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WHAT'S ON IN SWEDEN

MUSIC

The most stunning Swedish festival spots this week

How about a party on an island, in an old quarry or a former mining camp? That's all on offer in Sweden this week, alongside our regular interactive calendar.

Published: 28 July 2016 06:59 CEST
The most stunning Swedish festival spots this week
The Norberg Festival at an old ore mine. Photo: Peo Bengtsson

1. Into the Valley

Into the Valley takes place in a former limestone quarry located in picturesque Dalhalla near Rättvik in central Sweden. The festival only plays electro music, but even if you're not a fan, the venue itself is well worth the visit. This year it hosts famous international DJs such as Damien Lazarus, Nina Kraviz and Ben Klock.

When: July 28th-30th

Where: Dalhalla, seven kilometres from the train station in Rättvik

Tickets: 350-1590 kronor ($40-180)

2. Stockholm Music & Arts

This festival takes place in one of the most gorgeous locations in the Swedish capital: on the Skeppsholmen island, with clear blue Lake Mälaren and the Stockholm skyline as its backdrop. It has only been running since 2012, but has already attracted some of the more discerning fans. As its name suggests, it mixes music with different arts, for example theatre monologues or abstract paintings. What about the line-up? Oh, Lauryn Hill, Rufus Wainwright, Sigur Rós and Patti Smith, to name but a few.

When: July 29th-31st

Where: Skeppsholmen, Stockholm

Tickets: 750-1650 kronor


Stockholm Music & Arts last summer. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

3. Fryksdalsdansen

Deep in the Värmland region in western Sweden, in the Fryk Valley (Fryksdalen), lies Sunne, a small, sleepy town of around 5000 people. Except for these three days in July when 16,000 visitors descend on the area to attend this dance and music festival. Although you're unlikely to find Lauryn Hill and Sigur Rós here, some of Sweden's top homegrown artists will take the stage to show off their own brands of both the nation's traditional 'dansband' music and modern hits.

When: July 28th-30th

Where: Sunne, Värmland

Tickets: 400-800 kronor

4. The Norberg Festival

The Norberg Festival takes place in a rather spectacular location: an abandoned mining area called Mimerlaven in the town of Norberg, in the woods some 160 kilometres north-west of Stockholm. The former industrial buildings are turned into a technicolour show of light and sound installations and electronic music for three days – who knew concrete could be beautiful?

When: July 28th-30th

Where: Gamla Banan 6, Norberg, Västmanland

Tickets: 1290-1390 kronor (cheaper options are already sold out)

Check out the interactive calendar below for more events in Sweden:

 

 

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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.

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