American Union of Swedish Singers

In a 1997 issue of Nordstjernan, we brought something new and different to the readership: A four-page section dedicated to the American Union of Swedish Singers (AUSS), one of the largest independent singing groups in the U.S.  

  • One of the largest independent singing groups in the U.S. Photo from the Central Division of the AUSS Grand Concert, 2002, hosted by Waukegan Swedish Glee Club in Gurnee, Illinois.
  • Nordstjernan continuous to publish a newsletter for this highly decorated group of choirs on a monthly basis. This means that once a month as a subscriber you find at least four pages of news and features on AUSS, which has choirs and supporting groups all over America and in Sweden.

  • Soloist Katherine Journey at the Western Division of the AUSS Grand Concert, 2002. Photo courtesy AUSS Western Division.
  • The reason we started this cooperation was, and continues to be, threefold:

  • It's all about singing and having a good time—shown here are singers at an A.S.I. gathering with singers from Minneapolis and St. Paul; Dick Kennedy of A.S.I. and Wayne Johnson, St. Paul. Photo courtesy A.S.I. Chorus.
  • We all should cooperate more.
    We all need to cooperate more.
    We all must cooperate more.

  • This is especially true for any of us who join Swedish-American organizations and clubs, who have a mutual interest or a hobby or who just plain want to generate more business contacts. (Did I exclude anyone?)

  • Working with AUSS on the continuation of the "Musiktidning," makes us all happy at Nordstjernan for a couple of good reasons.

  • First of all, AUSS is one of the largest independent interest groups in Swedish-America, and is a group that does something (sing and have a good time) that all of us do from time to time. The major difference, of course, is that they do it not only in their showers or over sill or crayfish and a nubbe, but they also do it well, they do it together and they do it to entertain us and promote our common heritage. That is certainly something we at Nordstjernan endorse!

  • Secondly, it's a reunion of sorts: The very first stand-alone special section of Nordstjernan in 1898 was a special report on the newly founded AUSS's first visit to the motherland, Sweden (Our then-publisher Charles K Johansson, was also one of the founders of the group). How is that for historical ties and reviving traditions?

  • Welcome, AUSS - we at Nordstjernan are happy and proud to be working together.
    Ulf Martensson, Editor & Publisher

  • For more information on the web about the American Union of Swedish Singers, see http://auss.org