beat out ABBA in 1973, winning the Melodifestivalen together with Göran Fristorp.
He had great success with Little Mike and his Sweet soul band that I saw on the stock exchange in the New Year 82 or 83. In recent years he is perhaps best known as a jury member in the programme Idol. Not a bad track record then!
Guitars of the stars
Claes af Geijerstam is currently hosting an exhibition at the ABBA Museum with his very unique guitar collection. The collection began in 2005, and since then af Geijerstam has accumulated around 50 guitars. And these are not just any guitars he has in his collection!
Yesterday he cut the audio cables!
Famous rock stars' guitars have been recreated in very small editions, and Mr af Geijerstam has had to work hard (and pay a lot - the estimated value of the guitars is around 10 million) to get his hands on so many. Thanks to his collection, we can now see guitars used by stars such as Eric Clapton, Andy Summers (The Police), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Ace Frehley (Kiss), Gary Moore, Jimmy Hendrix, Kirk Hammet (Metallica), Don Felder (The Eagles), Slash, Les Paul (GunsN´Roses) and others.
We continue the journey
Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Marc Bolan (T.Rex), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Topp) and a lot of emotions and memories come to the surface that you grew up with.
Cool musicians who have left their mark
The New Yardbirds was Jeff Beck's band and invited Jimmy Page, who was then a studio musician for the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kings and many others. Jeff Beck wanted to improvise and left the band to go his own way. The band was renamed no less than Led Zeppelin, and it wasn't wrong. There were two superstars in the same band like Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins who played in Genesis and Peter left and that didn't turn out badly either.
Now some cool stories
Eric Clapton is a legend and so is his guitar. Here you can see how a cigarette has burned into the wood above the e-string. He put his cigarette there when he would take a solo and it was always too long.
What about Clabbe himself?
The guitar on the left is from 1961 and was Clabbe's first guitar. "Because you are in a flow, you are young and you want to create, you don't think much about a guitar, because there are new ones. It disappeared and he didn't think much more about it.
After 30 years, a person calls up from an estate and says this guitar is signed by Claes af Geijerstam, and he didn't get it. He asked them to send him a picture and it was his first guitar and it's now in Pop House and the ABBA Museum in Stockholm.
These aren't all the guitars and stories I've written about but you can experience more at POP HOUSE.
Personal memories
Music makes memories and don't dream away right now for hours because I need your help. I'll start!
I grew up on Blidö outside Norrtälje in the summer and on weekends. I met four brothers who loved and practised musical instruments. With Led Zeppelin, the Wallén brothers sat in 1974 and practised the riffs (Smoke on the water). One of the brothers was called Ingemar who has toured with Jerry Williams several years and plays bass. Wille played drums in The Boppers and Kjell started his own band. I was with the youngest son and we were just interested in life and all the fun.
What memories do you have?
Now comes the hard part! You've cried to the ballads and partied to the cool songs and you've fallen in love with many of these legends. The memories just flow and you can sit for days, but take your strongest memories and tell them... This is going to be long!
The exhibition is aptly named Guitars of the Stars and is on display at the ABBA Museum in Stockholm for about a year.
You might also like:
Visiting Skansen - open-air museum in Stockholm
Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde - art in beautiful surroundings
Thielska Galleriet on Djurgården - and a boat trip
Moderna museet in Stockholm - Art on Skeppsholmen
ArkDes - museum of architecture and design
East Asian Museum in Stockholm - Japan, China, Korea
English (UK) 
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Lena - good for the soul says:
Hihi, then I must tell you that ABBAS guitarist Lasse Wellander has been at home with me and my former husband. The ex-husband received a private guitar clinic with him as a gift. The ex-husband and Lasse then became acquaintances/friends. A more humble and sympathetic celebrity you can probably look for!
Anyway. That acquaintance makes me one hug from Meryl Streep, one handshake from the ABBA gang and a whole bunch of other Swedish artists. Two handshakes from Michael Jackson, Dr Dre and Snoop Dog. Three handshakes from Bruce Springsteen.
Hug Lena
25 January 2018 - 7:14
Peter says:
Hi Lena! Music triggers memories and we who have grown up with the best because we are older. Every guitar and Clabbe himself comes from the best of all worlds.
