Swedish ‘Allsång’ Posted by Katja on Aug 1, 2011 in Culture
This is a very typical Swedish summer occurrence. ‘Allsång’ takes place outdoors, with a song leader. People of all ages come to ‘Allsång’ to hear good music and sing along. Everyone is given a copy of the lyrics, so you can follow along. Even the viewers can follow along with the song texts at the bottom of their screens. The songs are mostly folk songs, but can be in Swedish or in English and there is always at least one popular pop singer who sings live, which draws the crowds.
The ‘Allsång’ leader makes witty comments and walks around the crowds, sticking a microphone in front of members of the audience to sing along. This is fun because this gives that person a minute of fame, singing live on tv!
In addition to ‘allsång’, Swedes have the idea of singing at most functions, such as dinner parties, weddings, Christmas dinner, Midsummer’s dinner and even end of school celebrations, with individual song texts printed up at each place setting.
Why do Swedes love to sing so much?
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Comments:
yanti:
I attended ABBA allsaang. Amazing I felt how I was connected to Sweden loooong before I came to Sweden. When I was a kid, I could sing almost ALL ABBA’s popular songs. So when I went to that ABBA allsaang, it was practically only me and another Swedish woman who could sing “Chiquitita” one of the most beautifu song ever.
Luke:
Ooo…,I think I might have missed my chance for my one minute fame.