It was a so-so day at work, and so the first thing I did when I walked in the door – actually, the second thing I did, since the first was grab a glass of wine – was tune in to P3 – Svea.
P3 – Svea is an internet only radio station that only plays “ung svensk musik” (literally “young” but really they mean “new Swedish music”). It’s a reasonably eclectic – and therefore unpretentious – mix within the pop music genre, so you’re likely to hear everything from folk-inspired indie pop to rap and dance.
Thanks to P3, I’ve discovered a whole bunch of Swedish artists I would never have heard of just by following the charts.
The latest discovery tonight was a song called “Arrest Me ’til It Hurts” by a band (? – there’s only one bloke in the clip) called Deportees. The lead singer’s vocal style ranges from Prince to Chris Norman of Smokie.
Deportees – Arrest Me ’til It Hurts [Official Video]
It’s an interesting combination that works, especially with that great Swedish pop sensibility that’s made Sweden one of the world’s top music export nations. Wikipedia notes “The Consulate General of Sweden states they are the third biggest exporter of music in the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom”
Thanks to P3, I’ve discovered some other great performers, including Johan Brogert, Petter and Oskar LInnross, all of whom sing in Swedish.
Oskar Linnros – Från Och Med Du
Petter – Gör Min Dag feat. Magnus Carlson
Smalfilm – Johan Borgert
As the playlist notes, however, there’s an increasing number of Swedish performers who only sing in English, though others like Annika Norlin manage to combine both English and Swedish language careers. I discovered her Swedish language band Säkert! also thanks to P3 – Svea.
The station has no announcers: it’s an automated station that just plays music.
So yeah… a big thumbs up to Swedish Radio (SR) generally, and P3 Svea specifically for keeping me entertained and informed.
A day later and I’ve just discovered Bullets by Rebecca and Fiona which a couple of young Swedes have created their own clip for.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_31-bOWEaGk]
Ah, I found “Från Och Med Du” on Spotify recently… really like that song. Though I imagined Oscar to look… different :D His music is a bit “Schlager”y at times…
Greetings from Austria.
Hi Matt, nice to meet you. I’d never thought of Oskar as schlagery, but yeah I guess you’re right. His back-catalogue is very different, though. James
Thanks for posting the Rebecca & Fiona song, I probably wouldn’t have known that it existed otherwise, which I guess is slightly funny since I am a Swede. As a matter of fact, I can see the building I live in, in the Oskar Linnros clip. :-)
Hej Martin, tusen tack. Det är en bra låt. Hälsningar, James.
It seems like Sveriges Radio have decided to shut down radio the station all of a sudden. It was my favorite. Pity.
Hi Mark, oh no. I’m so disappointed. It was a really great way to discover Swedish music that you would not otherwise find from monitoring the charts and a bunch of websites. I also would have thought, as a public broadcaster, there might have been some intrinsic value for SR in having a station that played Swedish pop music. I checked their site and they say with the new mobile application, they’ve decided to concentrate on just a few stations on all platforms rather than the broad offering they had across the board. Buggar! James
Mine too. ):
I just googled P3 Svea and came up with this… I needed to contact you anyway. Last karaoke at Sly Fox is tomorrow night!!!! I lost your phone number. Are you hiding from me? I will be there with another Eurovision fan and others and will be performing Scooch. Please come if you can :o)
Hi Louisa
That’d be fun except I’ve got a wedding tomorrow afternoon/evening.
We must catch up – I’m going to Sweden in 3 weeks – as I have your CDs in my office.
James
xx
James
I did a search for P3 svea and I came across your website. As we both know, P3 svea has been shut down for quite some time but I was wondering if you ever found a similar radio station that plays primarily swedish music? Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Travis, unfortunately no. I think it’s sad the station closed down, as I would have thought it was reasonably inexpensive to run, and was just the kind of thing you would expect the Swedish national broadcaster to do to fulfil its public service role. The organisation I work for, the ABC, has recently begun a fully Australian music station called unearthed.
I love p3 too! I stopped listening to British Radio years ago – I used to be a huge fan of xfm but then the presenters started talking too much and playing the same 25 songs over and over again til I was sick of hearing them. It’s a danger I think with radio these days – overplaying a small number of songs. I only speak basic Swedish so can’t really follow news stories etc but Swedish is such a beautiful language I could happily listen to it all day without knowing a word -but it is so refreshing to hear new music that a) most people in the UK haven’t heard b) isn’t played to death! I’d have never heard of Petter, Veronica Maggio, Vincent , Fibes oh Fibes etc if it wasn’t for P3 and I’d have missed out on some great music!!!