Rival, titled nd Best to None , accompanied by a video showing the staff at work In , Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote a song for Swedish singer Sissela Kyle, titled Jag vill bli gammal I Wanna Grow Old , for her Stockholm stage show Your Days Are Numbered , which was never recorded and released, but did get a TV performance Ulvaeus also contributed lyrics to ABBA's instrumental track Arrival for Sarah Brightman's cover version recorded for her album Winter Symphony New English lyrics have also been written for Andersson's song Innan Gryningen then also named Millennium Hymn , with the new title The Silence of the Dawn for Barbara Dickson performed live, but not yet recorded and released In , they wrote the new song Han som har vunnit allt He Who's Won It All for actor singer Anders Ekborg Björn wrote English lyrics for two older songs from Benny's solo albums I Walk with You Mama Stockholm by Night , and After the Rain Efter regnet , for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, for her Andersson tribute album I Let the Music Speak Barbara Dickson recorded but not yet released a Björn & Benny song called 'The Day The Wall Came Tumbling Down' the song eventually was released by Australian 'Mamma Mia!' musical star Anne Wood album of ABBA covers, Divine Discontent As of October , Björn Ulvaeus has mentioned writing new material with Benny for a 'BAO' Christmas release also mentioned as a BAO 'box' , and Benny is busy writing music for a Swedish language obscure musical, 'Hjälp Sökes' 'Help is Wanted' together with Kristina Lugn and Lars Rudolfsson, premiering February Andersson has also written music for a documentary film about Olof Palme, re recording the track 'Sorgmarch' from his last album throughout the film Agnetha Fältskog and Anni Frid Lyngstad edit Main articles Agnetha Fältskog and Anni Frid Lyngstad Both female members of ABBA pursued solo careers on the international scene after their work with the group In , Lyngstad chose Genesis drummer and vocalist Phil Collins to produce the album Something's Going On and unveiled the hit single and video I Know There's Something Going On in the autumn of that year The single became a number one hit in France where it spent five weeks at the top , Belgium, Switzerland and Costa Rica The track reached number three in Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Poland, and was also a Top hit in Germany, Italy, Finland, South Africa and Australia Sveriges Television documented this historical event, by filming the whole recording process The result became a one hour TV documentary, including interviews with Lyngstad, Collins, Ulvaeus and Andersson as well as all the musicians This documentary and the promotion videos from the album are included in Frida The DVD Lyngstad's second solo album after ABBA was called Shine, produced by Steve Lillywhite Shine was recorded in Paris and released

in Shine was Lyngstad's final studio album release for twelve years It featured Slowly , the last known Andersson Ulvaeus composition to have been recorded by one of the former female ABBA vocalists to date The promotion videos and clips for Shine are included in Frida – The DVD In , Agnetha Fältskog recorded Nu tändas tusen juleljus Now a thousand Christmas candles are lit , a Swedish Christmas album along with her year old daughter Linda The album was released in Nu tändas tusen julejus, which was Fältskog's first Swedish language recording for the Polar Music label after having left CBS Cupol, peaked at No on the Swedish album chart in January , has been re released on CD by Polar Music PolyGram Universal Music all through the s and s and is one of the best selling Swedish Christmas albums of all time The album name is derived from one of Scandinavia's best known Christmas carols In , Fältskog released the solo album Wrap Your Arms Around Me which achieved platinum sales in Sweden This included the single The Heat Is On , which was a hit all over Europe and Scandinavia It reached number one in Sweden and Norway and number two in the Netherlands and Belgium In the United States, Fältskog earned a Billboard Top hit with Can't Shake Loose In Europe, the single Wrap Your Arms Around Me was another successful hit, topping the charts in Belgium and Denmark, reaching the Top in Sweden, the Netherlands and South Africa, and the Top in Germany and France The album sold million copies worldwide The album was produced by the highly successful producer and songwriter Mike Chapman, also known for his work with The Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro, Blondie, Pat Benatar and The Knack It's So Nice to be Rich was Agnetha's fourth top ten hit in Sweden in Her duet with Tomas Ledin, Never Again was the first one Fältskog's second English language solo album, Eyes of a Woman, was released in March , peaking at number two in Sweden and another platinum seller and performing reasonably well in Europe The album was produced by Eric Stewart of cc The first single from the album was her self penned I Won't Let You Go Agnetha's duet with Ola Håkansson The Way You Are was a number one hit in Sweden in and was awarded double platinum In early , Agnetha recorded an album Kom följ med I vår karusell 'Come ride with me on my carousel' with her son Christian The album contained songs for children and was sung in Swedish For the album Agnetha recorded duets with her son and with a choir of children She also recorded a few solo songs The production was modern and fresh The single 'Pa Sondag' was much played at the radio and even made the Swedish top , unique for a song made for kids to enjoy Also in November , Fältskog released her third post ABBA solo album, the Peter Cetera produced I Stand Alone, which also included the Billboard Adult Contemporary duet with Cetera, I Wasn't the One Who Said Goodbye , as well as the European charting singles The Last Time and Let It Shine The album was extremely successful in Sweden, where it spent eight weeks at number one and was awarded double platinum Shortly after some minor European promotion for the album in early , Fältskog withdrew from public life and halted her music career In , she released her autobiography, As I Am, and a compilation album featuring her solo hits alongside some ABBA classics In , she made a successful comeback, releasing the critically acclaimed album My Colouring Book, which debuted at number one in Sweden achieving triple platinum status , number six in Germany, and number in the UK, winning a silver award, and achieving gold status in Finland The single If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind a cover of the Cilla Black s song became Fältskog's biggest solo hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number The single peaked at number two in Sweden and was a hit throughout Scandinavia and Europe A further single, When You Walk in the Room , was released but met with less success, only peaking at number in the United Kingdom In January , she sang a live duet on stage with Swedish singer Tommy Körberg at the after party for the final performance of the musical, Mamma Mia!, in Stockholm, at which Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were also present In , Lyngstad had been asked and chosen to be the chairperson for the environmental organisation Artister för miljön Artists for the Environment in Sweden She became chairperson for this organisation from to To mark her interests for the environment, she recorded the Julian Lennon song Saltwater and performed it live in Stockholm She arranged and financed summer camps for poor children in Sweden, focusing on environmental and ecological issues Her environmental work for this organisation led up to the decision to record again The album Djupa andetag Deep Breaths was released towards the end of and became a success in Sweden, where it reached number one The lyrics for the single from this album, Även en blomma Even a Flower , deal with environmental issues In , Lyngstad recorded a song called The Sun Will Shine Again , written especially for her and released with former Deep Purple member Jon Lord The couple made several TV performances with this song in Germany Lyngstad lives a relatively low profile life but occasionally appears at a party or charity function On August , she married Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen, of the German Reuss family Von Plauen died of lymphoma in at the age of In addition to losing her husband, Lyngstad had also lost her daughter Lise Lotte in a car crash a year earlier On November , Lyngstad's th birthday, Universal released the Frida Box Set, consisting of the solo albums she recorded for the Polar Label Also included is the / hour documentary Frida – The DVD On this DVD, which covers her entire singing career, the viewer is guided by Lyngstad herself through the years from her TV debut in Sweden in to the TV performances she made in Germany in Many rare clips are included in the set and each performance is explained by Lyngstad herself The interview with Lyngstad was filmed in the Swiss Alps in summer Lyngstad returned to the recording studio in to record vocals for the Cat Stevens song Morning Has Broken , for Swedish guitarist Georg Wadenius's October album Reconnections The album, which featured other guest vocalists, reached number in the Swedish charts citation needed In May , Fältskog released a solo album entitled A through the Verve music label In a promotional interview, Fältskog explained that the album was unplanned and it was after she heard the first three songs that she felt that she had to do this record the album She also revealed that she completed singing lessons prior to recording A, as she felt a bit rusty in her throat Fältskog stated that she would not be undertaking any tours or live performances in support of the album, explaining I'm not that young anymore I don’t have the energy to do that, and also I don’t want to travel too much The title of the album was conceived of by the studio production team In she recorded an album of s covers who had the most impact on her teenage years as a music contender A has been very successful, earning her Gold Records in UK where it peaked at number six, Australia, Germany and Sweden In both UK and Australia it was in the top albums of Resurgence of public interest edit The same year the members of ABBA went their separate ways, the French production of a tribute show a children's TV musical named Abbacadabra using ABBA songs spawned new interest in the group's music After receiving little attention during the mid to late s, ABBA's music experienced a resurgence in the early s due to the UK synth pop duo Erasure, who released a cover extended play featuring versions of ABBA songs which topped the charts in As U arrived in Stockholm for a concert in June of that year, the band paid homage to ABBA by inviting Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson to join them on stage for a rendition of Dancing Queen , playing guitar and keyboards September saw the release of ABBA Gold Greatest Hits, a new compilation album The single Dancing Queen received radio airplay in the UK in summer to promote the album The song returned to the Top of the UK singles chart in August that year, this time peaking at number The enormous interest in the ABBA Gold Greatest Hits compilation saw the release of More ABBA Gold More ABBA Hits in In , two Australian cult films caught the attention of the world's media, both focusing on admiration for ABBA The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding The same year, Thank You for the Music, a