Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Malmö, Sweden this year. And 50 years ago, it was a Swedish quartet who won the competition: the group ABBA, with their famous “WATERLOO”, a track with global success!
Half a century after this victory, followed by Abba’s visit to Waterloo and the Butte du Lion (located in Braine-l’Alleud), the Walloon Brabant city is still benefiting from this spotlight, as the sums it up audio report below.
This international influence supports the initial historical appeal of the Battle of Waterloo 1815.”To the point that the youngest, who have seen the film or the musical Mama Miaknow Waterloo thanks to the song, much more than through the history of the battle”, explains Jean-Marie Potiez, curator of the Abba exhibition in Waterloo and official French-speaking biographer of the famous group.
At the Waterloo Tourism Office, Daphné Verbrugghe is in contact with tourists. It confirms the catalytic effect of the song on local tourism and on the Abba exhibition set up last September at the Waterloo 1815 Memorial. Many tourists met there told us that the names of Napoleon and ‘Abba were somehow linked, since the victory of the Swedish group on April 6, 1974. A Swedish victory after a French defeat.
