2018 in Scandinavian music

The following is a list of notable events and releases that happened in Scandinavian music in 2018.
(Go to last year in Scandinavian music or next year in Scandinavian music.)

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Events

January

• 12
  • Norwegian singer Sigrid is named winner of the BBC's "Sound of 2018" award.[1]
  • The 22nd Folklandia Cruise starts in Helsinki, Finland, running until 13 January.[2]
• 13 – Composer Paavo Heininen, considered by many to be Finland's most influential musician, celebrates his 80th birthday with a concert at the Järvenpää Hall, Helsinki.[3]
• 19 – The 37th annual Djangofestival starts in Oslo, Norway, to run until 20 January.[4]
• 28 – Jazz guitarist Gustav Lundgren and his trio perform a tribute to Django Reinhardt at Stockholm Concert Hall, featuring Aurélien Trigo and Antoine Boyer.[5]
• 30 – Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen is awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2019.[6]

February

• 10 – The 38th Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is won by "Higher Ground", performed by Rasmussen.[7]
• 14 – Norwegian singer Sigrid wins Best New Artist at the NME Awards ceremony.[8]
• 22 – It is announced that Agnes Obel has signed to Deutsche Grammophon, who will have a joint arrangement with Blue Note for North American releases.[9]

March

• 3 – At Söngvakeppnin 2018, Ari Ólafsson is selected to represent Iceland in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Heim".[10] After winning the context, Ólafsson is criticised on social media for crying on hearing the result.[11]
• 7 – Fifteen-year-old cellist Birgitta Elisa Oftestad wins the Virtuos 2018 competition and is named Norway's representative at the Eurovision Young Musicians 2018 contest.[12]
• 9 – Finnish band Nightwish begins a nine-month world tour titled Decades: World Tour, accompanying a new 2CD compilation called Decades.[13]
• 10 – The final of Melodifestivalen 2018 takes place in Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden.[14]
• 12 – The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under Hannu Lintu, begins a week-long series of concerts in Germany.[15]
• 25
  • Swedish House Mafia unexpectedly reunite for a performance at the 20th Anniversary of Ultra Music Festival in Miami, United States.[16]
  • Greenlandic singer Nive Nielsen stars as "Lady Silence" in a new US horror series, The Terror, her first international TV role.[17]

April

• 27 – Abba announce that they have recorded some new songs, the first since 1983.[18]

May

• 8 – In semi-final 1 of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, Iceland's entry is eliminated, but Finland's Saara Aalto finishes 10th and makes it to the final.
• 10 – In semi-final 2 of the Eurovision Song Contest, Norway's entry finishes in first place, Sweden 2nd and Denmark 5th; all three countries make it to the final.
• 12 – In the Eurovision final, held in Lisbon, Sweden does best of the Scandinavian countries, finishing in 7th place.
• 23 - The Bergen International Festival opens in Bergen, Norway, running until 6 June. Guest performers include Meow Meow, Selene Muñoz and Helsinki Songs.[19]

June

• 6 – The 26th Sweden Rock Festival opens in Norje, running until 9 June.[20] The Quill are forced to withdraw the day before the festival begins, because lead singer Magnus Ekwall is recovering from emergency surgery.[21]

July

• 3 – The organizers confirm that the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, normally held after the awards ceremony in Oslo, will not take place in 2018.[22]
• 4 – The 19th Folk music festival of Siglufjordur opens in Siglufjordur, Iceland, running until 8 July.[23]
• 5 – Gregory Porter guest stars at the 2018 Kongsberg Jazzfestival in Norway.[24]
• 27 – The Uppsala Reggae Festival opens in Sweden, running until 28 July, headlined by Jimmy Cliff.[25]

September

• 5 – The Copenhagen World Music Festival opens, running until 9 September.[26]
• 6 – The Lahti Sibelius Festival opens, running until 9 September.[27]

November

• 7 – The Iceland Airwaves music festival opens, running until 10 November. Guests include Blood_Orange, Cashmere Cat and Stella Donnelly.[28]