four disc box set comprising all the group's hits and stand out album tracks, was released with the involvement of all four members By the end of the twentieth century , American critic Chuck Klosterman wrote a decade later, it was far more contrarian to hate ABBA than to love them ABBA were soon recognised and embraced by other acts Evan Dando of The Lemonheads recorded a cover version of Knowing Me, Knowing You Sinéad O'Connor and Boyzone's Stephen Gately have recorded Chiquitita Tanita Tikaram, Blancmange and Steven Wilson paid tribute to The Day Before You Came Cliff Richard covered Lay All Your Love on Me , while Dionne Warwick, Peter Cetera, and Celebrity Skin recorded their versions of SOS U S alternative rock musician Marshall Crenshaw has also been known to play a version of Knowing Me, Knowing You in concert appearances, while legendary English Latin pop songwriter Richard Daniel Roman has recognized ABBA as a major influence Swedish metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen covered Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight with slightly altered lyrics Two different compilation albums of ABBA songs have been released ABBA A Tribute coincided with the th anniversary celebration and featured songs, some of which were recorded especially for this release Notable tracks include Go West's One of Us , Army of Lovers Hasta Mañana , Information Society's Lay All Your Love on Me , Erasure's Take a Chance on Me with MC Kinky , and Lyngstad's a cappella duet with The Real Group of Dancing Queen A second track album was released in , entitled ABBAMANIA, with proceeds going to the Youth Music charity in England It featured all new cover versions notable tracks were by Madness Money, Money, Money , Culture Club Voulez Vous , The Corrs The Winner Takes It All , Steps Lay All Your Love on Me , I Know Him So Well , and a medley entitled Thank ABBA for the Music performed by several artists and as featured on the Brits Awards that same year In , an ABBA tribute group was formed, the ABBA Teens, which was subsequently renamed the A Teens to allow the group some independence The group's first album, The ABBA Generation , consisting solely of ABBA covers reimagined as s pop songs, was a worldwide success and so were subsequent albums The group disbanded in due to a grueling schedule and intentions to go solo In Sweden, the growing recognition of the legacy of Andersson and Ulvaeus resulted in the B & B Concerts, a tribute concert with Swedish singers who had worked with the songwriters through the years showcasing not only their ABBA years, but hits both before and after ABBA The concert was a success, and was ultimately released on CD It later toured Scandinavia and even went to Beijing in the People's Republic of China for two concerts In , ABBA was reported to have turned down an offer of approximately US$ , , , one billion US dollars to do a reunion tour consisting of concerts For the semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, all four members made cameo appearances in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled Our Last Video Ever Other well known stars such as Rik Mayall, Cher and Iron Maiden's Eddie also made appearances in the video It was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release, retitled The Last Video at the request of the former ABBA members In , all four members of ABBA appeared at the Stockholm premiere of the musical Mamma Mia! On October , at the th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest, Waterloo was chosen as the best song in the competition's history On July , all four ABBA members were reunited at the Swedish premiere of the film Mamma Mia! It was only the second time all of them had appeared together in public since During the appearance, they re emphasized that they intended never to officially reunite, citing the opinion of Robert Plant that the re formed Led Zeppelin was more like a cover band of itself than the original band Ulvaeus stated that he wanted the band to be remembered as they were during the peak years of their success Posing together with the actors from the motion picture Mamma Mia! The Movie on July , are the original ABBA members Far left, Benny Andersson Fifth from left, Agnetha Fältskog, with her hand on Anni Frid Lyngstad's shoulder Second from right, Björn Ulvaeus The compilation album ABBA Gold Greatest Hits, originally released in , returned to number one in the UK album charts for the fifth time on August On August , the Mamma Mia! The Movie film soundtrack went to number one on the US Billboard charts, ABBA's first US chart topping album During the band's heyday the highest album chart position they had ever achieved in America was number In November , all eight studio albums, together with a ninth of rare tracks, was released as The Albums It hit several charts, peaking at number four in Sweden and reaching the Top in several other European territories In , Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, in collaboration with Universal Music Group Sweden AB, released SingStar ABBA on both the PlayStation and PlayStation games consoles, as part of the SingStar music video games The PS version features ABBA songs, while songs feature on the PS version On January , Fältskog and Lyngstad appeared together on stage to receive the Swedish music award Rockbjörnen for lifetime achievement In an interview, the two women expressed their gratitude for the honorary award and thanked their fans On November , PRS for Music announced that the British public voted ABBA as the band they would most like to see re form On January , ABBAWORLD, a room touring exhibition featuring interactive and audiovisual activities, debuted at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London According to the exhibition's website, ABBAWORLD is approved and fully supported by the band members Mamma Mia was released as one of the first few non premium song selections for the online RPG game Bandmaster On May , Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! was added as a non premium song selection for the Bandmaster Philippines server On November , Ubisoft released a dancing game called ABBA You Can Dance for the Wii citation needed In January , Universal Music announced the re release of ABBA's final album The Visitors, featuring a previously unheard track From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel A book entitled ABBA The Official Photo Book was published in early to mark the year anniversary of the band's Eurovision victory The book reveals that part of the reason for the band's outrageous costumes were the Swedish tax laws at the time that allowed the cost of brazen outfits that were not suitable for public display to be deducted against tax Artistry edit Recording process edit ABBA were perfectionists in the studio and would work on tracks tirelessly until they got them right, rather than leaving them and coming back to them later The band would create the basic rhythm track with a drummer, guitarist and bass player All the other arrangements – vocals, other instruments – would be overlaid onto this basic track The vocals would then be added, and orchestra overdubs were usually left until last The women of the band would contribute ideas at the studio stage Benny and Björn would play them the backing tracks and they would make comments and suggestions According to Agnetha, the women had the final say in how the lyrics were shaped Frida says When we gather around the piano to get our voices tuned up, we often come up with things we can use in the backing vocals After all the vocals and overdubs had been done, the band would take up to five days to mix a song Fashion, style, videos, advertising campaigns edit ABBA was widely noted for the colourful and trend setting costumes its members wore The reason for the wild costumes was Swedish tax law The clothes could be deductible only if they could not be worn other than for performances Choreography by Graham Tainton also contributed to their performance style The videos that accompanied some of the band's biggest hits are often cited as being among the earliest examples of the genre Most of ABBA's videos and ABBA The Movie were directed by Lasse Hallström, who would later direct the films My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat ABBA made videos because their songs were hits in many different countries and personal appearances were not always possible This was also done in an effort to minimize travelling, particularly to countries that would have required extremely long flights Fältskog and Ulvaeus had two young children and Fältskog, who was also afraid of flying, was very reluctant to leave her children for such a long time ABBA's manager, Stig Anderson, realized the potential of showing a simple video clip on television to publicize a single or album, thereby allowing easier and quicker exposure than a concert tour Some of these videos became classics because of the s era costumes and early video effects, such as the grouping of the band members in different combinations of pairs, overlapping one singer's profile with the other's full face, and the contrasting of one member against another In , ABBA participated in a high profile advertising campaign by the Matsushita Electric Industrial today's Panasonic , which was designed to promote the brand National This campaign was designed initially for Australia, where National was still the primary brand used by Matsushita, who had not introduced the Panasonic brand to Australia yet despite its widespread use in other parts of the world such as the United States However, the campaign was also aired in Japan Five commercials, each approximately one minute long, were produced, each using the National Song sung by ABBA, which used the melody and instrumental arrangement of Fernando , adapted with new lyrics promoting National, and working in several slogans used by National in their advertising Political position edit In September , band members Andersson and Ulvaeus criticized the right wing Danish People's Party DF for using the ABBA song Mamma Mia with modified lyrics at rallies The band threatened to file a lawsuit against the DF, saying they never allowed their music to be used politically and that they had absolutely no interest in supporting the party Their record label Universal Music later said that no legal action would be taken because an agreement had been reached Awards and nominations edit Main article ABBA awards and nominations The Music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka The accordion, clarinet, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish traditional music In the s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture Many joined Spelmanslag folk musicians' clubs and performed on mainstream radio and TV They focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the s By , the dansband culture also began Swedish music has also included more modern and pop influences On a per capita basis, Sweden is one of the world's most successful exporters of popular music Its most famous export is ABBA, which was a worldwide musical phenomenon Another Swedish artist, DeDe, was so successful in Japan in the late s that she inspired a collectible doll Sweden has also historically dominated the Scandinavian music scene, with Danes and Norwegians listening to music in Swedish rather than the other way around In the late s and early s, Scandinavian death metal bands became very popular with the international heavy metal community Sweden's most classic troubadour was Carl Michael Bellman