Eurovision 2013: Discover Malmö’s music scene

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 392 views

Esctoday.com, in collaboration with Malmö Turism, invites you to discover Malmö and experience the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Today we we will have a look at the music scene in Malmö. Where to groove, party and enjoy music  in the 2013 Eurovision host city?

THE MUSIC OF MALMÖ

After a decade of astonishing creative transformation, the former grey industrial city of Malmö has become a Scandinavian metropolis for music lovers of all kinds. The city’s music scene is vibrant, limitless, often socially conscious and constantly evolving.

 An open air concert – Photograph: malmotown.se

Over the last ten years, Malmö has transformed itself from a tired and grey industrial city to a never sleeping oasis for music lovers. With a young, urbane, creative and politically aware population, Malmö is home to one of the hottest music scenes in Scandinavia. A variety of clubs, bars, outdoor festivals and important cultural grassroot organisations attract international artists from all over the world. They offer a musical diversity that caters to any taste: pop, rock, indie, jazz, soul, hip-hop, house, techno, reggae, salsa, blues, tango, classical, alternative or Balkan dubstep.

Young population
Malmö’s trendy vibe comes in part from the fact that its population has the lowest average age of any Swedish city, due largely to the great number of students and other young people from all over Sweden descending upon the hip city.

Important contributing factors to this influx are the opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000, the founding of Malmö University – and the City of Malmö’s financial support of local grassroot organisations and young, new, musical talent. The underground music scene plays an important role in Malmö’s musical expression, which often has components of social and political awareness.

A concert at the Malmo Festival- Photograph Jenny Leyman

On the international map
Malmö’s reputation as a pop and rock city started at the turn of the century. Malmö was declared “Pop City of the Year” (2000) and the pop group The Cardigans, with smash hits such as Erase/Rewind and Lovefool, put the city on the international music map. Other bands and artists such as The Ark, Bob Hund, Monkeystrikes, The Sounds, Looptroop Rockers, Advance Patrol, Timbuktu, Pauline, Arash, Lazee and Minilogue, are successes closely associated with Malmö. The city’s trademark sounds now includes soul and hip hop, and its techno scene is well known outside of Sweden.

Vibrant club scene
When exploring Malmö by night, a visit to the popular area Möllevången (“Möllan”) is a must. Debaser, Moriska Paviljongen, Cuba Café and Babel (located in an old church) are well-frequented clubs, as well as Kulturbolaget (“KB”) at Bergsgatan, famous for its legendary live rock music. There are also many great places at Lilla Torg (Little Square), which is always jam-packed.

The Malmo Opera House 

Konserthuset (The Concert Hall), the newly built Malmö Arena and Malmö Opera are other outstanding music venues that cater to many different audiences.

Free outdoor festivals
Malmo is famous for its outdoor music festivals in the spring and summer, of which a large number are completely free of charge. Sommarscen Malmö (Summer scene Malmö) takes place from mid June until mid August and offers more than 200 shows and concerts at over 40 venues – without any admission fee. In August it is also time for the annual Malmöfestivalen, Sweden’s largest food and music festival, held in the very heart of the city centre. The festival goes on for one week and attracts over 1.4 million visitors.

Melodifestavelen in Malmo- Photograph Frederik Johansson

This year is the premier of the house festival Big Slap in Pildammsparken in August. Big Slap hopes to welcome 15,000 people from Sweden and Denmark and will headline dj Sebastian Ingrosso from Swedish House Mafia.

And be sure not to miss Öresund Festival, a Danish-Swedish collaboration festival with a great line-up, which will take over Malmö’s venues in the weekend before the Eurovision Song Contest.

Cover Photo: malmotown.se