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| Eurovision's spiritual home rolls out the pink carpet for week of kitsch, camp fun | Eurovision's spiritual home rolls out the pink carpet for week of kitsch, camp fun |
| (10 days later) | |
| As Joe Nilsson, owner of the leading gay club in the Swedish city of Malmö, watched the raven-haired Swedish pop diva Loreen sweep to victory in last year's Eurovision song contest, he already knew what he was going to do. | As Joe Nilsson, owner of the leading gay club in the Swedish city of Malmö, watched the raven-haired Swedish pop diva Loreen sweep to victory in last year's Eurovision song contest, he already knew what he was going to do. |
| With the contest coming back to Sweden, its spiritual home, he was going to put on the biggest "schlagerfest" that Wonk, his club, had ever known. | With the contest coming back to Sweden, its spiritual home, he was going to put on the biggest "schlagerfest" that Wonk, his club, had ever known. |
| "I booked this location the day after Loreen won for a whole week, just in case," he says as he shows me how he is going to turn Admiralen, the home of Wonk and one of the city's largest musical theatres, into a party venue next Saturday night. "I had a feeling they would chose Malmö. It's closer to Europe, closer to Copenhagen." | "I booked this location the day after Loreen won for a whole week, just in case," he says as he shows me how he is going to turn Admiralen, the home of Wonk and one of the city's largest musical theatres, into a party venue next Saturday night. "I had a feeling they would chose Malmö. It's closer to Europe, closer to Copenhagen." |
| Gone will be the commercial house music that normally dominates Wonk's dancefloor and in its place will be non-stop Eurovision music, with a particular emphasis on schlager, a local variant of schmaltzy Europop loved by Swedes, both gay and straight. | Gone will be the commercial house music that normally dominates Wonk's dancefloor and in its place will be non-stop Eurovision music, with a particular emphasis on schlager, a local variant of schmaltzy Europop loved by Swedes, both gay and straight. |
| Nilsson expects 1,700 Eurovision fans to pack his dancefloor until dawn, five times his normal crowd. By no means all of them will be gay. Even on a normal night about a third of Wonk's customers are straight and, as Wonk has signed a deal with Loreen, last year's winner, barring her from performing at any other venue, the appeal will be even broader than normal. | Nilsson expects 1,700 Eurovision fans to pack his dancefloor until dawn, five times his normal crowd. By no means all of them will be gay. Even on a normal night about a third of Wonk's customers are straight and, as Wonk has signed a deal with Loreen, last year's winner, barring her from performing at any other venue, the appeal will be even broader than normal. |
| "She's very special, and I had her even before she got famous," Nilsson says. "She had a big gay following even before she won Eurovision." | "She's very special, and I had her even before she got famous," Nilsson says. "She had a big gay following even before she won Eurovision." |
| He expects fans to come from Spain, Italy, France, Germany and beyond. "Someone wrote on the event web page, 'I'm coming all the way from America to see Loreen and the finals,' he says. "That's amazing." | He expects fans to come from Spain, Italy, France, Germany and beyond. "Someone wrote on the event web page, 'I'm coming all the way from America to see Loreen and the finals,' he says. "That's amazing." |
| The Malmö tourist office expects as many as 100,000 fans in the city next weekend and claims to be "rolling out the pink carpet" to gay people in particular, who it says represent "an important part of the fan base of the Eurovision song contest". Malmö lacked a gay bar, so at the end of last month Bee Bar and Kök from Gothenburg unfurled its rainbow flag on the city's main shopping street, timing its opening for the expected Eurovision crowds. | The Malmö tourist office expects as many as 100,000 fans in the city next weekend and claims to be "rolling out the pink carpet" to gay people in particular, who it says represent "an important part of the fan base of the Eurovision song contest". Malmö lacked a gay bar, so at the end of last month Bee Bar and Kök from Gothenburg unfurled its rainbow flag on the city's main shopping street, timing its opening for the expected Eurovision crowds. |
| In Sweden, the love affair with schlager is near universal. There are always a few modern schlager acts competing in Melodifestivalen, the Pop Idol-style contest with which Sweden chooses its Eurovision entry, and which is by far the most popular programme on Swedish television. Indeed, the five-week selection process is often referred to by Swedes as "Schlagerfestivalen". | In Sweden, the love affair with schlager is near universal. There are always a few modern schlager acts competing in Melodifestivalen, the Pop Idol-style contest with which Sweden chooses its Eurovision entry, and which is by far the most popular programme on Swedish television. Indeed, the five-week selection process is often referred to by Swedes as "Schlagerfestivalen". |