Others include Evert Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Åkerström, and Povel Ramel Contents hide Traditional Folk instruments Roots revival Classical Choral Modern Jazz Pop Bubblegum dance Hip hop Rock Reggae Punk rock Heavy metal Progressive and jazz rock music Progg Electronic music See also References External links Traditional edit See also Swedish folk music Swedish folk songs are dominated by ballads and kulning the latter was originally used as a cow herding call and is traditionally sung by women Ballad stories descend from skillingtryck printed songs from the th century Modern bands like Folk och Rackare, Hedningarna and Garmarna incorporated folk songs into their repertoire Folk instruments edit See also Swedish folk music and Riksspelman The fiddle is perhaps the most characteristic and original instrument of the Swedish folk tradition It had arrived by the th century, and became widespread until th century religious fundamentalism preached that most forms of music were sinful and ungodly Despite the oppression, several fiddlers achieved a reputation for their virtuosity, including Jämtland's Lapp Nils, Bingsjö's Pekkos Per and Malung's Lejsme Per Larsson None of these musicians were ever recorded the first major fiddler to be recorded was Hjort Anders Olsson Other early fiddlers of the th century included Nils Agenmark and Päkkos Gustaf There is an extensive traditional repertoire of fiddle tunes, in forms such as the polska and the gånglåt One type fiddle peculiar to Sweden is the låtfiol, a fiddle with two sympathetic strings, similar to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle The nyckelharpa keyed fiddle is similar to both a fiddle and a hurdy gurdy, and is known from Sweden since at least , when it was carved on a gate in a church in Gotland During the th and th centuries, the nyckelharpa was known throughout Sweden, Denmark and particularly in the


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danielle danielle-foxxx danielle-rodgers danny-ricci danyel-cheeks daphne daphne-rosen darby-lloyd-rains darla-crane darla-delovely davia-ardell dayton-rain debbie-northrup debbie-revenge debbie-van-gils debi-diamond debi-jointed debra-lynn deidra-hopkins deidre-holland delania-raffino delia-moore delphine-thail delta-force delta-white demi-moor denice-klarskov denise-derringer denise-dior denise-sloan desiree-cousteau desiree-foxx desiree-lane desiree-west deva-station devin-devasquez devinn-lane devon-shire dia diana-holt diana-kisabonyi diana-siefert diana-stevenson diane-dubois diane-richards diane-sloan diane-suresne dido-angel dillan-lauren dina-deville dina-jewel dina-pearl ditty-blue diva divinity-love djiana dolly-darkley dominique dominique-dewitt dominique-saint-claire donna-hart donna-marie dorle-buchner dorothy-lemay dorothy-onan drea drimla dru-berrymore dusty-rose dyanna-lauren ebony-ayes edina-blond edita-ungerova edwige-faillel eileen-wells elaine-southern elena-berkova elena-maria-ricci eleonore-melzer elisabeth-bure elis-black elise elise-di-medici elle-devyne elle-rio elodie-delage elsa-maroussia elza-brown emili-doll emily-evermoore emily-george emily-jewel emmanuelle-pareze envy-mi erica-boyer erica-eaton erica-havens erica-idol erica-lauren erika-bella erika-cool erika-heaven erika-lockett esme-monroe eva-allen eva-angel eva-dionisio eva-gross eva-kleber eva-lux eva-uettori eve-laurence evelyne-lang evie-delatosso fabiana-venturi faith-stevens fallon fanny-garreau fanny-steel faye-runaway flame flick-shagwell flore-soller flower france-lomay france-quenie francoise frankie-leigh gabriella gabriella-mirelba gabriella-vincze gail-force gail-palmer gail-sterling georgette-saunders georgia-peach georgina-spelvin gia-givanna gianna-lynn gili-sky gina-carrera gina-gianetti gina-janssen gina-lee gina-martell gina-valentino ginger-jay ginger-lee ginger-lynn ginny-noack giovanna gisela-schwarz giselle-monet gladys-laroche gloria-leonard gloria-todd golden-jade greta-carlson greta-milos guia-lauri-filzi gwenda-farnel hare-krane harley-raine hayley-jade hazel-young heather-deeley heather-ellis heather-hart heather-lere heather-lyn heather-manfield heather-thomas heather-torrance heather-wayne heather-young helen-madigan helen-thomas helga-sven helga-wild hillary-summers holly-hollywood holly-joy holly-page holly-ryder honey-winter hottie-hollie hyapatia-lee ida-fabry ildiko-smits illana-moor ines-ridere ingrid-choray isabella-dior isabella-soprano isabelle-allay isabelle-brell isabelle-marchall isobel-wren iveta ivette-blanche jackie-right jacqueline-lorians jacy-allen jada-stevens jade-east jade-hsu jade-marcela jade-summers jade-wong jahn-gold jamie-brooks jamie-james jamie-summers jana-irrova jana-mrazkova jane-baker jane-darling jane-iwanoff jane-lindsay jane-lixx janet-jacme janey-robbins jasmine-delatori jayden-simone jaylyn-rose jayna-woods jazella-moore jazmin-luna-gold jean-afrique jeanette-littledove jeanie-marie-sullivan jean-jennings jeanna-fine jeannie-pepper jenna-jameson jenna-jane jenna-presley jenna-wells jennifer-haussmann jennifer-janes jennifer-jordan jennifer-morante jennifer-noxt jennifer-stewart jennifer-welles jennifer-west jenny jenny-feeling jenny-fields jenny-wings jersey-jaxin jesie-st-james jesse-capelli jessica-bangkok jessica-bogart jessica-darlin jessica-fiorentino jessica-gabriel jessica-laine jessica-may jessica-road jessica-wylde jessi-foster jill-ferari jill-kelly joana-redgrave joan-devlon joanna-storm joanna-sweet jody-maxwell joelle-lequement joelle-petinot johnni-black jordana-james jordan-green jordan-nevaeh jordan-star josephine-carrington joslyn-james julia-chanel julia-dal-fuoco juliana-grandi julia-paes julia-parton julia-perrin julia-swen julia-thomas julie-meadows julie-rage julie-simone juliet-anderson juliet-graham juliette-carelton kacey-jordan kagney-linn-karter kaitlyn-ashley kalena-rios kami-andrews kamila-smith kandee-licks kandi-barbour kapri-styles kara-nox karen-summer kari-foxx karine-gambier karin-schubert karli-sweet karmen-kennedy karol-castro kascha kassi-nova kat kate-frost kate-jones kathia-nobili kathleen-gentry kathleen-white kathy-divan kathy-harcourt kathy-heart kathy-kash katie-cummings katja-love kat-langer katrina-isis katrina-kraven katy-borman katy-caro kaycee-dean kayla-kupcakes kay-parker k-c-valentine keama-kim keira-moon keisha keli-richards kelli-tyler kelly-adams kelly-blue kelly-broox kelly-hearn kelly-kay kelly-kline kelly-nichols kelly-royce kelly-skyline kendra-kay kenzi-marie keri-windsor ketthy-divan kianna-dior kiley-heart kim-alexis kimber-blake kimberly-carson kimberly-kane kimberly-kyle kim-de-place kim-holland kimi-gee kimkim-de kim-kitaine kimmie-lee kimmy-nipples kina-kara kira-eggers kira-red kirsty-waay kitty-langdon kitty-lynxxx kitty-marie kitty-shayne kitty-yung kora-cummings kris-lara krista-lane krista-maze kristara-barrington kristarah-knight kristi-klenot kristina-blonde kristina-king kristina-klevits kristina-soderszk kristine-heller kristin-steen krisztina-ventura krystal-de-boor krystal-steal kylee-karr kylee-nash kylie-brooks kylie-channel kylie-haze kylie-wylde kym-wilde kyoto-sun lachelle-marie lacy-rose lady-amanda-wyldefyre lady-stephanie laetitia-bisset lana-burner lana-cox lana-wood lara-amour lara-roxx lara-stevens lataya-roxx latoya laura-clair laura-lazare laura-lion laura-may laura-orsolya laura-paouck laura-zanzibar lauren-black laurence-boutin lauren-montgomery laurien-dominique laurien-wilde laurie-smith lauryl-canyon lauryn-may leah-wilde lea-magic lea-martini leanna-foxxx lee-caroll leigh-livingston leilani lenora-bruce leslie-winston lesllie-bovee letizia-bruni lexi-lane lexi-matthews lezley-zen lia-fire liliane-gray liliane-lemieuvre lili-marlene lily-gilder lily-labeau lily-rodgers lily-valentine linda-shaw linda-vale linda-wong linnea-quigley lisa-bright lisa-de-leeuw lisa-k-loring lisa-lake lisa-melendez lisa-sue-corey lise-pinson little-oral-annie liza-dwyer liza-harper lizzy-borden logan-labrent lois-ayres lola-cait long-jean-silver loni-bunny loni-sanders loona-luxx lorelei-lee lorelei-rand lorena-sanchez lori-alexia lori-blue lorrie-lovett luci-diamond lucie-doll lucie-theodorova lucy-van-dam lydia-baum lynn-franciss lynn-lemay lynn-ray lynn-stevens lynx-canon lysa-thatcher madelina-ray madison-parker magdalena-lynn maggie-randall mai-lin mandi-wine mandy-bright mandy-malone mandy-may mandy-mistery mandy-starr marcia-minor maren margit-ojetz margitta-hofer margo-stevens margot-mahler mariah-cherry marianne-aubert maria-tortuga marie-anne marie-christine-chireix marie-christine-veroda marie-claude-moreau marie-dominique-cabannes marie-france-morel marie-luise-lusewitz marie-sharp marilyn-chambers marilyne-leroy marilyn-gee marilyn-jess marilyn-martyn marilyn-star marina-hedman marion-webb marita-ekberg marita-kemper marlena marlene-willoughby marry-queen martine-grimaud martine-schultz maryanne-fisher mary-hubay mary-ramunno mary-stuart mascha-mouton maud-kennedy mauvais-denoir maxine-tyler maya-black maya-france megan-leigh megan-martinez megan-reece mei-ling melanie-hotlips melanie-scott melba-cruz melinda-russell melissa-bonsardo melissa-del-prado melissa-golden melissa-martinez melissa-melendez melissa-monet mercedes-dragon mercedes-lynn merle-michaels mesha-lynn mia-beck mia-lina mia-smiles michele-raven michelle-aston michelle-ferrari michelle-greco michelle-maren michelle-maylene michelle-monroe micki-lynn mika-barthel mika-tan mikki-taylor mimi-morgan mindy-rae ming-toy miranda-stevens miss-bunny miss-meadow miss-pomodoro missy missy-graham missy-stone missy-vega misti-jane mistress-candice misty-anderson misty-dawn misty-rain misty-regan mona-lisa mona-page moni monica-baal monica-swinn monika-peta monika-sandmayr monika-unco monique-bruno monique-cardin monique-charell monique-demoan monique-gabrielle monique-la-belle morgan-fairlane morrigan-hel moxxie-maddron mulani-rivera mysti-may nadege-arnaud nadia-styles nadine-bronx nadine-proutnal nadine-roussial nadi-phuket nanci-suiter nancy-hoffman nancy-vee natacha-delyro natalia-wood natalli-diangelo natascha-throat natasha-skyler naudia-nyce nessa-devil nessy-grant nesty nicki-hunter nicky-reed nicole-berg nicole-bernard nicole-black nicole-grey nicole-london nicole-parks nicole-scott nicole-taylor nicolette-fauludi nicole-west nika-blond nika-mamic niki-cole nikita-love nikita-rush nikki-charm nikki-grand nikki-king nikki-knight nikki-randall nikki-rhodes nikki-santana nikki-steele nikki-wilde niko nina-cherry nina-deponca nina-hartley nina-preta oana-efria obaya-roberts olesja-derevko olga-cabaeva olga-conti olga-pechova olga-petrova olivia-alize olivia-del-rio olivia-flores olivia-la-roche olivia-outre ophelia-tozzi orchidea-keresztes orsolya-blonde paige-turner paisley-hunter pamela-bocchi pamela-jennings pamela-mann pamela-stanford pamela-stealt pandora paola-albini pascale-vital pat-manning pat-rhea patricia-dale patricia-diamond patricia-kennedy patricia-rhomberg patrizia-predan patti-cakes patti-petite paula-brasile paula-harlow paula-morton paula-price paula-winters pauline-teutscher penelope-pumpkins penelope-valentin petra-hermanova petra-lamas peyton-lafferty phaedra-grant pia-snow piper-fawn pipi-anderson porsche-lynn porsha-carrera precious-silver priscillia-lenn purple-passion queeny-love rachel-ashley rachel-love rachel-luv rachel-roxxx rachel-ryan rachel-ryder racquel-darrian rane-revere raven reagan-maddux rebecca-bardoux regan-anthony regine-bardot regula-mertens reina-leone reka-gabor renae-cruz renee-foxx renee-lovins renee-morgan renee-perez renee-summers renee-tiffany rhonda-jo-petty rikki-blake riley-ray