{"id":3179,"date":"2011-03-11T19:15:23","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T19:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=3179"},"modified":"2011-03-12T19:16:49","modified_gmt":"2011-03-12T19:16:49","slug":"melodifestivalen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/melodifestivalen\/","title":{"rendered":"Melodifestivalen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday night is that time again. The time of the year that schlager<\/a> lovers throughout Sweden wait for.\u00a0 It\u2019s Melodifestivalens final. Finally.<\/p>\n

For those of you who might not be lucky enough to have experienced schlager first hand in Sweden, you are, quite simply, missing out.\u00a0 It\u2019s an amazing experience that tends to involve a lot of wind machines, flashing lights, and bad music.\u00a0 All in all, it\u2019s an assault on the senses that should not be missed.<\/p>\n

It took me a while to accept the cultural phenomenon that is Melodifestivalen.\u00a0 My first year in Sweden was spent watching in disgust.\u00a0 My second year in Sweden was spent watching in fascination with a few adult beverages on hand.\u00a0 My third year in Sweden was spent at Globen watching in person. I had become a convert.\u00a0 And it was well worth it.<\/p>\n

This year, being back in the US though has left me a bit disconnected.\u00a0 Unfortunately.\u00a0 Luckily for schlager fans across the world, SVT streams Melodifestivalen on their website.\u00a0 And not only that, they offer a recap of previous performances of this year\u2019s finalists.\u00a0 So even if you haven\u2019t been keeping up, there\u2019s still time!<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s finalists are (with links directly to their performances on SVT):<\/p>\n