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The Local’s Guide to Pride

Scandinavia's biggest gay pride festival starts building to a climax on Thursday, with the popular Schlager evening in "Pride Park" outside Stockholm's Maritime Museum. We guide you through the highlights of a long weekend of partying, with just a little politics thrown in.

Published: 29 July 2010 15:38 CEST
The Local's Guide to Pride

Thursday

2pm-1am: Sing your heart out at the Karaoke tent in Pride Park. The best contestants will compete for a spot in the Swedish National Karaoke Championship. A ticket is required for entrance to Pride Park unless you have a weekly pass. Learn more

7pm-11:30pm: The most popular concert of the festival – the Schlager evening. With lots of catchy Swedish ditties and former Eurovision winners, this concert is always guaranteed to pull in the crowds. The first part of the evening, until 9pm, will be dominated by classic Swedish schlager singers from days of yore. The second half, starting at 9:55pm, will have a more poppy, contemporary feel. To enter, buy a day pass for Thursday at 400 kronor. Learn more

10pm-3am: Party time. Put your dancing shoes on and celebrate at the Girl’s Party at Le Bon Palais. The party is hosted by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights and will feature three dance floors, karaoke and 1,500 guests. All genders are welcome, but there is a cover of 200 kronor at the door or 185 kronor with a prepaid ticket. Learn more

Friday

1pm-6pm: Get cultural and check out Gardet’s new art exhibit at Galleri Kocks in Södermalm right near Medborgarplatsen. The mixed media exhibit has something to please everyone’s taste. Free entry. Learn more

2pm-10pm: Play dress-up while learning something, too. Visit the Maritime Museum’s exhibit Uniforms, Norms, and Power. Try on different uniforms, and if you so desire, have your picture taken and be part of a slideshow. Entrance is free with a Pride ticket. Learn more

9pm-10pm: Giddy-up! Grab your chaps, boots, and cowboy hats for a line dance party hosted by A Six-Pack To Go, Stockholm’s best country-western club. Located in Pride Park, festival ticket required for entry. Learn more

Saturday

1pm: The Pride Parade. A colorful mix of a party, parade, demonstration, the Pride Parade can be anything you want it to be. Come down and check it out, everyone is welcome. The route is new this year, but will leave 1pm from Tantolunden and go across the entire city. Learn more

10pm-12am: Celebrate the Parade Gala with great acts like Therese, Le Kid, Love Generation, Ola Joyce, Rebound, Babsan and Dark Ladies, among others. At Pride Park, festival ticket required. Learn more

10pm-5am: Hit up the after-party, which goes all night at Göta Källare. Clean Event is organizing a wild party, with live performances and tons of DJs. 140 kronor prepaid ticket, 200 kronor at the door. Learn more

Sunday

3pm-11pm: Nurse the previous night’s hangover and weary feet by cuddling up at Södra Teatern’s film festival. Free entrance. Learn more

11pm-5am: One last hurrah. Celebrate Pride’s last day and dance the night away with a huge Sunday night closing party hosted by Kolingsborg. Entrance is free. Learn more

Visit the Stockholm Pride website for more detailed information about the festival and the many events going on around town.

Emy Gelb

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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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