0_Wizard
I'm assuming you are from the US, so I will educate you on Sweden. Sweden is the third-largest country in Europe by area so it's pretty big!
At , Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area.
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Sweden
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Sweden
Sweden ( ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: ), is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund. At , Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area. Sweden has a total population of 10 million of which 2.3 million has a foreign background. It has a low population density of ; the highest concentration is in the southern half of the country. Approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen.
Russia
Russia (; ), also officially known as the Russian Federation (), is a sovereign country in Eurasia. At , Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with over 144 million people at the end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern; about 77% of the population live in European Russia. Russia's capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world; other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, and Kazan.
Spain
Spain ( ), officially the Kingdom of Spain (), is a country mostly located on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, with there also being two large archipelagoes, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands off the African Atlantic coast, two cities, Ceuta and Melilla, on the African mainland and several small islands in the Alboran Sea near the African coast. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.
Ukraine
Ukraine ( ; ), sometimes incorrectly refered to as the Ukraine, is a sovereign state in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the east and northeast; Belarus to the northwest; Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of , making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world.
Finland
Finland (; ; ), officially the Republic of Finland (, ) is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. The country has land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east. To the south is the Gulf of Finland with Estonia on the opposite side. Finland is a Nordic country and, together with Scandinavia, is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia. Finland's population is 5.5 million (2016), and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region. 88.7% of the population is Finnish and speaks Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages; next come the Finland-Swedes (5.3%).
Swedes
Swedes () are a Germanic ethnic group native to Sweden. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, in particular Finland, with a substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States. The English term "Swede" has been attested in English since the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. In Swedish, the term is "svensk", which is believed to have been derived from the name of "svear" (or Swedes), the people who inhabited Svealand in eastern central Sweden, and were listed as "Suiones" in Tacitus' history "Germania" from the 1st century AD.
Environmental racism in Europe
Environmental racism in Europe has been documented in relation to racialized immigrant and migrant populations alongside Romani (Roma/Gypsy), Yenish, Irish Traveller, and communities (such as the Sami, Komi, and Nenets) from within continental borders. Environmental racism is the practice of environmental injustice within a racialized context, in which socially marginalized communities and minority groups are subjected to disproportionate exposure of environmental hazards, denial of access to sources of ecological sustenance such as clean air, water, and natural resources, or infringement of environmentally related human rights.
1_Apprentice
That's fairly big. What kind of bands are popular in Sweden?
0_Wizard
Well, a quick wiki search for music of Sweden shows that they love polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. Sounds very foreign to me!
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Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina ("" and "chamamé"), Finland ("jenkka"), France, Italy, Norway (""), Portugal and Brazil ("xote", ""), Spain ("chotis"), Sweden, Denmark ("schottis"), Mexico (Norteño (music)) and the United States, among other nations. The schottische is considered by "The Oxford Companion to Music" to be a kind of slower polka, with continental-European origin. The schottische basic step is made up of two sidesteps to the left and right, followed by a turn in four steps.
Polka
The polka is originally a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Polka remains a popular folk music genre in many European countries, and is performed by folk artists in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Russia, and Slovakia. Local varieties of this dance are also found in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America and the United States.
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. "Ballroom dance" may refer, at its widest definition, to almost any type of partner dancing as recreation. However, with the emergence of dancesport in modern times, the term has become narrower in scope, and traditionally refers to the five International Standard and five International Latin style dances (see dance categories below). The two styles, while differing in technique, rhythm and costumes, exemplify core elements of ballroom dancing such as control and cohesiveness.
Pehr Hörberg
Pehr Hörberg was born January 31, 1746 in Virestad parish in Småland, Sweden and died January 24, 1816 in Risinge in Östergötland, Sweden, was a Swedish artist, painter and musician. In 1769 he married the maid Maria Eriksdotter and they had three sons. Pehr Hörberg's birthplace Virestad is a small town and a village in Älmhult Municipality in Kronoberg County, in Småland, Sweden. It was formerly the central area of the old Virestad parish. The church in Virestad was built of stone 1799–1800 on the site of a former medieval church. Some of its treasures include a pulpit from the 1600s and an altarpiece by Pehr Hörberg.
Polka in the United States
Polka in the United States refers to polka—a music and dance style that originated in Europe in the 1830s and came to American society when people immigrated from Eastern Europe. A fast style in 2/4 time, and often associated with the pre–World War II era, polka remains a dynamic "niche" music in America. Several polka genres exist in the United States, each with its own unique characteristics and performers. Though these polka genres vary, all are unified in the expression of ethnicity by performers and participants. Polka enthusiasts gather to enjoy their love of the music and dance and to honor their heritage at polka festivals.
Music of Sweden
The Music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The accordion, clarinet, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish traditional music. In the 1960s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture. Many joined "Spelmanslag" (folk musicians' clubs) and performed on mainstream radio and TV. They focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the 1990s.
Hambo
The hambo is a traditional dance that originated in Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a couple dance in time, danced to music played with a strong accent on the first beat and a tempo that varies from moderate to fast (100 to 120 beats per minute). The hambo is a dance with a fixed pattern and tunes almost always have a corresponding eight measure structure. In Sweden, the hambo is in the gammaldans (old-time dance) tradition that, despite the name, arose fairly recently around the beginning of the 20th century. The dance is also danced in North America in the social clubs formed by immigrant Swedes, at International folk dance events and during breaks at contradance venues.