December

• 6 – Icelandic Music Day is celebrated.[29]

Albums released

January

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
5	Trident Wolf Eclipse	Watain	Century Media		[30]
19	Lucus	Thomas Strønen & Time Is A Blind Guide	ECM		[31]
19	Contra La Indecisión	Bobo Stenson Trio (Anders Jormin, Jon Fält)	ECM	Produced by Manfred Eicher	[32]

February

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
2	Delights Of Decay	Batagraf	Jazzland	Produced by Jon Balke, Kåre Christoffer Vestrheim	[33]
	Live at Victoria	Solveig Slettahjell	Jazzland	Produced by Solveig Slettahjell	[34]
23	Reformation Part 1	Super8 & Tab	Armada Music		[35]
	Pilgrim	Janne Mark with Arve Henriksen	ACT	Produced by Esben Eyermann and Janne Mark	[36]

March

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
1	Takker	Thomas Helmig	Genlyd Grammofon		[37]
2	Ravensburg	Mathias Eick	ECM	Produced by Manfred Eicher	[38]
9	Decades	Nightwish	Nuclear Blast		[39]
23	Returnings	Jakob Bro with Palle Mikkelborg, Thomas Morgan, and Jon Christensen	ECM	Produced by Manfred Eicher	[40]

April

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
20	Barxeta II	Per Mathisen & Jan Gunnar Hoff feat. Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez	Losen	Produced by Jan Gunnar Hoff and Per Mathisen	[41]
	Freedoms Trio II	Steinar Aadnekvam	Losen	Produced by Steinar Aadnekvam	[42]
	Ultra	Sivas	Disco:Wax	#1 in Danish album chart	[43]
27	Större	Molly Sandén	unknown		[44]
	Ootsä nähny Nikkee	Nikke Ankara	unknown		[45]
	Wild Wild Wonderland	Saara Aalto	Warner	style="text-align:center;"	Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[46]	2

May

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
4	Sway	Tove Styrke	RCA Records		[47]
25	Late Night Tales: Agnes Obel	Agnes Obel	Night Time Stories Ltd		[48]

June

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
1	Ääripäät	Mikael Gabriel	Universal Music Group		[49]
	Bertolt Brechts Svendborgdigte	Søren Huss	BaggårdTeatret		[50]
8	So Sad So Sexy	Lykke Li	RCA	Executive producer Malay	[51]
29	Sometimes the World Ain't Enough	The Night Flight Orchestra	Nuclear Blast		[52]

July

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
27	Act II	Tarja Turunen	earMUSIC	Live album	[53]

August

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
24	‘re:member	Ólafur Arnalds	Mercury KX		[54]
31	Helsinki Songs	Trygve Seim	ECM		[55]
	The Other Side	Tord Gustavsen Trio	ECM		[56]

September

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
21	Immortelle	Say Lou Lou	à Deux	Produced by Trent Mazur and Dash Le Francis	[57]

October

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
5	Bay Of Rainbows	Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan, and Joey Baron	ECM Records		[58]
12	Sorgir	Skálmöld	Napalm Records		[59]
19	Forever Neverland	MØ	Columbia Records		[60]
26	Honey	Robyn	Konichiwa Records		[61]

November

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
13	Deep Snow	Simon Lynge	Atlantic Music		[62]
16	The Pursuit of Vikings: 25 Years in the Eye of the Storm	Amon Amarth		Live album	[63]
23	The Ghost Ward Diaries	Electric Boys	Mighty Music	Produced by David Castillo	[64]

December

Day	Album	Artist	Label	Notes	Ref.
13	Plays Metallica by Four Cellos – A Live Performance	Apocalyptica		Live album - 2CD+1DVD digipak	[65]
14	Let's Boogie! Live from Telia Parken	Volbeat	Republic Records	Live album	[66]

Film and television scores

Films

• Ravens (Sweden), music by Peter von Poehl[67]

Television

• Trapped (Iceland), music by Jóhann Jóhannsson with Hildur Gudnadóttir and Rutger Hoedemaekers[68]