rio-mariah rita-ricardo roberta-gemma roberta-pedon robin-byrd robin-cannes robin-everett robin-sane rochell-starr rosa-lee-kimball rosemarie roxanne-blaze roxanne-hall roxanne-rollan ruby-richards sabina-k sabre sabrina-chimaera sabrina-dawn sabrina-jade sabrina-johnson sabrina-love-cox sabrina-mastrolorenzi sabrina-rose sabrina-scott sabrina-summers sacha-davril sahara sahara-sands sai-tai-tiger samantha-fox samantha-ryan samantha-sterlyng samantha-strong samueline-de-la-rosa sandra-cardinale sandra-de-marco sandra-kalermen sandra-russo sandy-lee sandy-pinney sandy-reed sandy-samuel sandy-style sandy-summers sara-brandy-canyon sara-faye sarah-bernard sarah-cabrera sarah-hevyn sarah-mills sarah-shine sara-sloane sasha sasha-hollander sasha-ligaya sasha-rose satine-phoenix satin-summer savannah-stern savanna-jane scarlet-scarleau scarlet-windsor seka selena serena serena-south severine-amoux shana-evans shanna-mccullough shannon-kelly shannon-rush shantell-day sharon-da-vale sharon-kane sharon-mitchell shaun-michelle shawna-sexton shawnee-cates shay-hendrix shayne-ryder sheena-horne sheer-delight shelby-star shelby-stevens shelly-berlin shelly-lyons sheri-st-clair sheyla-cats shonna-lynn shyla-foxxx shy-love sierra-sinn sierra-skye sigrun-theil silver-starr silvia-bella silvia-saint silvie-de-lux silvy-taylor simone-west sindee-coxx sindy-lange sindy-shy siobhan-hunter skylar-knight skylar-price skyler-dupree smokie-flame smoking-mary-jane solange-shannon sonya-summers sophia-santi sophie-call sophie-duflot sophie-evans sophie-guers stacey-donovan stacy-lords stacy-moran stacy-nichols stacy-silver stacy-thorn starla-fox starr-wood stefania-bruni stella-virgin stephanie-duvalle stephanie-rage stephanie-renee stevie-taylor summer-knight summer-rose sunny-day sunset-thomas sunshine-seiber susan-hart susanne-brend susan-nero susi-hotkiss suzanne-mcbain suzan-nielsen suzie-bartlett suzie-carina suzi-sparks sweet-nice sweety-pie sybille-rossani sylvia-benedict sylvia-bourdon sylvia-brand sylvia-engelmann syreeta-taylor syren-de-mer syvette szabina-black szilvia-lauren tai-ellis taija-rae taisa-banx talia-james tamara-lee tamara-longley tamara-n-joy tamara-west tami-white tammy tammy-lee tammy-reynolds tania-lorenzo tantala-ray tanya-danielle tanya-fox tanya-foxx tanya-lawson tanya-valis tara-aire tasha-voux tatjana-belousova tatjana-skomorokhova tawnee-lee tawny-pearl tayla-rox taylor-wane teddi-austin teddi-barrett tera-bond tera-heart tera-joy teresa-may teresa-orlowski teri-diver teri-weigel terri-dolan terri-hall tess-ferre tess-newheart thais-vieira tia-cherry tianna tiara tiffany-blake tiffany-clark tiffany-duponte tiffany-rayne tiffany-rousso tiffany-storm tiffany-towers tiffany-tyler tiger-lily tigr timea-vagvoelgyi tina-blair tina-burner tina-evil tina-gabriel tina-loren tina-marie tina-russell tish-ambrose tommi-rose tonisha-mills topsy-curvey tori-secrets tori-sinclair tori-welles tracey-adams traci-lords traci-topps traci-winn tracy-duzit tracy-love tracy-williams tricia-devereaux tricia-yen trinity-loren trisha-rey trista-post trixie-tyler ultramax ursula-gaussmann ursula-moore uschi-karnat valentina valerie-leveau valery-hilton vanessa-chase vanessa-del-rio vanessa-michaels vanessa-ozdanic vanilla-deville velvet-summers veri-knotty veronica-dol veronica-hart veronica-hill veronica-rayne veronica-sage veronika-vanoza via-paxton vicky-lindsay vicky-vicci victoria-evans victoria-gold victoria-knight victoria-luna victoria-paris victoria-slick victoria-zdrok viper virginie-caprice vivian-valentine vivien-martines wendi-white wendy-divine whitney-banks whitney-fears whitney-wonders wonder-tracey wow-nikki xanthia-berstein yasmine-fitzgerald yelena-shieffer yvonne-green zara-whites zsanett-egerhazi zuzie-boobies

province of Uppland The latter has long been a stronghold for nyckelharpa music, including through the s when revival clarification needed , which drew on musicians like Byss Calle from Älvkarleby The instrument played at this time was not the same as that used today August Bohlin and Eric Sahlström made changes to the instrument that made it a chromatic and straight, more violin like instrument In spite of these innovations, the nyckelharpa's popularity declined until the s roots revival The nyckelharpa was a prominent part of several revival groups later in the century, especially Väsen and Hedningarna The Swedish bagpipes säckpipa has been part of a long running folk tradition, passed down orally until the death of Gudmunds Nils Larsson in Later revivalists such as Per Gudmundson added a tuning slide and revitalized the instrument Accordions and harmonicas were an integral part of Swedish folk music from the beginning of the th century, when they contributed to the gammeldans genre The most famous Swedish accordionist is undoubtedly Kalle Jularbo, who was famous throughout the early th century Later, the accordion fell out of favour within the roots revival, and did not return until the very end of the s Roots revival edit See also Swedish folk music In the s, Swedish jazz musicians like Jan Johansson used folk influences in their work, resulting in an early s series of music festivals in Stockholm The Swedish Music Movement reflected a popular trend towards jazz and rock oriented folk music, featuring many performers who brought a new vitality to Swedish folk Classical edit The father of Swedish classical music is often claimed to be Johan Helmich Roman His most famous work is the Drottningholmsmusiken Another influential composer is Carl Michael Bellman, whose patron was the king Gustav III of Sweden Bellmans' songs are often about drinking, prostitution and every day love troubles He was a virtuoso improviser, and his songs, of which Fredmans sånger are the most well known, are widely performed in Europe in different translations Joseph Martin Kraus had a life span very similar to that of Mozart, who lived between to Kraus was an innovative composer, with a music filled with finesse and bold contrasts His harmonic language was very personal, although his ability to develop motives never reached the level of the viennese composers such as Mozart or Haydn In the early romantic era, Franz Berwald was the most prominent of the Swedish composers His music was almost ignored during his lifetime, and he made his living as an orthopedic surgeon He has gained most of his recognition after his death, and composers such as Atterberg and Stenhammar worked hard to raise the interest in Berwalds' music Wilhelm Stenhammar was one of the later national romantic composers He owned a reputation as one of the finest pianist of his time He studied some years in Berlin, where he came in contact with the German high romanticism, such as Bruckner and Wagner, which influenced him a lot when he wrote his three symphonies He also wrote six string quartets, a respectable amount of piano music and one opera, Tyrfing, treating on a Norse mythological subject Another national romantic composer who was also a conductor and violinist, was Hugo Alfvén His orchestration is bright and colorful, reminiscent of that of Richard Strauss, although the harmonic language differs a lot Some of his works, such as the Swedish rhapsodies, are program music, which means music with an underlying program that is meant to be evoked in the listeners mind Alfvén appears as a character in the film The passion of Marie Important composers in the early s are Hilding Rosenberg, Kurt Atterberg, Ture Rangström The best known opera singers were the th century soprano Jenny Lind and the th century tenor Jussi Björling, who had great success abroad as a tenor Also sopranos Christina Nilsson, Birgit Nilsson, and tenor Nicolai Gedda, baritone Håkan Hagegård and the contemporary mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter have become known in the world of opera Trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg is considered by swedes to be their foremost international classical music personality Evert Taube, Povel Ramel, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Akerstrom are all popular modern troubadours, considered to be classics in Swedish music Sweden also has a prominent choral music tradition, deriving in part from the cultural importance of the Swedish folk songs Choral edit Sweden has a long tradition of professional and amateur choir singing A large percentage of the Swedes sing in amateur choirs in various styles The choirs of Sweden are among the best in the world, with the Radio Choir, owned by Sveriges Radio Swedish public radio being one of the world's top professional classical choirs Lunds Studentsångförening LSS and Orphei Drängar OD are two world class male choirs singing both in Swedish and other languages The world famous choir leader Eric Ericsson started his career as chief conductor of OD in the s Modern edit Jazz edit Well known jazz names include Alice Babs who worked with Duke Ellington for many years from and onwards, Arne Domnerus who has recorded albums with James Moody, Art Farmer and Clifford Brown, Bengt Hallberg, Bobo Stenson, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, composer and jazz musician Georg Riedel, Georg Wadenius, best selling jazz musician Jan Johansson, the jazz duo Koop, Lars Gullin, the multi instrumentalist and composer Magnus Lindgren, singer and actress Monica Zetterlund, Nils Landgren, Putte Wickman, Rolf Ericsson, guitar virtuoso Ulf Wakenius, and Åke Hasselgård Pop edit See also Swedish pop music ABBA is the best known popular music band from Sweden, and the only one that ranks among the best known in the world, composed of members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni Frid Lyngstad, and Benny Andersson With ABBA, Sweden entered into a new era, in which Swedish pop music gained international prominence after winning the Eurovision Song Contest They sold a total of million records around the world, making them the second most successful group ever, after The Beatles and continue to sell to million records a year worldwide After ABBA's win Sweden has won the contest a further five times with Herreys, with Carola Häggkvist, with Charlotte Nilsson, with Loreen and with Måns Zelmerlöw, making them the country with the second highest number of wins behind Ireland ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have been very successful in musical theatre, with their international hit Mamma Mia!, as well as Chess, and Kristina från Duvemåla, which was a huge success in Sweden An English version is expected to hit Broadway in the near future Some of the most successful post ABBA popular music artists from Sweden are Europe, Roxette, Secret Service band , Agnes, The Wannadies, Ace of Base, Bubbles, Kent, Carola Häggkvist, Army of Lovers, Neneh and Eagle Eye Cherry, Leila K, Robyn, A*Teens, Nanne Grönvall, The Cardigans, Bodies Without Organs, Andreas Johnson, Alcazar and Play A number of renowned rock and pop oriented artists have come out of the country in recent years, including Loreen, Eskobar, Jenny Wilson, bob hund, Clawfinger, The Sounds, Peter Bjorn and John, Miike Snow, The Hives, Hardcore Superstar, Millencolin, Sahara Hotnights, Dungen, Loney, Dear, The Hellacopters, The Ark, Infinite Mass, Mando Diao, Shout Out Louds, Looptroop, José González, Caesars and Supergroupies The Knife and Jens Lekman have both received significant underground acclaim in recent years Such has been the success of music abroad that clubs specializing in Swedish music have sprung up in major cities like Berlin, Barcelona and London Swedish chart toppers Kent are also often regarded as a pop band based on the variety