Sara Parkman & Hampus Norén

Sara Parkman (born in 1989) is a unique voice in contemporary Swedish music. For nearly a decade, together with her partner Hampus Norén – who, in close collaboration with Sara, composes and produces all her music as a solo artist – she has rejuvenated Swedish folk music with relentless energy, inventiveness, and courage.  

With great respect for the melodic, musical, and melancholic roots of Swedish folk music, the duo has injected the genre with pop refrains, personal lyrics, electronic beats, warm strings, grand choirs, narrative performing arts, and ambitious concept albums.  

Eros agape philia is Sara’s third album under her own name, a work that portrays love from three different perspectives – the erotic, the sacred, and the deeply friendly. The music seamlessly shapes itself according to the various moods dictated by the poetic lyrics – sometimes fateful and melancholic, sometimes explosively life-affirming – accompanied the choir Hägersten A Capella directed by Kerstin Börjeson.  

The album is a bold evolution from Sara’s previous album, the religiously explorative Vesper (2019), but equally fascinating and multi-layered. For Eros agape philia Sara was awarded a Grammis in the category of “Folk Music of the Year” at the Grammis Gala 2023, while at the Manifest Gala 2023 she won “Folk of the Year” and “Experimental of the Year” (for another album, Funeral folk a collaboration with Maria W. Horn). On top of this, she also won the SKAP and Manifest Award for Composer of the Year (for her overall work).