You'd have thought that the Swedish media would have nothing to write about, after spending recent years debating about whether Anders Lundin's time as presenter of Allsång was up. Then Måns Zelmerlöw got the job...end of story.
But no. Because the ink had only dried on the guest list and the press were already screaming from the rooftops about the uneven gender balance of this year's performers. "There are twice as many males as females!" they groaned, and rounded up some female singers to support their argument.
You won't hear any complaint from me though. In a time when the world's charts and airwaves are dominated by female artists - Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Adele, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry etc etc - it's about time someone tipped the balance in favour of the boys. And especially in a country like Sweden which has always had so many great male artists.
The Allsång line-up is always a mix of who's got a record out/newcomers/established favourites so why are there so many complaints this year? September and Veronica Maggio are arguably the two most successful female Swedish artists of the moment (apart from Robyn of course) and they're on the bill. Shouldn't the guest list be about quality rather than gender/quantity/quotas?
You can make your own mind up by watching this year's series which starts on 28th June. Here is the week-by-week guest list.
28 June: Benny Anderssons Orkester, Lunds Studentsångare, Danny Saucedo, September.
5 July: Håkan Hellström, Miriam Aïda, Siw Malmkvist, Ulrik Munther, The Moniker, Hasse Andersson.
12 July: Elisa’s, Veronica Maggio, Per Andersson, Eric Amarillo, Sara Varga, Kjell Lönnå.
19 July: Bo Kaspers Orkester, Petter, After Shave & Anders Eriksson, Vocalettes, Pernilla Andersson, Malena Ernman, Lena-Maria Klingvall.
26 July: Hoffmaestro, Eric Saade, Caroline Wennergren, Marika Willstedt, Angelica Alm, Carl Norén, Östen med Resten.
2 August: Timbuktu, Patriks Combo, Fredrik Kempe, Svante Thuresson, Hans-Erik Dyvik Husby, Linda Bengtzing, Eva Eastwood.
9 August: Lena Philipsson, Albin Flinkas, Fredrik Meyer, Staffan Percy, Sven-Ingvars.
16 August: Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester, Anders Berglund, Björn Skifs, Peter Jöback, Loa Falkman.
I'm looking forward to the new series which is just over two weeks away and the first show should be a cracker with both Danny and September on the bill. In the great tradition of this blog, I'll be reviewing the show every week of course.
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