Barbara Helsingius
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
27 September 1937 Helsinki, Finland |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Fencing |
Barbara Helsingius (born 27 September 1937 in Helsinki) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish olympic fencer, singer and poet.
She participated at the 1960 Summer Olympics.[1] Trained as a gym teacher, she took her masters in pedagogy at Stanford University (1963). Interested in American art and folk music, she began to record, and her first release, (1966) was a collection of American folk songs, translated to Finnish. She became well-known internationally, and is a member of Visens venner in Norway, of Visans Vänner in Helsinki and Yrkestrubadurernas Forening in Sweden, part of the Svenska Visakademien (1999, its only Finn) and the joint Nordic cultural organisation NordVisa. From 1969-1975, she lived in Oslo with her husband, Hank Koski, a diplomat at the USA's embassy. Her family now live in Espoo.
Prizes
- Hambestipendiet, Sweden 1989
- Norsk-finsk kulturpris 1993
- Nils Ferlin-prisen, Sweden 1994
- NordVisa-statuetten "Liv" 1995
- Pro Cultura Espoo 1995
Books
- Vill du visor min vän?
- Kanske en visa" (Schildts)
- dikt av Eino Leino, collection
- Songs Finland Sings, Warner/Chappel Music Finland (2000)
Barbara's works as an author are immense, currently more than 700 works in four languages.
Discography
- Barbara (1966; American folk songs in Finnish)
- Det var en gång (1977; own songs)
- Olipa kerran (1978; Finnish version of the above)
- Speiling (1981; Finnish songs in Norwegian)
- Barbaras blandade (1981; own songs)
- Kahlaajatyttö (1982; musical settings of the Finnish poets Aale Tynni and Aila Meriluoto)
- Fra Barbara med kjærlighet (1982; Finnish songs in Norwegian)
- Reflection. Songs from Finland (1984; Finnish songs in English)
- Drøm og bekjennelse (1986; her own and Finnish songs in Norwegian)
- Spegling (1986; Finnish-Swedish songs)
- Rakkaudella (1986; Finnish version of above)
- Tuulen niityillä (1992; Nordic songs in Finnish)
- Sånt är vårt liv (1996; own and Finnish songs in Swedish)
- Songs Finland Sings (2002; double CD of Finnish poems and songs, classics and songs which she translated to English. Contains 30 artists, including the Serena choir)
Prizes
| Year | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Trubadurprisen |
References
- ↑ Barbara Helsingius at sports-reference.com, accessed 2010-08-17