Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
WHAT'S ON IN SWEDEN

MUSIC

What’s on in Sweden: April 23rd – 30th

Join the Swedes in welcoming the beginning of spring by lighting bonfires in honour of an eighth-century German abbess this weekend. If that sounds too weird to you, there's also plenty of music, dancing and fitness events to ensure your calendar stays jam-packed.

Published: 23 April 2015 07:00 CEST
What's on in Sweden: April 23rd - 30th
Walpurgis celebrations in Lund, southern Sweden. Photo: Johan Nilsson/SCANPIX

On Saturday, April 25th, Stockholm Culture Night (Kulturnatt Stockholm) is set to roll out the red carpet to culture lovers throughout the city and beyond.

A buffet of art, music and dance is on offer to celebrate Stockholm's cultural diversity, including ballet, DJs, jazz, opera and much more. Over 400 events will be put on between 6pm and midnight and, best of all, they are completely free.

The next day, Kiwis and Aussies are set to saddle up for the Anzac Cup at the Täby race course near Stockholm on the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day in commemoration of the countries' fallen soldiers.

Celebrating a century of Antipodean military history may seem an odd crowd-puller at the Swedish horse races, but Täby Gallop Racing Club has seen visitor numbers surge by 20 percent every year for Anzac Day since it began in 2010. Gates open at noon on Sunday, April 26th, and admission to the track is 50 kronor ($5.76). Free activities for children are also on offer, including Aussie handball and pony rides. Read The Local's interview with the man behind the event here. 

Meanwhile, Walpurgis ('Valborgsmässoafton' or simply 'Valborg'), one of the biggest nationwide celebrations in Sweden, kicks off on April 30th. It's mostly an excuse for people to come out of hibernation after the long Swedish winter, meet up with members of their community, light a mountainous bonfire and sing and dance.

It is celebrated all over Sweden, so consult your local council's homepage for more information. However, the real action usually occurs in the nation's student towns, Lund in the south and Uppsala in central Sweden, where revellers see in the warmer weather with music, dancing and wild student antics.

Rising Swedish star Love Antell, the former front man of Swedish rock and pop group Florence Valentin, is set to play Debaser Medis on the Södermalm island in Stockholm on April 25th. Saturday's gig on his home turf is the culmination of a nationwide spring tour to promote his latest album, 'Barn av Amerika' ('Child of America'). Doors to the Debaser club open at 7pm and Antell will take the stage at 10.30pm. Tickets to the concert are 175 kronor.

If you're keen to start getting fit in time for summer, or just want to enjoy the beautiful Swedish spring scenery, the nation's biggest organized walk will take place in Borås in south-western Sweden this weekend. The Linneaus March ('Linnémarschen'), welcomes visitors from April 25th-26th to the beautiful Rya Åsar nature reserve at Borås, visited by the famous Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus back in 1746. The Linnaeus March is a member of the international walking organization IML and offers something for the casual stroller as well as the keen walker, with distances ranging from six to 42 kilometres.

Check out our interactive calendar below for more tips on how to spend this week in Sweden

 

DoTodaySearch.init({ “singleurl”:”https://www.thelocal.se/page/view/whats-on-in-sweden/”, “language”:”en”, “widget”:11618736});

DoTodaySearch.init({ “singleurl” : “https://www.thelocal.se/page/view/whats-on-in-sweden/”, “language” : “en”, “widget” : 11618736 });

CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

SHOW COMMENTS