Sofia Karlsson

Born in Stockholm in 1975, Sofia Karlsson is part of the Swedish folk and visa scene, at the crossroads of Nordic traditions, acoustic song, and a literary repertoire often tied to poetry. Trained in the traditional music program of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, she participated in the late 1990s in the groups Eter and Groupa before launching a solo career with Folk Songs in 2002. Karlsson subsequently broadened her audience with Svarta ballader in 2005, an album devoted to the texts of Dan Andersson, then Visor från vinden in 2007, which extends her interpretive work around the Swedish song. Her personal writing takes more space on Söder om kärleken in 2009, then Levande in 2011, Regnet faller utan oss in 2014 and Sånger från broccolifälten in 2022. In parallel, Karlsson develops regular work for the stage and the theatre, notably with director Peter Oskarson, and participates in several collective projects, among them Jul i folkton. Her singing, sober and precise, relies on pared-down arrangements where Scandinavian folk, ballad, chamber music, and traditional song mingle.