Pictures and stories from past events:
SACC Austin event with Swedish
artists during SXSW a smashing success!
“The Swedish Invasion” continues
Copy and photo: Håkan
Thyr, SACC Texas
Austin is rightfully named “The Live
Music Capital of the World”. Every day of the year you can listen
to live music at many of the large and small music venues throughout
town. Two weeks every year it is no way you can avoid listening to
music if you are close to downtown: during the 3-day Austin
City Limits Music Festival in October when over
100 bands turn Zilker Park into a buzzing music scene with more than
65,000 visitors every day, and in March during the SXSW
(South by Southwest) music, film and interactive festival when 1400
performers play in more than 80 venues, and transform the entire
downtown into a 4-day around the clock music event.
Both events draws visitors from all
over the world, and brings hundreds of millions of dollars into the
Austin economy. Music is not only culture in Austin, it is big
business!
“The British Invasion” crashed and
burned with Beatles in the mid-60's. “The Swedish Invasion” of
the American music life is still going strong 30 years after ABBA
established the bridge head in the mid-70's. This year 18 Swedish
bands performed at SXSW, an impressive number.
For the 3rd consecutive year
SACC Austin arranged a SXSW music party in cooperation with Export
Music Sweden. The event has grown year by year, and
this year more than 300 guests showed up to listen to an
unprecedented line-up of top-notch Swedish artists.
The party was hosted by Boundless
Network, and the founder of the company Henrik
Johansson (to the left), at their office in downtown Austin. Also in picture Johan Vestermark, Trainee SACC Texas and his fiancee Matilda Holmgren.
Anders Nilsson (former Vice President
of SACC Central Texas) and Anders Hjelmtorp (CEO of Export Music
Sweden) managed the artist line-up.
First out on
stage was Anton
Björkenvall. Anton comes from
Kiruna, a town above the Arctic Circle in Northern Sweden, and Anton
and the band had taken the opportunity to warm up in the sunny Austin
a week before the start of SXSW. After the music
festival they planned a old-fashioned
American road-trip to Louisiana.
Next was Jonna
Lee, a singer-songwriter with a
beautiful voice.
She had just been reunited with her guitar,
that had taken a trip to Amsterdam by its own and magically showed up
in time for the performance. Jonna was heading back to Sweden after
SXSW to work on her next album.
Sofia Talvik performed at
the SACC SXSW Music event in 2009, and she was back by popular demand
this year. Sofia made Austin and SXSW the final stop of a busy US
tour, starting off in Honolulu Hawaii, through Seattle, Los Angeles,
and San Diego. Sofia is known to be a hard working artist, and she
had a string of gigs lined up at SXSW, one together with Suzanne
Vega.
Movits!
changed the pace when they entered the staged and started off with
their combination of swing, jazz, and hip hop. The crowd was jumping
up and down.
Miss
Li topped off the event. Someone
characterized her music style as “a
wild mix of circus-cabaré-balkan-music hall- gypsy pop”, and it
really struck a chord with the Austin audience. Miss Li was starting
her US tour in Austin, and was heading up to Washington D.C. (House
of Sweden)
and New York.
“The
Swedish Invasion” of the American music scene continues! SACC
Austin wants to thank all the artists, our sponsors, and our guests
for a wonderful party. We hope to see all y'all next year!
Holiday Party in Houston Dec 11, 2008
SACC Texas Celebrated 25 Years in November
We thank all participants and sponsors who made our events in Austin, Dallas and Houston a success.
We are honored that Mr. Jonas Hafström, Swedish Ambassador to the United States as well as a number of Texas dignitaries participated.
View pictures from the events:
Anniversary Dinner at the Driskill Hotel in Austin November 9, 2008
Texas BBQ Dinner at Eddie Deen's in Dallas November 10, 2008
Anniversary Dinner at the Petroleum Club in Houston November 11, 2008
NASA visit in Houston November 12, 2008
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