Edda Magnason: Interview & Video Exclusive

New EP from Sweden’s quirky jazz-pop singer

Goods, the second album by Sweden’s Edda Maganson was one of last year’s highlights. With a playful jazz sensibility which intertwined with a quirky pop, Magnason’s approach was unusual and refreshing. Coinciding with the release of her new EP, theartsdesk premieres the video for its lead track “Jona”.

The Bridge, BBC Four

THE BRIDGE: The latest Scandinavian TV import offers grotesque killings and a startlingly weird heroine

Latest Scandinavian import offers grotesque killings and a startlingly weird heroine

"Does he know she's a bit odd?" asks one of Saga Noren's Swedish police colleagues, on hearing that Danish copper Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia) is working with Noren on a new murder case. Well, he's begininning to get the idea. He's seen her forbid an ambulance to cross her crime scene perimeter, even though it was carrying a new heart for a critically ill patient. She drags Rohde out of bed in the middle of the night to track down a piece of evidence, then when he delivers it to her at police HQ she barely says thanks and shuts the door in his face. Apparently she never eats meals.

Miss Julie, Royal Exchange, Manchester

MISS JULIE: Maxine Peake is electrifying in a fine production of Strindberg's master-servant drama

Maxine Peake is electrifying in a commendable production of Strindberg's master-servant drama

Seeing Miss Julie played in-the-round would, I suspect, have delighted Strindberg. In his preface to the play, he was much exercised about the setting, presuming a proscenium stage: a single set, asymmetrical scenery, no clutter, no “tiresome” exits through doors, no footlights. And so on.

theartsdesk in Estonia: Tallinn Music Week

TALLINN MUSIC WEEK: Estonia achieves musical escape velocity, although reminders of the KGB aren't far away

Estonia achieves musical escape velocity, although reminders of the KGB aren't far away

It began with a warning. Opening the fourth Tallinn Music Week, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves cautioned, “In a free society, it’s risk-free. In an un-free society, it’s not risk-free. It’s not all fun.” From behind a hotel conference room lectern, he then began rolling a video of Russia’s Pussy Riot being arrested in Moscow a few days earlier. Not everyone can make their point, make their music, choose how they want to get it across.

Interview: Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström of e.s.t.

E.S.T. INTERVIEW: Europe's greatest jazz band on life after Esbjörn and their final masterpiece

Europe's greatest jazz band on life after Esbjörn and their final masterpiece

“I guess it's jazz, but it's not what jazz was... if you have to call it something... " Esbjörn Svensson was the leader, pianist and main composer of e.s.t. and at the time of his death in a scuba-diving accident on 14 June, 2008, it would seem the band had the world at its feet.

theartsdesk in Dalarna: Skating through Vinterfest

THEARTSDESK AT VINTERFEST: Sweden's remote classical music festival offers a refreshing break from the old routine

Sweden's best-known classical music festival offers a refreshing break from the old routine

As concert venues go, this one is perfect – a barn-like structure, whose pine timbers emit a fragrance not unlike that of a sauna, whose long glass windows look out across oxon-red wooden Swedish farmsteads and the frozen expanse of Lake Orsasjön. The Vattnäs Konsertlada is the labour of love of local girl, the international opera singer Pers Anna Larsson, and is being used at Sweden's by now best-known music festival, Vinterfest, for the first time.

theartsdesk in Oslo: by:Larm Festival 2012 and the Nordic Music Prize

All Nordic music in one place, drum legend Tony Allen - and a dash of church burning

Although the four days of Norway’s 15th by:Larm Festival were dominated by the presentation of the second annual Nordic Music Prize, there were plenty of other distractions: a sobering tour of Norwegian black metal’s infamous sites, a talk by legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, what felt like millions of shows in millions of venues, and weather confounding all expectations of what Oslo ought to be like in February.