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ENTERTAINMENT

Gothenburg club and concert tips: May 29 – 31

Where to go out in Gothenburg this weekend? Monthly has the answers (Click links for more information)

Published: 29 May 2008 15:07 CEST

HBT GBG Opening Party

Don’t miss the opening Party for HBT GBG! The good old organizers from Gay Straight to Hell have put together a winning programme of live music, DJs, films and performances. The name on everyone’s lips, Joel Alme, will play and artists from Paris, Beijing, Copenhagen, Malmö and Gothenburg will be sharing centre stage with camouflage nets, a homo-educational slide show and myriad lasers. The fact alone that 20 members of the French percussion band Les Idiots will be performing on the glass roof of the museum wearing nothing but 275 litres of paint is enough for us to head straight to Världskulturmuseet.

The 33rd Hammarkullekarnival

The whole city is buzzing with festival activity this weekend. The Hammarkulle carnival started off thirty years ago as a neighborhood parade and has now turned into a three day party which attracts 60,000 visitors every year. The Carnival kick starts on Friday night with the very special home-coming king, Jens Lekman. We sure won’t miss the chance to hear Jens break into: ”Oh, the sound of distant carnival drums, a Spanish guitar someone strums, It’s a sweet summers night on Hammer Hill. My heart goes like: Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp!

Cheesy not cheesy -Uppåt Framåt

The brand new roof top terrace at Uppåt Framåt is open! What better way to celebrate than to dance around to tunes from the Southern plains (read Loveable from Helsingborg). According to an urban dictionary we got our hand on, cheesy means “something that is unintentionally kitschy, tacky, or of poor quality, but these flaws go unnoticed by the admirers of said thing”. Oh well then, we sure are admirers of this fabulous club at Uppåt Framåt.

Reggae exhibition

Are you one of the reggae lovers out there? Get ready for a mega reggae party at Röda sten! There will be live music and sound systems in true Jamaican style. The party starts at 3pm and goes on till the early morning. Artists appearing include Horace Corn, Veteranians Band, Ninja Queen, Jr Eric and many more. Dress to sweat and head for the Red Stone!

Bam-Bam- Rio Rio

Pipping the post for the most likable summer clubs of them all is Bam Bam on the top floor of RioRio! We have oh so many memories from those summer nights on board this party boat. New for this year is a popcorn machine, film screening and even live paintings for people queuing by the canal side. We just love this idea. Why did no one think about this before? Check it out!

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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