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ENTERTAINMENT

What’s on in Sweden: May 2 – 8

What's on this week in Sweden: Student carnival in Stockholm, Tom McRae in Gothenburg, top flight football in Malmö.

Published: 1 May 2008 09:14 CEST

STOCKHOLM

Quarnevalen

Quarnevalen is the biggest student event in northern Europe. Every three years thousands of students from Sweden’s colleges and universities come to Stockholm for the carnival which begins on May 10th at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and

passes through central Stockholm. During the week before while the floats are built, KTH hosts live bands and a great party open to the general public.

Location: Lindstedysvägen 28-32.

Time: Friday, May 2nd

…and continuing to May 10th

More information: www.quarnevalel.se

Simone Moreno

Simone Moreno from Brazil is back at Fasching this weekend so be prepared for a night of samba and Afro-Brazilian Axe music.

Price: 150 kronor

Location: Jazzclub Fasching, Kungsgatan 63

Time: Friday, May 2nd, 9pm

Phone: 08- 534 829 64

Tickets: www.fasching.se

Street

Street Market is a place for up and coming designers, artists, and entrepreneurs to display and sell their work. You can find anything from fashion to locally produced organic products at nearby Bistro Street.

Location: Street Market, Hornstulls Strand 4.

Time: Sunday, May 3rd, 11am-5pm

Phone: 08- 669 38 90

Guided Bicycle Tours of Djurgården Island

Three hour tours in English and in Swedish by an authorized guide.

Location: Blå Porten by the Djurgårdsbron bridge.

Times: Friday, May 2nd, 6 pm

…and continuing through July.

Phone: 08- 649 01 86

GOTHENBURG

Shakespeare – The Absolute Truth

Shakespeare’s plays were written centuries ago yet are still performed around the world. Who was the man who wrote these plays that still fascinate us? Was he just a simple man from Stratford-upon-Avon? There are so many questions, with many

different answers. Finally we get the truth.

Location: Pustervik

Time: Thursday, May 1st

…and continuing to May 4th.

More information: www.pustervik.goteborg.se

Tom McRae and The Hotel Cafe Tour 2008

Tom McRae is a British artist who has been successful around the world with his beautiful song writing. Hotel Cafe from the is one of the biggest and most influential singer-songwriter combinations around today. They will perform together in Sweden as part of their spring tour.

Location: Stenhammarsalen

Times: Wednesday, May 7th

Mitt i hela Livet

A play about four people whose lives change in the span of only four hours. It teaches us about old friends, new rules, fertility and the meaning of life itself (in Swedish).

Location: FolkTeatern

Time: Friday, May 2nd

MALMÖ

Debaser 1 Year

One year ago, the doors to Debaser opened up and held fantastic concerts with bands from Eldkvarn to Bonde Do Role.

Celebrate the venue’s one year anniversary with Hoffmaestro and Chraa, David Birde, and Lupus Nensen.

Price: 80 kronor

Age: 20

Location: Debaser, Norra Parkgatan 2.

Times: Saturday, May 3rd, 7pm

Sunday, April 6th, 10am-4pm

Phone: 040- 51 07 43

More information: www.debaser.nu

After All – Kaiken Jälkeen

A special dance performance from Finland.

Location: Palladium

Time: Friday, May 2nd and Saturday, May 3rd, 7.30pm

Phone: 040- 10 01 50

Malmö FF

The spring season begins in Allsvenskan 2008 at Malmö Stadion as the city’s top football club takes on GAIS from Gothenburg.

Location: Malmö Stadion

Times: Thursday, May 8th, 7pm

Phone: 040- 32 66 00

MUSIC

Meet the Spanish rapper bringing flamenco and bossa nova into hip-hop

Spanish rapper C. Tangana was taking a big risk when he started mixing old-fashioned influences like flamenco and bossa nova into his hip-hop -- but it's this eclectic sound that has turned him into a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic.

Published: 23 May 2021 08:38 CEST
Meet the Spanish rapper bringing flamenco and bossa nova into hip-hop
Spanish rapper Anton Alvarez known as 'C. Tangana' poses in Madrid on April 29, 2021. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP

The 30-year-old has emerged as one of the world’s biggest Spanish-language stars since his third album “El Madrileno” — the Madrilenian — came out in February. That ranks him alongside his superstar ex-girlfriend Rosalia, the Grammy-winning Catalan singer with whom he has co-written several hits.

C. Tangana, whose real name is Anton Alvarez Alfaro, has come a long way since a decade ago when he became known as a voice of disillusioned Spanish youth in the wake of the financial crisis.These days his rap is infused with everything from reggaeton and rumba to deeply traditional styles from Spain and Latin America, with a voice often digitised by autotune.

“It’s incredible that just when my music is at its most popular is exactly when I’m doing something a bit more complex, more experimental and less
trendy,” he told AFP in an interview.

And he is unashamed to be appealing to a wider audience than previously: his dream is now to make music “that a young person can enjoy in a club or someone older can enjoy at home while cooking”.

‘People are tired’

The rapper, who sports a severe semi-shaved haircut and a pencil moustache, has worked with Spanish flamenco greats including Nino De Elche, Antonio Carmona, Kiko Veneno, La Hungara and the Gipsy Kings.

In April he brought some of them together for a performance on NPR’s popular “Tiny Desk Concert” series, which has already drawn nearly six million
views on YouTube.

Shifting away from trap, one of rap’s most popular sub-genres, and venturing into a more traditional repertoire was a dangerous move — especially for someone with a young fanbase to whom rumba, bossa nova and bolero sound old-fashioned.

“I think people are tired. They’ve had enough of the predominant aesthetic values that have previously defined pop and urban music,” he said.

Parts of his latest album were recorded in Latin America with Cuban guitarist Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Uruguayan
singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, Mexican folk artist Ed Maverick and Brazil’s Toquinho, one of the bossa nova greats.

“What struck me most everywhere I went was the sense of tradition and the way people experienced the most popular music, and I don’t mean pop,” he said.

A new direction

C. Tangana started out in 2006 rapping under the name Crema. When the global economic crisis swept Spain a few years later, hard-hitting trap was
the perfect way to voice the angst of his generation. But after more than a decade of rapping, things changed.

“When I was heading for my 30s, I hit this crisis, I was a bit fed up with what I was doing… and decided to give voice to all these influences that I
never dared express as a rapper,” he said.

The shift began in 2018 with “Un veneno” (“A poison”) which came out a year after his big hit “Mala mujer” (“Bad woman”).

And there was a return to the sounds of his childhood when he used to listen to Spanish folk songs at home, raised by a mother who worked in
education and a journalist father who liked to play the guitar. The Latin American influences came later.

“It started when I was a teenager with reggaeton and with bachata which were played in the first clubs I went to, which were mostly Latin,” he said.

Studying philosophy at the time, he wrote his first raps between stints working in call centres or fast-food restaurants.

As to what comes next, he doesn’t know. But one thing he hopes to do is collaborate with Natalia Lafourcade, a Mexican singer who dabbles in folk, rock and pop — another jack of all musical trades.

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