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Gothenburg club and concert tips: August 1 – 3

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

Published: 31 July 2008 12:18 CEST

Koloni – Kungälvsparken

One of the most interesting and innovative party organizers in town is called Koloni. It always has new venues, fantastic DJs, and international live acts. On Friday, Koloni is throwing a party outside Gothenburg in Kungälvsparken. It will be a mini festival filled with interesting acts, and all just a short bus ride away. Playing live are: Le Ton Mité (Lyon/Olympia), Wo0 (Belgrade) and Woodchucker (Jönköping). So bring your beer, wine and picnic basket for a night in the park.

One of Gothenburg’s finest jazz acts will be playing live at Nefertiti on Friday. Franska Trion play a great variety of jazzy rhythms. Bebop, blues, swing, rockabilly, folk and everything that shakes. So put on your dancing shoes and let loose in a Charleston, Lindy hop or if the spirit takes you, a Jive.

Superdiskant vs. Blenda

This Friday it’s again time for the two popular clubs Superdiskant and Blenda to reunite for a euphoric night filled with techno, dance and trance. We’ve been promised a journey through the decades of dance music all the way through to today. The Harasser, mp3000 and Blenda-Lars will be behind the turntables.

During the summer this popular club with the same name puts on its best sunshine suit and becomes one big summer outdoor party. DJs on the terrace, barbecue, and sunny cocktails at the bar. When darkness falls, the party continues inside with sweet pop music and happy electronic beats boomingfrom the speakers.

Indie-an Summer 08

For all those indie lovers out there, don’t miss the indie all-nighter at Pustervik on Saturday. It’s a full tribute to local sub-culture and indie music in all shapes and forms. Some of the best DJs in town will take turns controlling the dance floor and we promise you won’t be left standing still. Playing live are local indie favourites Love is All and HWKN.

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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