of sounds found on their various albums Some Swedish easy listening contemporary groups and artists who are not as well known internationally but are recognized in Sweden include Gyllene Tider, Peter Jöback, Lill Babs Svensson, Marie Fredriksson, Laleh, Per Gessle, Ted Gärdestad, Helen Sjöholm, Charlotte Perrelli, Loreen, Sanna Nielsen, Lena Philipsson and Patrik Isaksson The Swedish songwriter Max Martin, as well as his late mentor Denniz Pop, is renowned for writing songs for Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears Adam Tensta – hip hop Anna Ternheim – indie pop Agnes Carlsson – pop, electropop, dance Avicii DJ, electronic dance music The Ark pop rock Backyard Babies rock Basshunter – eurodance, techno, trance, Electronic Dance Music, electro, pop BWO – electro, pop, dance Bubbles bubblegum, pop, dance Broder Daniel – indie rock, indie pop Caesars – indie rock The Cardigans – pop rock Dada Life DJ, Electronic Dance Music Dave Castaldo Powerpop, rock Di Leva indie pop, rock El Perro del Mar First Aid Kit Swedish folk duo Fever Ray electronic, ambient Håkan Hellström – indie pop Hardcore superstar sleaze rock, hard rock iamamiwhoami electropop, alternative, experimental Icona Pop dance pop, electropop Jay Jay Johanson experimental, pop Jens Lekman – indie pop Kingqueen – pop Kleerup – pop The Knife – electropop Laleh folk, indie pop Loreen pop Lasse Lindh – indie pop Lazee – hip hop Looptroop Rockers hip hop Lykke Li – electropop, indie pop, experimental Mando Diao – rock pop Måns Zelmerlöw pop Markus Krunegård pop Moneybrother Miike Snow indie pop Otto Knows DJ, Electronic Dance Music The Radio Dept – dream pop, shoegaze Robyn – pop Sally Shapiro – electronic, synthpop Sanna Nielsen Easy Listening, Soft Rock Shout Out Louds indiepop Slagsmålsklubben SMK – bitpop Sophie Zelmani folk, indie pop Suburban Kids with Biblical Names – twee pop, indie pop Supergroupies glam rock, rock Swedish House Mafia electronic dance music group The Tallest Man on Earth – folk Teddybears Teddybears STHLM electronic rock The Tough Alliance – indie pop, electropop Tove Lo – alternative rock, electropop Tove Styrke – electropop Zeigeist – electropop Bubblegum dance edit Scandinavia is considered the bubblegum dance capital of the world Many bubblegum dance artists emerged from Sweden, most famously Smile dk formerly known as Smile Smile dk is made famous by the videogame DDR, or Dance Dance Revolution, with their hit called Butterfly , Konami has signed them to include some of their songs in their games Hip hop edit Main article Swedish hip hop While jazz, blues and soul have been around for a long time in Sweden, hip hop is a more recent addition Swedish hip hop emerged in the first half of the s and crossed into the mainstream a decade later Early rappers and crews were Per Cussion, Grandmaster Funk, Ice Cold Rockers and Snoopy Artists that achieved mainstream popularity in the early s include Just D, Infinite Mass and The Latin Kings In the late s there was a second breakthrough and artists like Petter, Ken Ring, Thomas Rusiak, Timbuktu and Looptroop became well known More recent acts worth mentioning are Dim Out, Promoe, Roffe Ruff, Iman Russ, Max Peezay, Snook, Ison & Fille, Advance Patrol, Maskinen, Million Stylez Rebstar and Adam Tensta Most recently, Swedish Swing hip hop jazz has become popular with the band Movits! as a frontrunner in the movement They became popular in America after being featured on The Colbert Report Rock edit The most successful world class rock band to come out of Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole has been the band called Europe They formed in , and went on to achieve huge international success during the s, and continue to release successful albums over years later Europe best known with their song The Final Countdown While rock is not as widespread in Sweden as pop or Metal are, there are some very interesting acts Worth mentioning are The Hellacopters, who have just ended a critically acclaimed year career They are also claimed to be Sweden's loudest export Avatar Swedish band The Ark Backyard Babies Blindside bob hund Broder Daniel Demons Dungen Europe H E A T Hel The Hellacopters The Hives The Knockouts The International Noise Conspiracy Johnossi Kent Lars Demian The Legends Mando Diao Millencolin Neverstore Peter Bjorn and John Refused Sahara Hotnights Sator Shout Out Louds Silent Border The Sounds The Spotnicks Sugarplum Fairy The Soundtrack of Our Lives Takida Timo Räisänen Truckfighters Vains of Jenna The most popular Swedish rock band in Scandinavia today is Kent as reflected in their high record sales and large fanbase Reggae edit Reggae is also a part of modern Swedish music A Swedish reggaemusician of early fame is the Scanian Peps Persson, Bob Marley has once said that there is only one white man that has reggae in his blood and it's Peps Persson Since then, more has happened The Uppsala group Labyrint band is widely spread with their musical mix of rap and reggae called förortsreggae Swedish music producers Soundism are behind Swedish reggae artists Kapten Röd, Papa Dee, Million Stylez, and Chilly & Leafy and more , also records with international artist such as Junior Ketlly, Lady Saw, and Buju Banton Punk rock edit Main article Punk in Sweden The most prominent and important Swedish punk rock band is Ebba Grön – headed by Joakim Thåström Thåström also had two other bands called Imperiet and Peace, Love & Pitbulls but they were very pop influenced and never became anywhere near as popular as Ebba Grön However, Thåström is still big in Sweden, now as a solo artist See also Umeå hardcore Sweden is also home to several influential emo and hardcore punk bands, such as Fireside, Last Days Of April, Satanic Surfers, Kelly and landmark post hardcore band Refused More aggressive early hardcore punk bands include Asta kask, Charta , Mob , Anti Cimex, Totalitär, Homy Hogs, T S T, Headcleaners, and The Shitlickers Some later influential bands of the aggressive sort are for example Disfear, Driller Killer, Wolfbrigade, Loudpipes, Warvictims, Bombshell Rocks, and Raised Fist Heavy metal edit See also Swedish death metal Sweden is known for a large number of heavy metal bands Swedish musicians are credited for creating melodic death metal, also known as Gothenburg metal, in particular the bands In Flames, At The Gates and Dark Tranquility Bathory is credited for helping create black metal, a style that became popular in Norway, as well as pioneering Viking metal, and deceased Black Metal icon Per Yngve Ohlin was from Sweden Dissection is also noted for their large influence on Swedish black metal, in particular melodic black metal The country is also well known for death metal, progressive, doom and power metal bands Opeth in particular have gained worldwide popularity Some of the prominent metal acts are Aeon Amon Amarth Amaranthe Angtoria Arch Enemy Arckanum At the Gates Bathory Beseech Bloodbath Bloodbound Candlemass Cemetary Crashdïet The Crown Cult of Luna Dan Swano Dark Funeral Dark Tranquillity Darkane Deathstars Deranged Diabolique Dismember Dissection Dream Evil Edge of Sanity Entombed Enforcer Europe Evergrey Falconer Ghost Grave HammerFall Hardcore Superstar Hypothermia The Haunted Hypocrisy In Flames In Mourning Kaamos Katatonia Lake of Tears Liers in Wait Lifelover Lord Belial Yngwie Malmsteen Marduk Meshuggah Månegarm Necrophobic Nifelheim Nightingale Nocturnal Rites October Tide One Man Army and the Undead Quartet Opeth Ophthalamia PAIN Pain of Salvation The Project Hate MCMXCIX Raubtier Sabaton Saint Deamon Scar Symmetry Seventh Wonder Shining Skiller Soilwork Sonic Syndicate Steelwing Therion Thyrfing Tiamat Unleashed Stockholm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Stockholm disambiguation Sthlm redirects here For the Swedish TV series, see Sthlm TV series Stockholm Aerial view of the Old Town, Skeppsbron, Stockholm City Hall, Hötorget buildings, Ericsson Globe and Stockholm Palace Aerial view of the Old Town, Skeppsbron, Stockholm City Hall, Hötorget buildings, Ericsson Globe and Stockholm Palace Official logo of Stockholm Coat of arms Nickname s Eken, The Capital of Scandinavia, the Venice of the North, the Venice of Scandinavia, Mälardrottningen Stockholm is located in Sweden StockholmStockholm Coordinates ° ' ?N ° ' ?ECoordinates ° ' ?N ° ' ?E Country Sweden Province Södermanland and Uppland County Stockholm County Municipalities show First mention Charter th century Area • City km sq mi • Urban km sq mi • Metro , km , sq mi Elevation m ft Population June • City , • Density , km , sq mi • Urban , , • Urban density , km , sq mi • Metro , , • Metro density km sq mi Demonym s Stockholmare Time zone CET UTC+ • Summer DST CEST UTC+ Postal code Area code s + Website www stockholm se Stockholm 'st?kho?m, ho?lm Swedish pronunciation 'st?k?'?lm, 'st?k'h?lm About this sound pronunciation is the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic region, a with , people living in the municipality, approximately million in the urban area, and million in the metropolitan area The city is spread across islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic sea The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in by Birger Jarl It is also the capital of Stockholm County Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top regions in Europe by GDP per capita It is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region The city is home to some of Europe's top ranking universities, such as the Karolinska Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall One of the city's most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited non art museum in Scandinavia The Stockholm metro, opened in , is well known for its decoration of the stations it has been called the longest art gallery in the world Sweden's national football arena is located north of the city centre, in Solna Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city The city was the host of the Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Australia Stockholm is the seat of the Government of Sweden and most government agencies, including the highest courts in the Judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister The Government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Minister's residence is adjacent at the Sager House The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch, while the Drottningholm Palace, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Stockholm, serves as the Royal Family's private residence Contents hide History Geography Location Stockholm Municipality Climate Daylight hours City governance Economy Fibre optic network Education Demographics Culture Literature Architecture Museums Art galleries Suburbs Theatres Amusement park Media Sports Cuisine Yearly events Environment Green city with a national urban park Role model Transport Public transport The City Line Project, or The Green Tunnel Roads Congestion charges Ferries City bikes Airports Inter city trains International rankings Twin cities and towns Gallery See also Notes References External links History edit Main article History of Stockholm Detail of engraving of Stockholm from Suecia antiqua et hodierna by Erik Dahlberg and Willem Swidde, printed in Panorama over Stockholm around as seen from a hot air balloon Kungsträdgården in Stockholm around – After the Ice Age, at around , BC, there had already been vast migrations towards the present day Stockholm area, but as temperatures dropped, inhabitants moved away towards the South Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, and the lands became