SWEDEN is a lost country


Tens of thousands of migrants took over Stockholm: "Like in an Arab country"
Published 2024-08-20

Last Thursday, central Stockholm was filled with around 20,000 people to listen to a Lebanese artist who performed at Gustav Adolfs torg. Elissa, described as one of the most successful Arab singers, enjoyed herself and said she "feels like I'm in an Arab country".

The artist performed at the Culture Festival which ran between 14-18 August.

"Elissa broke through big in 1999 and has since become one of the most loved and popular artists in the Middle East," says the festival's website .

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Further: "The audience flocks to her concerts and when she performed in Sweden for the first time at Gothenburg's Kulturkalas in 2015, she broke the audience record when over 35,000 people saw her during an acclaimed performance."

Elissa's concert is widely covered by Dagens Nyheter in something more like an idol portrait by reporter Saeed Alnahhal.

"Elissa filled the Culture Festival on Gustav Adolfs torg with euphoria on Thursday," they write, among other things.

Arab country
On Thursday evening, she performed in Stockholm, four days after a performance at the Malmö festival. 20,000 people had gathered to see the concert and the square had to be closed off to prevent overcrowding.

- The audience was crazy cruel. I feel like in an Arab country. I know I have many fans, the audience was very big here and in Malmö. I am very happy, she said when DN met her after the concert.

- We artists are important to Arabs in the diaspora. We are a bridge that connects them with their home countries.

Put on Palestinian shawl
The newspaper has spoken to a family that came to Sweden from Syria ten years ago.

The aunt Judy Kanj says that she is very proud, and likes that Sweden "thinks about the interests of its Arabic-speaking citizens and invites famous singers". Elissa reminds Judy of her own youth.

When someone in the audience throws up a Palestinian shawl, Elissa puts it on, something that also happened in Malmö.