| By the end of last week, the excitement was building in Malmö, with stages going up both in Folketspark, next to the Wonk venue, and in the city's main square, and rehearsals beginning in the Malmö Arena. | By the end of last week, the excitement was building in Malmö, with stages going up both in Folketspark, next to the Wonk venue, and in the city's main square, and rehearsals beginning in the Malmö Arena. |
| "Between 6-18 May, it's going to be schlageryra [schlager-dizzy] in the whole park," read a notice in Folketspark. The semifinals and finals will be broadcast on huge screens, while Moriskan, a faux-Moorish palace in the park's centre, will host a Eurofan cafe catering to the most dedicated followers and the Tomboy Club, a rock club with a mainly lesbian clientele. There will be a similar combination of stage acts and screened performances in the city's main square, and pop-up events around the city. | "Between 6-18 May, it's going to be schlageryra [schlager-dizzy] in the whole park," read a notice in Folketspark. The semifinals and finals will be broadcast on huge screens, while Moriskan, a faux-Moorish palace in the park's centre, will host a Eurofan cafe catering to the most dedicated followers and the Tomboy Club, a rock club with a mainly lesbian clientele. There will be a similar combination of stage acts and screened performances in the city's main square, and pop-up events around the city. |
| Schlager goes back way before Abba, the group who did the most to bring its catchy melodies, dramatic final key change, and spangly stylings to the world. But it's the stars of the 1980s and 1990s who now personify the genre. Chief among them is Carola Häggkvist, who won Eurovision in 1991 and is known as Carola. When she performs at Wonk this week it will mark a reconciliation with her gay fanbase following a decade in which she has been more or less barred from gay clubs and Pride festivals after calling homosexuality "unnatural" in an interview. | Schlager goes back way before Abba, the group who did the most to bring its catchy melodies, dramatic final key change, and spangly stylings to the world. But it's the stars of the 1980s and 1990s who now personify the genre. Chief among them is Carola Häggkvist, who won Eurovision in 1991 and is known as Carola. When she performs at Wonk this week it will mark a reconciliation with her gay fanbase following a decade in which she has been more or less barred from gay clubs and Pride festivals after calling homosexuality "unnatural" in an interview. |
| Other schlager favourites are Charlotte Perelli, who won Eurovision in 1999 and represented Sweden again in 2008, and who is also performing at Wonk; Shirley Clamp, a long-term runner-up who has never made the Swedish selection but had a string of chart hits, and, more recently, the Eurodance band Alcazar. | Other schlager favourites are Charlotte Perelli, who won Eurovision in 1999 and represented Sweden again in 2008, and who is also performing at Wonk; Shirley Clamp, a long-term runner-up who has never made the Swedish selection but had a string of chart hits, and, more recently, the Eurodance band Alcazar. |
| "We take it extremely seriously, but there is also this awareness of it not being serious," explains Niklas Altermark, a PhD student and schlager fan. "There's this agreement that if you sit down and have a schlager night that this is far removed from the stuff you actually like. The people I hang out with like opera and independent music, and art bands and stuff, but we all sit down and say, 'oooh, nice hook in that chorus'. I don't watch it ironically, it's something else. It's almost like it's a cultural event divorced from music." | "We take it extremely seriously, but there is also this awareness of it not being serious," explains Niklas Altermark, a PhD student and schlager fan. "There's this agreement that if you sit down and have a schlager night that this is far removed from the stuff you actually like. The people I hang out with like opera and independent music, and art bands and stuff, but we all sit down and say, 'oooh, nice hook in that chorus'. I don't watch it ironically, it's something else. It's almost like it's a cultural event divorced from music." |
| Alasdair Rendall, who co-founded Schlagerfest, a London club night dedicated to Swedish schlager, puts the genre's crossover to the UK gay scene down to Eurovision. "Eurovision has a big appeal among the gay community, particularly in Britain," he says. "And it's through Eurovision that they've discovered the Swedish Melodifestivalen." | Alasdair Rendall, who co-founded Schlagerfest, a London club night dedicated to Swedish schlager, puts the genre's crossover to the UK gay scene down to Eurovision. "Eurovision has a big appeal among the gay community, particularly in Britain," he says. "And it's through Eurovision that they've discovered the Swedish Melodifestivalen." |
| He has taken the week off to be in Malmö, and he expects the majority of the people who attend Eurofest, Schlagerfest's successor at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a leading London gay venue, to make the trip. | He has taken the week off to be in Malmö, and he expects the majority of the people who attend Eurofest, Schlagerfest's successor at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a leading London gay venue, to make the trip. |