Eurovision Song Contest

• Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
• Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
• Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
• Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Deaths

• 1 January - Teddy Edelmann, Danish singer, 76[69]
• 18 January – Javiera Muñoz, Swedish singer, 40[70]
• 29 January – Asmund Bjørken, Norwegian jazz musician, 84[71]
• 4 February – Leif Rygg, Norwegian folk musician, 77[72]
• 5 February – Ove Stokstad, Norwegian artist and jazz musician, 78 [73]
• 9 February – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic film composer, 48[74]
• 3 March – Kenneth Gärdestad, pop songwriter, 69
• 5 March – Kjerstin Dellert, Swedish opera singer, 92
• 9 March – Ole H. Bremnes, Norwegian folk singer and poet, 87[75]
• 25 March – Jerry Williams, Swedish singer, 75[76]
• 31 March – Frode Viken, guitarist and songwriter, D.D.E., 63
• 3 April – Lill-Babs, Swedish singer ("En tuff brud i lyxförpackning"), 80[77]
• 20 April – Avicii (Tim Bergling), Swedish musician, DJ and record producer, 28[78]
• 11 May –Mikhail Alperin, Ukrainian-born jazz pianist, member of the Moscow Art Trio, professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, 61[79]
• 26 June – Bo Nilsson, Swedish composer, 81[80]
• 5 July – Bjørn Lie-Hansen, opera singer, 81[81]
• 9 July – Stefan Demert, Swedish musician, 78[82]
• 16 August – Benny Andersen, Danish writer and pianist, 88[83]
• 21 August – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor and singer (b. 1975). [84]
• 9 September – Frank Andersson, Swedish entertainer and wrestler, 62 (complications during heart surgery)[85]
• 23 September – Berth Idoff, Swedish musician (Berth Idoffs), 77[86]
• 30 September – Kim Larsen, Danish rock musician (Gasolin'), 72 (prostate cancer)[87]
• 29 November – Erik Lindmark, vocalist and guitarist of Deeds of Flesh, 46 (sclerosis)[88]

References

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2. "Folklandia Cruise Helsinki - Tallinn 12 January 2018 - 13 January 2018". Festivals.fi. Retrieved 2017-10-23.
3. Vesa Sirén (2018-01-13). "80-vuotias suomalaismestari koulutti maailmankuulut säveltäjät ja soittaa nyt tervehdyksen HS:n lukijoille". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
4. "Djangofestival Fredag". DetSkjerIOslo.no. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
5. "An evening of Django Reinhardt". Konserthuset.se. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
6. "Hans Abrahamsen to receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2019" (Press release). Léonie Sonning Music Foundation. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
7. "Watch: Denmark picks song for Viking-themed raid on Eurovision Song Contest". The Local Denmark. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
8. "Lorde, Kasabian, and Dua Lipa lead VO5 NME Awards 2018 nominations". NME. 4 February 2018.
9. "Deutsche Grammophon signs Agnes Obel". Completemusicupdate.com. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
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18. Alex Needham (27 April 2018). "Abba announce first new songs for 35 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
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69. Teddy Edelmann er død (in Danish)
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74. Jóhann Jóhannsson Dies: ‘The Theory Of Everything’ Composer Was 48
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76. Rocklegenden Jerry Williams är död (in Swedish)
77. Lill-Babs är död (in Swedish)
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79. В Осло умер Михаил Альперин. lenta.ru (in Russian). 2018-05-11. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
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82. Trubaduren Stefan Demert har gått bort (in Swedish)
83. Forfatteren Benny Andersen er død (in Danish)
84. Stefán Karl Stefánsson er látinn (in Icelandic)
85. Frank Andersson är död (in Swedish)
86. Dansbandsmusikern Berth Idoff är död (in Swedish)
87. Danska artisten Kim Larsen är död (in Swedish)
88. "Unique Leader Records Founder / Deeds of Flesh Guitarist Erik Lindmark Has Passed Away". MetalSucks. November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.