Sweden has produced a lot of fantastic music and has some incredible artists who have made global top charts throughout the years, so why not show off some of these in the UAE, during the Swedish National Day Celebration at the Caeser’s Palace Dubai?

Taking the guests through a musical journey throughout the evening, started with some of the greatest jazz songs from the 20-70´s which the great Saxophonist, Tima Sax performed, while the guests were enjoying a drink of elderflower. A music exhibition ´Swedish Music Moments´ by the Swedish Institute was featured on the walls of the foyer to show the history of Swedish music.

The guests were welcomed to enter the ballroom to some of the cool Swedish 80´s songs, where soon the stage was occupied by the band The PLAY and the three SBC Super Trouper hostesses, Christina, Helena and Johanna arrived in ABBA-style costumes to the song- Does your mother know (ABBA 1979), and ended up on stage with an ABBA-inspired welcome speech.

During the evening the guests enjoyed a 3-course Swedish-inspired meal including Bleak roe from Kalix in the north of Sweden and homemade baguettes by Viking Bageri. To view the menu please click here.

The music journey continued, and we welcomed up on stage Josefin Person and Joseph Terterian who sang three of the top 70´s, 80´s and 90´s songs (The Sign by Ace of Base, Hooked on a feeling by Blue Swede and The Look by Roxette).

What´s the name of that game? The Swedish Music Quiz Game - Yes, 5 questions on Kahoot! made the room a bit competitive and the winner won a yacht cruise with Centaurus for 18 guests.

The SBC President, Pauline Madani welcomed Ola Pihlblad, Deputy Head of Mission, The Embassy of Sweden in Abu Dhabi up on stage who finished his speech by us all singing the Swedish National Anthem with Lisette Uhlmann in the lead.

Towards the end, great raffle prizes were handed out to some lucky winners. Prizes included flights with Emirates, a Swedish-coloured branded electric scooter by Eveons and a wooden floor by Nordic Homeworx.

Swedish Music Moments by the Swedish Institute

The evening ended with The PLAY on stage performing some of the best party music with Lisette Uhlmann as the lead singer accompanied by Dmytro on guitar, Niklas on base and Graeme on drums.

We thank our key sponsors Várri Consultancy as the Alfred Nobel Sponsor and GAC, Monili, My Dental Clinic and Tetra Pak as our Astrid Lindgren sponsors.

Thank you for the music! A QR code in the program invited guests to get a better understanding of what was happening and why.

The event took place in September instead of the 6th June due to the mourning period of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Former President of the United Arab Emirates.

Please click here to read more about Swedish music history.