FRÄMLING 2024

Performance and concept by Lydia Östberg Diakité 

Music: holger hartvig in collab with Lydia Ö Diakité 

Duration: apx 20 min 

”… Främling, vad döljer du för mig, I dina mörka ögon?

En svag nyans av ljus nånstans men ändå…”

*FRÄMLING* examines Swedish national nostalgia and the complex feelings of melancholy tied to one’s heritage. Through a journey of reinterpretations of Swedish pop classics, the piece asks: who is the stranger? 

This work tells the story of a stranger navigating the intersection of Swedish pride, entertainment history, sports, and schlager—embodying icons like Tre Kronor and Carola—striving to climb the social ladder. Is it the working-class dream of success, or perhaps the only way to move up in society? The narrative explores how this intersection of Swedish pride and entertainment history becomes both a dream and a potential means to ascend the social hierarchy. But what happens when the stranger is a body that doesn't fit the narrative of what a "Swede" is supposed to look like? 

“…Stranger, what do you hide from me, in your dark eyes? A faint shade of light somewhere but still…”