fertile, some life moved back to the North At the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first occupied in about AD by Vikings Vikings had a positive trade impact on the land because of the trade routes they created Stockholms' location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne The earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from , by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade The first part of the name stock means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word Stock meaning fortification The second part of the name holm means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm The city is said to have been founded by Birger Jarl to protect Sweden from a sea invasion by foreign navies and to stop the pillage of towns such as Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren Stockholm's core of the present Old Town Gamla Stan was built on the central island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid th century onward The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdansk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time citation needed Between and Stockholm's City Council was made up of members, half of whom were selected from the town's German speaking burghers The strategic and economic importance of the city made Stockholm an important factor in relations between the Danish Kings of the Kalmar Union and the national independence movement in the th century The Danish King Christian II was able to enter the city in On November a massacre of opposition figures called the Stockholm Bloodbath took place and set off further uprisings that eventually led to the breakup of the Kalmar Union With the accession of Gustav Vasa in and the establishment of a royal power, the population of Stockholm began to grow, reaching , by The th century saw Sweden grow into a major European power, reflected in the development of the city of Stockholm From to the population multiplied sixfold In Stockholm became the official capital of the Swedish empire Trading rules were also created that gave Stockholm an essential monopoly over trade between foreign merchants and other Swedish and Scandinavian territories In , a plague killed about , percent of the population After the end of the Great Northern War the city stagnated Population growth halted and economic growth slowed The city was in shock after having lost its place as the capital of a Great Power However Stockholm maintained its role as the political centre of Sweden and continued to develop culturally under Gustav III By the second half of the th century, Stockholm had regained its leading economic role New industries emerged and Stockholm was transformed into an important trade and service centre as well as a key gateway point within Sweden The population also grew dramatically during this time, mainly through immigration At the end of the th century, less than % of the residents were Stockholm born Settlement began to expand outside the city limits The th century saw the establishment of a number of scientific institutes, including the Karolinska Institute The General Art and Industrial Exposition was held in Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced, and ethnically diverse city in the latter half of the th century Many historical buildings were torn down during the modernist era, including substantial parts of the historical district of Klara, and replaced with modern architecture However, in many other parts of Stockholm such as in Gamla Stan, Södermalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Vasastan , many old buildings, blocks and streets built before the modernism and functionalism movements took off in Sweden around survived this era of demolition Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from work intensive activities into more high tech and service industry areas Between and , the city expanded very quickly with the creation of additional suburban districts such as Rinkeby and Tensta as a part of the Million Programme Many of these areas have been criticized for being concrete suburbs , dull, grey, low status areas built mainly out of concrete slabs The most common complaints are about the high crime rate and the high racial and social segregation in these areas citation needed Geography edit Main article Geography of Stockholm A degree panorama of Stockholm inner quarters taken from the City Hall tower From left to right Riddarfjärden with Södermalm in the background, Kungsholmen, Klara sjö, Norrmalm with the central station in the foreground, Stockholms ström, Riddarholmen with the Old Town, and again Riddarfjärden with Södermalm Location edit Stockholm is located on Sweden's south central east coast, where the freshwater Lake Mälaren — Sweden's third largest lake — flows out into the Baltic Sea The central parts of the city consist of fourteen islands that are continuous with the Stockholm archipelago The geographical city centre is situated on the water, in Riddarfjärden bay Over % of the city area is made up of waterways and another % is made up of parks and green spaces The biome Stockholm belongs to is the Temperate Deciduous Forest, which means the climate is very similar to that of the Eastern area of the United States The average annual temperature is °C °F The average rainfall is to inches a year The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter In the autumn the leaves change colour During the winter months the trees lose their leaves For details about the other municipalities in the Stockholm area, see the pertinent articles North of Stockholm Municipality Järfälla, Solna, Täby, Sollentuna, Lidingö, Upplands Väsby, Österåker, Sigtuna, Sundbyberg, Danderyd, Vallentuna, Ekerö, Upplands Bro, Vaxholm, and Norrtälje South of Stockholm Huddinge, Nacka, Botkyrka, Haninge, Tyresö, Värmdö, Södertälje, Salem, Nykvarn and Nynäshamn Stockholm Palace Stockholm Municipality edit Main article Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality is an administrative unit defined by geographical borders The semi officially adopted name for the municipality is City of Stockholm Stockholms stad in Swedish As a municipality, the City of Stockholm is subdivided into district councils, which carry responsibility for primary schools, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas The municipality is usually described in terms of its three main parts Innerstaden Stockholm City Centre , Söderort Southern Stockholm and Västerort Western Stockholm The districts of these parts are Stockholm City Centre Kungsholmen Norrmalm Södermalm Östermalm Söderort Enskede Årsta Vantör Farsta Hägersten Liljeholmen Skarpnäck Skärholmen Älvsjö Västerort Bromma Hässelby Vällingby Rinkeby Kista Spånga Tensta The modern centrum Norrmalm, concentrated around the town square Sergels torg , is the largest shopping district in Sweden citation needed It is the most central part of Stockholm in business and shopping Climate edit Stockholm, with a February mean of - °C °F , had a humid continental climate Köppen Dfb for the most recent official reference period Due to the city's high northerly latitude, daylight varies widely from more than hours around midsummer, to only around hours in late December Despite its northern location, Stockholm has relatively mild weather compared to other locations at similar latitude, or even farther south With an average of just over hours of sunshine per year, it is also one of the sunniest cities in Northern Europe, receiving more sunshine than Paris, London and a few other major European cities of a more southerly latitude Due to recent mildening of the climate it could be classified as cold marine with significant continental influence if the - °C °F isotherm is used The urban heat island combined with prevailing wind travelling over land rather than sea during summer renders Stockholm to have the warmest summers in the Nordic countries In spite of its mild climate it is actually located further to the north of where areas of Canada are above the arctic tree line at sea level Winter in Stockholm is more than °C milder than in many areas this far north Summers average daytime high temperatures of – °C – °F and lows of around °C °F , but temperatures can reach °C °F on some days Days above °C °F occur on average days per year Days between °C °F and °C °F are relatively common especially in July and August Nighttime lows of above °C °F are rare, with the hot summer nights roaming around to °C to °F Winters generally bring cloudy weather with the most precipitation falling in December and January as rain or as snow The average winter temperatures ranges from - to - °C to °F , and occasionally drop below - °C - °F Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild The climate table below presents weather data from the years – although the official Köppen reference period was from – According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during the years – as compared with the last series This increase averages about °C °F over all months Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than °C °F in January For the – measurements some further increases have been found, although some months such as June have been relatively flat The highest temperature ever recorded in Stockholm was °C °F on July the lowest was - °C - °F on January The temperature has not dropped to below - °C - °F since January Annual precipitation is mm in with around wet days and light to moderate rainfall throughout the year Snowfall occurs mainly from December through March Snowfall may occasionally occur in late October as well as in April In Stockholm, the aurora borealis can occasionally be observed hide Climate data for Stockholm, - Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C °F Average high °C °F - - Daily mean °C °F - - - Average low °C °F - - - - Record low °C °F - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Average precipitation mm inches Average precipitation days = mm Mean monthly sunshine hours , Source # NOAA Source # SMHI Daylight hours edit Stockholm's location just south of the th latitude means that the number of daylight hours is relatively small during winter — about six hours, while in June and the first half of July, the nights are relatively short, with about hours of daylight Around the Summer solstice the sun never reaches further below the horizon than degrees This gives the sky a bright blue colour in summer, also when looking straight up towards the zenith, with few stars visible This is not to be confused with the Midnight sun, which occurs north of the Polar circle, around degrees farther north City governance edit See also Stockholm Municipality and Stockholm municipal election, The Stockholm City Council essentially function as Stockholm's parliament Its councillors are appointed following general elections, held at the same time as the elections to the Riksdag and county councils The Council convene twice every month at Stockholm City Hall, and the meetings are open to the public The matters on which the councillors decide have generally already been drafted and discussed by various boards and committees Once decisions are referred for practical implementation, the employees of the City administrations and companies take over The elected majority has a Mayor and eight Vice Mayors The Mayor and each majority Vice Mayor is a head of a department, with responsibility for a particular area of operation, such as City Planning The opposition also has four Vice Mayors, but they hold no executive power Together the Mayor and the Vice Mayors form the