During your time at Sjölunden, you’ll learn about traditional Swedish music in addition to hearing modern pop favorites. Music is also a great way to learn new Swedish vocabulary. We’ll be singing your favorite songs during daily allsång, and you’re sure to go home with a catchy new tune or two stuck in your head. We guarantee you will be singing these songs for weeks to come!
Two-week villagers performing at the Melodifestival.
Folk
Traditional Swedish folk music consists primarily of ballads and kulning. Ballads are written stories turned into songs and are common to most peoples and languages. Kulning, however, is uniquely Swedish and finds its origins in the far-reaching chants women herders used to call their free-roaming cows home for the night. The traditional instruments used in Swedish folk music are the fiddle, accordion and harmonica.
Modern
Sweden’s modern music industry is very diverse, with everything from pop music to hip hop and rap. In the hopes of attracting international attention, most Swedish artists opt to sing in English. But there are also lots of Swedish-language songs to choose from as well. Like the rest of Europe, Swedes look forward to the annual Eurovision song contest. In 2012 they were rewarded when Sweden’s Loreen won with her song “Euphoria.” Each summer at Sjölunden, we stage our own Melodifestival with villagers and counselors performing their versions of the hits.
Sami Music
Sami music originates from the Sami people, an indigenous group native to northern Sweden and Finland. Sami music is highly spiritual in nature and relies upon a troll drum to contact the spiritual world.