| After a revival at the end of the last decade, schlager's popularity has ebbed somewhat in Sweden. Euphoria, the winning song in Baku last year, has some schlager elements but doesn't really qualify. This shift has itself been a subject of fevered national debate, an extension of the soul-searching that surrounded Melodifestival throughout the lost decade that followed Sweden's last victory in 1999. | After a revival at the end of the last decade, schlager's popularity has ebbed somewhat in Sweden. Euphoria, the winning song in Baku last year, has some schlager elements but doesn't really qualify. This shift has itself been a subject of fevered national debate, an extension of the soul-searching that surrounded Melodifestival throughout the lost decade that followed Sweden's last victory in 1999. |
| "After the Ark, Sweden's best band, came 18th, the newspapers were writing about how it's perhaps impossible for Sweden to ever win because the structure of Europe has changed and all the countries of eastern Europe only vote for eachother," says Niklas. | "After the Ark, Sweden's best band, came 18th, the newspapers were writing about how it's perhaps impossible for Sweden to ever win because the structure of Europe has changed and all the countries of eastern Europe only vote for eachother," says Niklas. |
| The country took emergency measures, installing an international jury of musical experts to make sure that the choice of the Swedish people would also appeal to the rest of Europe. This year though, that itself led to controversy when the jury vetoed the people's winner. Yohio, an androgynous 17-year-old who wears Lolita dresses, was then dumped in favour of the comparatively bland Robin Stjernberg. | The country took emergency measures, installing an international jury of musical experts to make sure that the choice of the Swedish people would also appeal to the rest of Europe. This year though, that itself led to controversy when the jury vetoed the people's winner. Yohio, an androgynous 17-year-old who wears Lolita dresses, was then dumped in favour of the comparatively bland Robin Stjernberg. |
| Dave Simmons, who DJ'd for 16 years at London superclub G-A-Y before co-founding Schlagerfest and Eurofest, says the UK approach to Eurovision is pathetic in comparison to Sweden's. "The Swedes put so much effort into the Melodifestivalen. Every singer is already in the charts by the time of the competition, so everyone knows who they are and can really support them. Britain has nothing like that. The BBC just chooses a singer and the public don't really get behind them." | Dave Simmons, who DJ'd for 16 years at London superclub G-A-Y before co-founding Schlagerfest and Eurofest, says the UK approach to Eurovision is pathetic in comparison to Sweden's. "The Swedes put so much effort into the Melodifestivalen. Every singer is already in the charts by the time of the competition, so everyone knows who they are and can really support them. Britain has nothing like that. The BBC just chooses a singer and the public don't really get behind them." |
| Simmons says he was surprised at how successful Schlagerfest was when it was first launched in 2007. "We just did the night as an experiment, expecting just a few people to come, and we sold out," he remembers. "It's got quite a big gay following, but we get a mix of people. It's not exclusively gay." | Simmons says he was surprised at how successful Schlagerfest was when it was first launched in 2007. "We just did the night as an experiment, expecting just a few people to come, and we sold out," he remembers. "It's got quite a big gay following, but we get a mix of people. It's not exclusively gay." |
| This week he will be the only non-Swedish DJ to perform at Wonk, doing three sets of his trademark schlager dance remixes. "It's incredibly exciting and an incredible honour, it really is," he says. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from some cruel dream." | This week he will be the only non-Swedish DJ to perform at Wonk, doing three sets of his trademark schlager dance remixes. "It's incredibly exciting and an incredible honour, it really is," he says. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from some cruel dream." |
| He says that he appreciates what he calls "the kitschy side of it and the camp side of it. I know that when I've got a good Eurovision song, it's a lot of fun, but it's also a bit funny as well." | He says that he appreciates what he calls "the kitschy side of it and the camp side of it. I know that when I've got a good Eurovision song, it's a lot of fun, but it's also a bit funny as well." |
| But the same doesn't go for all the fans, and not all Swedes. "There's a sense that Sweden is the cultural home of Eurovision," says Rendall. "They're the country that really gets it, that knows how to have fun with it, but doesn't take the piss out of it." | But the same doesn't go for all the fans, and not all Swedes. "There's a sense that Sweden is the cultural home of Eurovision," says Rendall. "They're the country that really gets it, that knows how to have fun with it, but doesn't take the piss out of it." |
| Surprisingly, one Swede who doesn't get it is Joe Nilsson, despite having to lay on a schlager room every time he does Wonk. "It's not my thing at all," he grimaces, "but I've learned to adapt to it. I'm making the club for my guests, not for me." | Surprisingly, one Swede who doesn't get it is Joe Nilsson, despite having to lay on a schlager room every time he does Wonk. "It's not my thing at all," he grimaces, "but I've learned to adapt to it. I'm making the club for my guests, not for me." |
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