25 January 2018 - 11:02
Christian says:
Fun! Loved the straight across disc!
25 January 2018 - 8:26
Peter says:
Hi Christian. Straight across the disc always owned and it was followed all the time. Great memories.
25 January 2018 - 11:03
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
I can't say like Lena that I'm almost.... but I have met Göran Fristorp's brother during my professional period. Claes-Göran Hederström had a house in the village like us and the last time I met him was at the gym in Helsingborg.
25 January 2018 - 9:20
Peter says:
Music connects generations. There are always some artists that we have in common, and from the 60s there are many.
25 January 2018 - 11:05
Yvonne Jacobson says:
How long will Clabbe's exhibition last?
25 January 2018 - 9:36
Peter says:
Hi Yvonne! One year it will be there and it is certainly worth a visit.
25 January 2018 - 11:11
Ditte says:
Clabbe is "cult"! He has done so much and varied over the years. Think also of all the old radio programmes he led.
Great fun to read your post and there was a lot that was new to me.
It's great that his guitars are now in the ABBA museum.
25 January 2018 - 10:33
Peter says:
A great tribute to a wonderful artist in the big room. I have some video material as well that I will try to get together this weekend.
25 January 2018 - 11:06
Ama de casa says:
Clabbe has always existed! Fun exhibition and many wonderful stories 🙂
Although I was a bit upset that ABBA only came third in 1973. Clabbe and Göran had to change their name from Malta to Nova because Malta is a country. Stupid choice of name * 2 considering that "no va" in Spanish is "it's not possible" 😉.
The year on won the right song 😀
Sorry, I went a bit off track there, but it's that kind of time again - soon it starts - out with the Schlager hat! 😀 😀 😀
25 January 2018 - 10:56
Peter says:
Haha. This post should trigger memories and that's the point. I'm not much into schlager but it's huge. Just Malta when we were there, they talked about how schlager is huge, and they knew all the Swedish songs that have won. A bit of fun!
25 January 2018 - 11:09
Susjos says:
Wow, what a fun exhibition, I want to see it! Of course, I have "mellominnen" by Clabbe and Göran Fristorp. Lived in Falun and "Malta", or Nova as they had to change their name to, had won Mello and would be in the ESC. then they came and performed at Domus (?) of all places, and I..13 years old went there and bought their single and got an autograph from both of them, guess if it made a thirteen year old happy! Clabbe asked for my name and wrote "Hej Hej Susanne" on the single too, the happiness was complete!
25 January 2018 - 13:04
Ama says:
Susjos. ... Because your luck was made there between Schlagern and Storschlagern so you were only 12. ESC is always in the spring. Have you no control over your mello? ??
25 January 2018 - 14:41
Susjos says:
Haha, Ama ... thought about it, but thought that 13 years sounded a little better!!!! Hihi!!!
25 January 2018 - 21:41
Peter says:
Hi Susanne! I think Clabbe has always been a gentleman and has not been involved in any scandals. He is just as nice a person today at the age of 71. Many people think of him but don't mention him very often. It's great to be successful and I'm glad I was there.
25 January 2018 - 19:59
BP says:
I have no Mello memories of Clabbe and Göran Fristorp, which is not surprising as I don't watch Mello. However, I loved Clabbe in the radio programme "Rakt over disc". No one could "fast-talk" like him. He was absolutely wonderful.
I have met Jerry Williams a few times irl, when I worked for Suzuki and he was loyal to the brand and did a lot of advertising for the motorcycles.
Eric Clapton is one of my favourite singers, as are Neill Young and Lou Reed who I saw when they played in Stockholm.
25 January 2018 - 16:49
Peter says:
I think he misses a couple of guitars like Bowie, Prince and Lou Reed and I think he does too. Straight over disc was awesome and it left a mark from Clabbe. Cool exhibition from a nice guy.
25 January 2018 - 20:03
Anette says:
I was at a big after party once in the 80s, Clabbe was there.
His flow of words was just like in Rakt über disc, he kept going until late in the morning. Talk about energy.
26 January 2018 - 2:12
Peter says:
He still has lots of energy and is really lively at 70. Cool guy.
26 January 2018 - 14:25