Council of Mayors, and they prepare matters for the City Executive Board The Mayor holds a special position among the Vice Mayors, chairing both the Council of Mayors and the City Executive Board The City Executive Board is elected by the City Council and can be thought of as the Government The City Executive Board expresses an opinion in all matters decided by the Council and bears the overall responsibility for follow up, evaluation and execution of its decisions The Board is also responsible for financial administration and long term development The City Executive Board consists of members, who represent both the majority and the opposition Its meetings are not open to the public Following the Stockholm municipal election, the city is run by a center left majority and the Mayor of Stockholm is Karin Wanngård from the Social Democrats Economy edit Offices in Kista Headquarters of Ericsson The vast majority of Stockholm residents work in the service industry, which accounts for roughly % of jobs in Stockholm The almost total absence of heavy industry and fossil fuel power plants makes Stockholm one of the world's cleanest metropolises The last decade has seen a significant number of jobs created in high technology companies Large employers include IBM, Ericsson, and Electrolux A major IT centre is located in Kista, in northern Stockholm Stockholm is Sweden's financial centre Major Swedish banks, such as Nordea, Swedbank, Handelsbanken, and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, are headquartered in Stockholm, as are the major insurance companies Skandia, Folksam and Trygg Hansa Stockholm is also home to Sweden's foremost stock exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange Stockholmsbörsen Additionally, about % of Swedish companies with more than employees are headquartered in Stockholm Famous clothes retailer H&M is also headquartered in the city In recent years, tourism has played an important part in the city's economy Stockholm County is ranked as the th largest visitor destination in Europe, with over million commercial overnight stays per year Among European cities Stockholm had the th highest growth in number of nights spent in the period The largest companies by number of employees Ericsson — , Posten AB national postal service — , Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken SEB — , Swedbank — , Södersjukhuset Southern Hospital — , MTR Stockholm Stockholm Subway operator — , Nordea — , Handelsbanken — , IBM Svenska — , Capgemini — , Securitas AB — , Veolia Transport — , ISS Facility Services — , Sveriges Television public television — , Nobina Sverige AB — , Sodexo — , Fibre optic network edit The city owned company Stokab started in to build a fiber optic network throughout the municipality as a level playing field for all operators City of Stockholm, Around a decade later, the network was million kilometers long making it the longest optic fiber network in the world and now has over operators and enterprises as customers was the final year of a three year project which brought fiber to % of public housing, meaning an extra , houses were added City of Stockholm, Education edit Main article Education in Stockholm Stockholm School of Economics Research and higher education in the sciences started in Stockholm in the th century, with education in medicine and various research institutions such as the Stockholm Observatory The medical education was eventually formalized in as the Karolinska Institutet The Royal Institute of Technology Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, or KTH was founded in and is currently Scandinavia's largest higher education institute of technology with , students Stockholm University, founded in with university status granted in , has , students as of It also incorporates many historical institutions, such as the Observatory, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and the botanical garden Bergianska trädgården The Stockholm School of Economics, founded in , is one of the few private institutions of higher education in Sweden In the fine arts, educational institutions include the Royal College of Music, which has a history going back to the conservatory founded as part of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in , the Royal University College of Fine Arts, which has a similar historical association with the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and a foundation date of , and the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting, which is the continuation of the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, once attended by Greta Garbo Other schools include the design school Konstfack, founded in , the University College of Opera founded in , but with older roots , the University College of Dance, and the Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut the University College of Music Education The Södertörn University College was founded in as a multi disciplinary institution for southern Metropolitan Stockholm, to balance the many institutions located in the northern part of the region Other institutes of higher education are Military Academy Karlberg, the world's oldest military academy to remain in its original location, inaugurated in and housed in Karlberg Palace Ersta Sköndal University College The Stockholm School of Theology Teologiska Högskolan, Stockholm The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences Gymnastik och idrottshögskolan, or GIH The biggest complaint from students of higher education in Stockholm is the lack of student accommodations, the difficulty in finding other accommodations and the high rent Demographics edit The Stockholm region is home to around % of Sweden's total population, and accounts for about % of its gross domestic product The geographical notion of Stockholm has changed throughout the times By the turn of the th century, Stockholm largely consisted of the area today known as City Centre, roughly km sq mi or one fifth of the current municipal area In the ensuing decades several other areas were incorporated such as Brännkyrka Municipality in , at which time it had , inhabitants, and Spånga in The municipal border was established in with the exception of Hansta, in purchased by Stockholm Municipality from Sollentuna Municipality and today a nature reserve Largest groups of foreign residents Nationality Population Finland , Iraq , Iran , Poland , Turkey , Somalia , Chile , Germany , Serbia , France , Of the population of , in , , were men and , women The average age is years % of the population is between and years , people, or % of the population, over the age were unmarried , people, or % of the population, were married , , or % of the population, had been married but divorced Approximately % of Stockholm's residents are of an immigrant or non Swedish background Residents of Stockholm are known as Stockholmers Some of the suburbs have large populations of immigrants Languages spoken in Greater Stockholm outside of Swedish include Finnish and English, as well as Bosnian, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Dutch, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian As of December , there were , foreign born persons in Stockholm The largest group of them are the Finns , , followed by Iraqis , and Iranian people , The entire Stockholm metropolitan area, consisting of municipalities, has a population of over , million, making it the most populous city in the Nordic region The Stockholm urban area, defined only for statistical purposes, had a total population of , , in In the following municipalities some of the districts are contained within the Stockholm urban area, though not all Stockholm urban area municipalities Municipality Population Stockholm , Botkyrka , Danderyd , Haninge , Huddinge , Järfälla , Nacka , Sollentuna , Solna , Sundbyberg , Tyresö , Stockholm Municipality population development years – Culture edit View from the harbour of Skeppsbron Apart from being Sweden's capital, Stockholm houses many national cultural institutions The Stockholm region is home to three of Sweden's World Heritage Sites – spots judged as invaluable places that belong to all of humanity The Drottningholm Palace, Skogskyrkogården The Woodland Cemetery and Birka In , Stockholm was named European Capital

of Culture Literature edit Authors connected to Stockholm include the poet and songwriter Carl Michael Bellman – , novelist and dramatist August Strindberg – , and novelist Hjalmar Söderberg – , all of whom made Stockholm part of their works Other authors with notable heritage in Stockholm were the Nobel Prize laureate Eyvind Johnson – and the popular poet and composer Evert Taube – The novelist Per Anders Fogelström – wrote a popular series of historical novels depicting life in Stockholm from the mid th to mid th century Architecture edit Strandvägen as seen from the island of Djurgården Djurgårdsbron Gamla stan Kornhamnstorg Main article Architecture in Stockholm See also Historical fires of Stockholm The city's oldest section is Gamla Stan Old Town , located on the original small islands of the city's earliest settlements and still featuring the medieval street layout Some notable buildings of Gamla Stan are the large German Church Tyska kyrkan and several mansions and palaces the Riddarhuset the House of Nobility , the Bonde Palace, the Tessin Palace and the Oxenstierna Palace The oldest building in Stockholm is the Riddarholmskyrkan from the late th century After a fire in when the original medieval castle was destroyed, Stockholm Palace was erected in a baroque style Storkyrkan Cathedral, the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Stockholm, stands next to the castle It was founded in the th century but is clad in a baroque exterior dating to the th century As early as the th century, the city had expanded outside of its original borders Some pre industrial, small scale buildings from this era can still be found in Södermalm During the th century and the age of industrialization Stockholm grew rapidly, with plans and architecture inspired by the large cities of the continent such as Berlin and Vienna Notable works of this time period include public buildings such as the Royal Swedish Opera and private developments such as the luxury housing developments on Strandvägen In the th century, a nationalistic push spurred a new architectural style inspired by medieval and renaissance ancestry as well as influences of the Jugend Art Nouveau style A key landmark of Stockholm, the Stockholm City Hall, was erected by architect Ragnar Östberg Other notable works of these times are the Stockholm Public Library and the World Heritage Site Skogskyrkogården Söder Torn, an meter tall building in Södermalm In the s modernism characterized the development of the city as it grew New residential areas sprang up such as the development on Gärdet while industrial development added to the growth, such as the KF manufacturing industries on Kvarnholmen located in the Nacka Municipality In the s, suburban development entered a new phase with the introduction of the Stockholm metro The modernist developments of Vällingby and Farsta were internationally praised In the s this suburban development continued but with the aesthetic of the times, the industrialized and mass produced blocks of flats received a large amount of criticism At the same time that this suburban development was taking place, the most central areas of the inner city were being redesigned, known as Norrmalmsregleringen Sergels Torg, with its five high rise office towers was created in the s, followed by the