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Gothenburg club and concert tips – June 6 – 8

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

Published: 5 June 2008 14:07 CEST

Papa Dee Live and in Dub

The Swedish dub and reggae king Papa Dee has just returned from Jamaica with a spanking new record that he’s produced together with a bunch of legendary musicians. On Friday he will perform some soft dub and vibrant reggae tunes together with Desmond Foster at Nefertiti.

Picnic festival

Bring a blanket a baguette and a bottle and head out to the all day picnic festival in Kålltorp. This is a laid back local festival with no attempts to be cool, funky or even exclusive …It’s just a day in the sun with good music and great company. Take the tram to Torp and follow the signs to Apslätten (the Monkey plain). Playing live are, among others: Svarta Safirer, Napoleon, Silversystrar and Autisterna.

One of Oslo’s finest Dj’s will take over the party boat Styrbord Barbord with his new club night Reibakken on Saturday. The music will be a mix of rock and electronic disco beats. Styrbord Barbord is a perfect location for a hot summer night. The boat unfortunately doesn’t leave the bridge, but simply standing on deck with a margarita in hand gives one the vague feeling of being on a glamorous boat cruise to Long Island in the twenties. Just watch out for Gatsby.

The Caribbean meets Gothenburg! Club Bacchanal is the only spot in town where you can get all of the hot rhythms of the Caribbean. Calypso, Soca, Zouk and much more. Celebrate the fantastic beginning of summer to all night rhythmic beats at the African/Caribbean restaurant Simba.

One Sunday per month Berlin comes to town through the Dj’s Nibc and La fleur. They bring the newest electronic beats from the dance capital of Europe, Berlin. The Swedish duo, resident in Germany promise to turn the tables in the backyard at Magnus & Magnus with mega house, filthy beats and dirty dancing.

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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