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Roffe Wikström

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With a 30 year long career including 26 albums and about 3500 concerts, Roffe Wikström (69) is Sweden’s uncrowned king of the blues. Like our own Kåre Virud, he sings in his mother tongue. Wikström has a powerful voice and an unusually powerful technique on the guitar – he plays those strings harder than most, and breaks at least one string at every concert.

Roffe grew up in Stockholm, and learned how to play along with tracks he heard on the radio. He had to learn it all again when a TV repair man tested his guitar one day, and pointed out that it wasn’t properly tuned. He bought his first electric guitar in 1963, with a radio which did double duty as an amplifier. Today, he admits «it sounded awful». Earlier sources of inspiration were Otis Rush, Albert and Freddie King, B.B. King and Roy Buchanan. Roffe has also interpreted old Swedish poets Bellman and Ferlin. Going forward, Roffe developed his own well-loved style. This will be the first time he plays in Longyearbyen.

Roffe sings «Blues is all I have» – but that’s no small thing!

Dark Season Blues©2018

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