total clearance of large areas to make room for new development projects The most notable buildings from this period is the ensemble of the House of Culture, City Theatre and National Bank at Sergels Torg, designed by architect Peter Celsing In the s, the planning ideas of modernism were starting to be questioned, resulting in suburbs with a denser planning, such as Skarpnäck In the s this idea was taken further with the development of and old industrial area close to the inner city, resulting in a sort of mix of modernistic and urban planning in the new area of Hammarby Sjöstad The municipality has appointed an official board of beauty called Skönhetsrådet to protect and preserve the beauty of the city Stockholm's architecture along with Visby, Gotland provided the inspiration for Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki as he sought to evoke an idealized city untouched by World War His creation, called Koriko, draws directly from what Miyazaki felt was Stockholm's sense of well established architectural unity, vibrancy, independence, and safety One of the most unusual pieces of architecture in Stockholm is the Jumbohostel, housed in a converted Boeing located at Stockholm Arlanda Airport Museums edit Main article List of museums in Stockholm Nationalmuseum Stockholm is one of the most crowded museum cities in the world with around museums, visited by millions of people every year The most renowned national museum is the Nationalmuseum, citation needed with Sweden's largest collection of art , paintings and , objects of art handicraft The collection dates back to the days of Gustav Vasa in the th century, and has since been expanded with works by artists such as Rembrandt, and Antoine Watteau, as well as constituting a main part of Sweden's art heritage, manifested in the works of Alexander Roslin, Anders Zorn, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Ernst Josephson The Museum of Modern Art, or Moderna Museet, is Sweden's national museum of modern art It has works by famous modern artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dalí Other notable museums Stockholm City Museum Fotografiska, museum of photography Skansen, the archetype of open air museums, inaugurated Nordic Museum, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden Royal Coin Cabinet, dedicated to the history of money The Vasa Museum, now with the reconstruction of the missing parts of the Vasa Ship Swedish Museum of Natural History Art galleries edit Stockholm has a vibrant art scene with a number of internationally recognized art centres and commercial galleries Amongst others privately sponsored initiatives such as Bonniers Konsthall, Magasin , and state supported institutions such as Tensta Konsthall and Index all show leading international and national artists In the last few years a gallery district has emerged around Hudiksvallsgatan where leading galleries such as Andréhn Schiptjenko, Brändström & Stene have located Other important commercial galleries include Nordenhake, Milliken Gallery and Galleri Magnus Karlsson Suburbs edit The Stockholm suburbs are places with diverse cultural background Some areas in the inner suburbs, including those of Skärholmen, Tensta, Jordbro, Fittja, Husby, Brandbergen, Rinkeby, Rissne, Hallonbergen, Kista, Hagsätra, Hässelby, Farsta, Rågsved, Flemingsberg, and the outer suburb of Södertälje, have high percentages of immigrants or second generation immigrants These mainly come from the Middle East Assyrians, Syriacs, Turks and Kurds and former Yugoslavia, but there are also immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America citation needed Other parts of the inner suburbs, such as Täby, Danderyd, Lidingö, Flysta and, as well as some of the suburbs mentioned above, have a majority of ethnic Swedes Theatres edit Royal Dramatic Theatre, one of Stockholm's many theatres Distinguished among Stockholm's many theatres are the Royal Dramatic Theatre Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern , one of Europe's most renowned theatres, and the Royal Swedish Opera, inaugurated in Other notable theatres are the Stockholm City Theatre Stockholms stadsteater , the Peoples Opera Folkoperan , the Modern Theatre of Dance Moderna dansteatern , the China Theatre, the Göta Lejon Theatre, the Mosebacke Theatre, and the Oscar Theatre Amusement park edit Gröna Lund is an amusement park located on the island of Djurgården The Amusement park has over attractions and many restaurants It is a popular tourist attraction and visited by thousands of people every day It is open from the end of April to the middle of September Gröna Lund also serves as a concert venue Media edit Bookpublisher, Norstedt Building, seen from Vasabron, in Riddarholmen Stockholm is the media centre of Sweden It has four nationwide daily newspapers and is also the central location of the publicly funded radio SR and television SVT In addition, all other major television channels have their base in Stockholm, such as TV , TV and TV All major magazines are also located to Stockholm, as are the largest literature publisher, the Bonnier group The hit PC game Minecraft was created in Stockholm by Markus 'Notch' Persson in Sports edit Friends Arena, the largest retractable roof multi purpose stadium in Europe, with a capacity of , spectators Stockholm Globe City, contains a number of sport venues, office areas and shopping centres The most popular spectator sports are football and ice hockey The three most popular football clubs in Stockholm are AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF, who all play in the first tier, Allsvenskan AIK play at Sweden's national stadium for football, Friends Arena in Solna, with a capacity of , Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby play at Tele Arena in Johanneshov, with a capacity of , spectators All three clubs have ice hockey teams Djurgården plays in the first tier, AIK in the second and Hammarby in the third tier Historically, the city was the host of the Summer Olympics From those days stem the Stockholms Olympiastadion which has since hosted numerous sports events, notably football and athletics Other major sport arenas are Friends Arena the new national football stadium, Stockholm Globe Arena, a multi sport arena and one of the largest spherical buildings in the world and the nearby indoor arena Hovet Beside the Summer Olympics, Stockholm hosted the Summer Olympics Equestrian Games and the UEFA Euro The city was also second runner up in the Summer Olympics bids Stockholm also hosted all but one of the Nordic Games, a winter multi sport event that predated the Winter Olympics In , the Stockholms Kungar Rugby League club were formed They are Stockholms first Rugby League team and will play in Sweden's National Rugby League championship Cuisine edit There are over restaurants in Stockholm Due to immigration, the city has plenty of restaurants with all kinds of food from all over the world such as American fast food, Asian, Italian, Turkish, French, Greek, Scandinavian, Spanish, and Middle Eastern cuisine Cafeterias and bars are easy to find everywhere in the city As of Stockholm boasts a total of eight Michelin star restaurants, two of which have two stars Stockholm Marathon, on Djurgårdsbron, Yearly events edit Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of Sweden's oldest festivals The festival takes place at Skeppsholmen in July Stockholm Pride is the largest Pride event in the Nordic countries and takes place in the last week of July every year The Stockholm Pride festival always ends with a parade and in , , people marched with the parade and about , watched The Stockholm Marathon takes place on a Saturday in early June each year The Nobel Banquet takes place at Stockholm City Hall every year on December The Stockholm Culture Festival Swe Stockholms kulturfestival is a summer festival held annually around the middle of August The Stockholm Water Festival Swe Vattenfestivalen was a popular summer festival held annually in Stockholm between and Manifestation disambiguation needed a yearly ecumenical Christian festival with up to , participants Summerburst Music festival Environment edit Park on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm Green city with a national urban park edit Stockholm is one of the cleanest capitals in the world The city was granted the European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission this was Europe’s first green capital Applicant cities were evaluated in several ways climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, water consumption, waste water treatment, sustainable utilisation of land, biodiversity and environmental management Out of participant cities, eight finalists were chosen Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Münster, and Oslo Some of the reasons why Stockholm won the European Green Capital Award were its integrated administrative system, which ensures that environmental aspects are considered in budgets, operational planning, reporting, and monitoring its cut in carbon dioxide emissions by % per capita in ten years and its decision towards being fossil fuel free by Stockholm has long demonstrated concern for the environment The city’s current environmental program is the fifth since the first one was established in the mid s In , Stockholm passed the title of European Green Capital to Hamburg, Germany Role model edit In the beginning of , Stockholm launched the program Professional Study Visits in order to share the city’s green best practices The program provides visitors with the opportunity to learn how to address issues such as waste management, urban planning, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable and efficient transportation system, among others According to the European Cities Monitor , Stockholm is the best city in terms of freedom from pollution Surrounded by nature reserves, Stockholm has around , green spaces, which corresponds to % of the city’s area Founded in , the Royal National City Park is the world’s first legally protected national urban park For a description of the formation process, value assets and implementation of the legal protection of The Royal National Urban Park, see Schantz The water in Stockholm is so clean that people can dive and fish in the centre of the city In fact the waters of downtown Stockholm serve as spawning grounds for multiple fish species including trout and salmon As for carbon dioxide emissions, the government goal is to have only clean vehicles in the city by Transport edit Public transport edit Main article Public transport in Stockholm Greater Stockholm's commuter train Stockholm has an extensive public transport system, one that, by at least one measure, is the most expensive in the world It consists of the Stockholm Metro Tunnelbana two urban rail systems, Roslagsbanan and Saltsjöbanan and a suburban rail system the Stockholm commuter rail pendeltåg , three light rail systems Nockebybanan, Lidingöbanan, and Tvärbanan a tramway Spårväg City a large number of bus lines, and the inner city boat line Djurgårdsfärjan All the land based public transport in Stockholm County, except the airport buses trains, is organized by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik SL , with the operation and maintenance of the public transport services delegated to several contractors, such as MTR who operate the metro and Veolia Transport who operate the suburban railways except for the commuter rail The archipelago boat traffic is handled by Waxholmsbolaget Near geographically accurate map of the Stockholm Metro It has stations and