Mitt barndomshem bland bergen - Lapp-Lisa

Anna-Lisa ''Lapp-Lisa'' Öst (born Anna-Lisa Vikström in 1889) was a swedish christian folksinger of sami heritage and a devout Salvation Army Soldier of God. She was also one of many popular schlager and radio favourites in the 30-70s in Sweden.

Anna-Lisa was saved after surviving drowning in a boat accident in 1908 and singing was her way to express her salvation. It's said that her voice achieved a new clarity after this experience.
She devotedly began to learn the song treasure her folksinging mother handed down to her, consisting of something around 500 songs.

Anna-Lisa married Johan "Jonte" Öst in 1924 and left her post as an officer in SA, but she still was promised to freely pursue her spiritual work. They had one adopted daugter in '27 and another concieved in '35. For eleven years she toured swedish parishes on demand until her husband died in the early 50s.

She recorded her first songs in 1929, and hearing her own voice from "the lite tin box" for the first time she "felt as she was two" and cried like a child of joy and amazement. Her recordings became a great success and she came to follow the advancement of recording industry from then on.

Her records were very popular among exiled Swedes in The New Land, America and she came to be played frequently in American radio for swedish emigrants.
She visited America three times and on her first tour she played for 45000 people on her journeys. Sha was invited back and returned two more times, the last time in 1959 when she toured 17 states for two months.

In Sweden she often toured homes for the elderly who she cared for especially, like her contemporaries Jokkmokks Jokke and Gösta Snoddas Nordgren.

Anna-Lisa left earthly life in 1974 at the age of 84, still popular among old and young. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.