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ARCHAEOLOGY

Peru sues Swedish city over ‘stolen’ artifacts

Peruvian President Alan Garcia said Monday that the country planned to sue the southwestern Swedish city of Gothenburg, on charges of being an accomplice in the theft of more than 100 colourful Paracas culture textiles.

Peru sues Swedish city over 'stolen' artifacts

“This comes as a total surprise to us, because we’ve had a good dialogue with Peru ever since they demanded we return the items in question,” Björn Sandmark, head of the Culture Administration in Gothenburg, told news agency AFP on Tuesday.

The textiles in question are more than 2,000 years old and are currently on show at the Gothenburg city-owned Museum of World Culture (Världskulturmuseet).

Peter Skogh, communication and marketing director at the museum, was equally thrown by the news, when The Local spoke to him on Tuesday.

“We’ve heard about this only through the media, where we’ve seen the statements President Garcia has made. But we haven’t received any information directly from Peru”, Skogh told The Local.

Björn Sandmark told AFP that he hoped legal action could be avoided, pointing out that the tone had been positive when he had met twice with Peru’s ambassador to Sweden and, most recently in March with the new general consul.

The city’s culture administration had quickly recommended returning the objects to Peru.

But the final decision lies with Gothenburg’s municipal council, which is not likely to handle the issue until after the summer holidays, according to Sandmark.

“These things often take time,” he explained, adding that he thought Peruvian authorities had understood and agreed with the process.

He also said such exchanges should be handled “between museums and not at a state-level.”

The Paracas culture flourished on Peru’s southern coast from around 100 BC to 200 AD, but little was known about their people until archaeological excavations were begun in the 1920s.

According to the Gothenburg museum website, “large quantities of Paracas textiles were smuggled out of Peru and illegally exported to museums and private collections all over the world around 1930. About a hundred of them were smuggled to Sweden and donated to the Ethnographic Department of the Gothenburg Museum.”

The town officially possesses 89 of the textiles, displayed since 2008 and under surveillance, according to the website.

In May 2010, Sweden returned 33 pre-Columbian textile fragments to Peru, the Latin American country most affected by theft of archaeological artifacts.

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CULTURE

Daddy cool: Swedish dads go viral as boy band

Five Swedish fathers singing capella pop songs while taking care of their young children have taken social media by storm, with their videos garnering tens of millions of views.

Daddy cool: Swedish dads go viral as boy band

The five men, all in their 30s, film their “Dad Harmony” sessions while hanging out with their kids at home in the northern town of Skellefteå.

“This story all started at my bachelor party” in the summer of 2022, Peter Widmark, a 33-year-old who works in sales, told AFP in an interview. “We were hanging out and singing as we usually do when we hang out… (and) my brother filmed it and put it on TikTok with his seven followers.”

The next morning the dads discovered the video had been viewed 40,000 times. The number had skyrocketed to 20 million hits worldwide within a few weeks.

The five friends decided to start posting videos regularly, shot in their kitchens or on their sofas, often holding their little ones on their laps.

Singing the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah”, one of the dads can be seen holding his weeks-old newborn in his arms.

“It’s a soothing thing when we sing,” Widmark said, explaining why the children are usually so calm in the videos.

‘Typical Swedish guys’

“We are typical Swedish guys,” said Widmark’s brother Tomas, who is also part of the group, adding it was “not that unusual” for men in Sweden to spend a lot of time with their children.

“Almost every guy in Sweden is used to taking paternity leave so it’s not a big deal for us,” he added.

Each of the dads has two kids.

Dad Harmony’s repertoire includes hits by Michael Jackson, the Beatles and popular Christmas songs.

Since the end of November the group has been on a month-long tour criss-crossing Sweden to perform live shows each weekend – albeit without their kids.

During the weeks, they go back to Skellefteå and continue to work at their normal jobs and spend time with their families.

The members of Dad Harmony in an interview with AFP. Photo: Viken Kantarci/AFP

“I just stumbled on their video on Instagram and I was mesmerised,” said Louise Elgström, a 41-year-old fan who attended a recent show in the town of Norrköping.

She said their appeal lies in the fact that “they feel so natural and also (that they are) involving their children”.

The dads vow their success won’t go to their heads. “No televisions flying from the hotel rooms!” joked band member Sebastian Åkesson.

But the group has big dreams: they hope to line up tour dates in the United States and Asia, and say they would love to sing with Elton John one day.

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