We are on the hunt for some of the most remote festivals in the Nordic lands to share with you. Maybe this prize already goes to Trænafestivalen (see Marlou’s report from last summer here), but we still keep searching. Umeå Open is an annual music festival in the north of Sweden, which takes place at the end of this month. The line-up is developing into a sumptuous feast of Scandinavian goodness and its northerly location certainly means it makes our festival shortlist. Read on to find out more!
The Umeå Open festival website asys this is the largest indoor festival for pop music to take place anywhere in Sweden, with 5000–7000 music lovers gathering to watch gigs in churches, halls and regular venues across the city. Now in its 16th year, the festival might be welcoming a few extra visitors this time around, what with Umeå being a European Capital of Culture for 2014 (which we previously mentioned here).
The line-up for Umeå Open has a primarily Swedish slant, with artists also appearing from other Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland and Norway on the line-up so far), as well as France and the UK (the latest list of confirmed acts is here).
Special-guest scholarships
Jófríður Ákadóttir (IS), musician and vocalist in both Samaris and Pascal Pinon (both on the festival line-up) will be attending Umeå Open as a special guest. The fact that Umeå has special cultural status thus year, means there is extra kudos to the individuals who have received these scholarships, granted by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, to meet other artists, get time to create music and experience Umeå. The artist Truls Heggero (NO) will also be attending the festival as a special guest under the scholarship scheme.
Swedish sounds
The more well-known home-grown acts on the bill will no doubt attract a lot of attention, such as First Aid Kit, NoNoNo and Robyn. Here we wanted to share some of the other acts (not previously featured on Nordic Vibes) that caught our attention.
Albert
What: indie rock
Where: Malmö
Who: Niklas Björk, Wallentin Rickardsson, David Scholander, Erik Sunding
When: self-titled debut album released 7 March 2014, featuring first single Lux
Lord Algesten
What: indie folk
Where: Umeå
Who: Jakob Nyström
When: whenever 🙂
Väärt
What: romantic pop
Where: Malmberget & Umeå
Who: Johan Airijoki, Jens Andersson, Frida Johansson, Love Kjellsson, Simon Österhof, Pär Isling Poromaa
When: third album Det Kommer Ett Skalv due out 26 March 2014, featuring the track 10-tal
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