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Monthly archives: August 2010

Swedish music of the week

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We’ve got five social feeds on Sweden.se and now is the time for me to push for the one I handle — the Swedish music of the week list. Every week I pick a list of five Swedish tunes, sometimes with a specific theme in mind. Over the summer we had a love theme on Sweden.se, Two weeks ago when we had a love theme on Sweden.se, which of course resulted in a selection of Swedish love songs.

This week’s playlist focuses a little on Swedish hip hop. Three of the songs are from Evolution, an upcoming compilation album that I’m really looking forward to. It features Swedish acts Stor, Pato Pooh, Näääk, Highwon, and Trainspotters to name just a few.

The album is produced by the great Salazar Brothers, who burst onto the Swedish hip hop scene way back in 1994 when they were part of the group Latin Kings. Nowadays they work as producers only. They have collaborated with a variety of Swedish artists, not just rappers — last year they produced rock act Mando Dio‘s album.

Here are  four videos from the Evolution album:

Do you any favorite songs that you’d like us to include in the Swedish music of the week-list?

Don´t forget to visit our Music room…

/Andrés

andres

August 30, 2010

When fall sneaks up on us, it’s time for some Swedish film

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Sadly, soon enough we’ll have to consider the Swedish summer a chapter coming to an end. The evenings are getting darker for every day passing and this morning I actually had to find my stash of winter clothes and dig up one of my long-sleeved sweaters.

But the fall sneaking up on us is, in my opinion, not a bad thing at all. I find it kind of liberating to get rid of the feeling of obligation to spend every waking minute outdoors, always up to something. Now I can allow myself to spend my evenings on the couch watching films, which is something I really love doing! And there is a lot of interesting Swedish film! A few I’ve been planning to see for some time now is for example “Flickan“(The girl) and “Snabba cash” (Easy Money).

I’m sure I will also spend some time at the movie theatre where I most definitely will watch “I rymden finns inga känslor” (Simple Simon) and “Himlen är oskyldigt blå” (Behind Blue Skies). Bill Skarsgård, the son of Stellan Skarsgård and the younger brother of Alexander Skarsgård, plays the lead part in both films.

Bill Skarsgård as Simon in Simple Simon

Bill Skarsgård as Simon in "I rymden finns inga känslor" (Simple Simon). Photo: Naive AB

/Mikaela

Mikaela

August 18, 2010

My top 10 from the summer of 2010

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Chanterelles

Chanterelle joy! A feast for free! Photo: Jens Randecker

A gray day in the office. Perfect for summing up this long, hot summer, which in my case had many highlights. Let me share ten of them with you:

  1. The weather.
    Sweden had the warmest summer in ages, with a record temperature of 35°C (95°F) in Målilla on July 11. (The highest temperature in Sweden since July 1994.)
  2. The people.
    The hot, sunny weather made people more relaxed than usual and more inclined to talk about other things than the weather. I also had time to meet up with some of the favorite people in my life.
  3. The shellfish.
    Spent some time on the Swedish west coast, in Hunnebostrand, where the mussels, shrimps and crayfish were fresher and more divine than ever.
  4. The fish.
    Took the boat out among the west coast islands. Got four mackerels that were thrown straight into the pan to become a yummy lunch.
  5. The chanterelles.
    The forest was also good to us. Found a large patch invaded by my favorite mushrooms, the golden chanterelles. Joy!
  6. The blueberries.
    The same forest excursion also blessed us with enough blueberries to make a mouth-watering pie for dessert in the evening. (Although I must say that they are really boring to pick, tiny as they are.)
  7. The crickets.
    The nights were accompanied by the constant “singing” of crickets (chirping?). Although quite annoying, it reminded me of how unusually Southern European this Swedish summer was.
  8. The grill.
    Pretty much every night was barbecue night. There’s nothing to get the appetite going like the smell of freshly grilled food. And the crickets kept on singing.
  9. The new potatoes.
    Our own teeny-weeny vegetable garden produced some delicious miniature potatoes that went very well with whatever was on the grill. And the crickets played on.
  10. The holiday.
    Much of the above had not been possible without the generous Swedish holiday entitlement. As a state employee, 30+, I get 31 holidays a year. Thank you, Sweden! And goodbye crickets!

/Emma

Emma

August 17, 2010

Sweden Social Web Camp 2010 – 400 web nerds go camping

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This weekend,  with my colleagues Kajsa and Janne, I had the privilege of experiencing something quite unique – Sweden Social Web Camp (SSWC) – a weekend conference out on the remote and beautiful island Tjärö in the south of Sweden. The purpose of the weekend is to get people together in “real life” to network and discuss the web in a very broad sense and it’s organized by a couple of social media enthusiasts. Over 400 people participated, all from different parts of the country and with very different professional and personal background. We all had one important thing in common though…passion for social media and the belief that the social web is a positive force in the world in everything from promoting real democracy to improving people’s quality of life.

The method used to organize the conference was “unconference” where the participant themselves create the content and the schedule. There were so many interesting sessions and too little time! Examples of topics where: How do we digitally maintain and make our cultural heritage accessible in a sustainable and engaging way? How do organizations get ROI on their Facebook presence? Should companies be on Facebook at all? The “open gov”: what information should be made available and what should we do with it? Should some information not be made accessible? Politics 2.0: assessment of the Swedish politicians’ presence in social media. (Note that we have a general election coming up in Sweden in September.) Digital story telling: a credible way to communicate a brand on the web. It’s all done in an interactive manner where the participants are as vital (or more) as the session organizers. And much more…

I will without a doubt try to get a ticket to SSWC next year as well, but I have to be quick…this year the event was sold out within one hour of the release of the tickets. Needless to say, I feel inspired and even more convinced that the social web is such positive force in the development of a better world:). Or as the organizers put it: “It’s all about love.”

Our "mansion" which gave us shelter for two nights.
Our “mansion” which gave us shelter for two nights.
The tent that should have been ours...
The tent that should have been ours…

/Frida

frida

August 16, 2010

Music makes the summer

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Every summer has its own soundtrack and so will the summer of 2010. Here is a small selection of Swedish music frequently played this summer:

  1. Robyn – Dancing on my own
  2. Swedish House Mafia – One (Your Name) feat Pharrell
  3. Oskar Linnros – Från och med du
  4. Darin – You’re out of my life
  5. Tove Styrke – Million pieces

What music will make you think of the summer of 2010?

And by the way…don’t forget to pay a visit to our Music room where you will find plenty of great Swedish music!

/Mikaela

Mikaela

August 13, 2010