I'm From Barcelona [January 2007]

Every so often, the world of music throws up something truly original. Ahead of their gig in Galway next month, Andrew Hamilton speaks with Emanuel Lundgren from Swedish music collective I’m From Barcelona, the group that is changing the way music is made all over the world.

IT was one of those moments. For a tiniest of instants, time stood still as the rational mind gave way to a pure creativity that is beyond thought. And then it came: a truly original idea.
Like Newton’s apple adventure, the idea for Swedish band I’m From Barcelona is based in simplicity. So effortlessly easy, in fact, that once you hear it, you can’t believe that someone hadn’t thought of it earlier.
Spend a few weeks during your summer holidays writing five or six
catchy pop tunes. Then simply gather 25 or 30 of your mates together — many of whom have never sang a note or played a musical instrument before — and take them on the road.
That’s exactly what Emanuel Lundgren did in the Summer of 2005.
“It was really coincidental. My only plan for this band was to fill my four-week vacation in the summer of 2005. I wanted to try something new, because earlier I had been very focused on bands and that became very serious and boring after a while. Music is supposed to be something fun, something that can help people escape everyday life. This time, I asked the friends that I hang out with and I didn’t even know that they could sing some of them. It was a real experiment.