Photo & © Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
Göteborgs-Posten 2026-07-11
By: SOFIE FOGDE/TT
Photo: BJÖRN LARSSON ROSVALL/TT
In our summer series, we have asked famous cultural and entertainment personalities to tell us about a cultural experience that shook them. First up is Helen Sjöholm – whose life was changed by Skule Mountain Song Festival.
A cultural experience that has really shaken and changed me? Helen Sjöholm is quick to answer.
– I can say that straight away. Skule Mountain Song Festival, she says.
The festival is arranged at the World Heritage Site at the High Coast, not far from Helen Sjöholm’s hometown of Sundsvall. It was first arranged in 1984 and was a recurring tradition for many years.
– I visited it when I was really young and was there for many years. It was huge and there was a fantastic line-up of artists every year and at the foot of a gigantic mountain at the High Coast.
– I saw Tommy Körberg there, when I was, oh, what was I, 17? Little did I know then that I would be standing and singing and making sounds with that man..
– But it was one of those evenings at the folk festival, with that breadth and those musical experiences outdoors in that environment, that have somehow settled into my body.
She describes it as magical.
– It was such a gigantic musical experience that goes straight into your stomach, because you are sitting with thousands of other people in an incomparable nature and get cultural experiences from that height as it was.
She lists artists such as Kjell Höglund, Maritza Horn and Tommy Körberg.
– Live music in that environment, it was like heaven for me, that I have lived in ever since.