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Roffe Wikström

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With a 30-year career spanning 26 albums and approximately 3,500 concerts, Roffe Wikström (69) is Sweden’s uncrowned king of blues. Like our own Kåre Virud, he sings in his native language. He has a powerful voice and an unusually hard touch on the guitar. Roffe also plays the strings harder than most, wearing out at least one string per concert.

He grew up in Stockholm and taught himself to play by mimicking songs he heard on the radio, but had to start from scratch when a TV repairman who was visiting tried out his guitar and pointed out that it was out of tune. He bought his first electric guitar in 1963, and a radio served as an amplifier. “It sounded awful,” he says himself today. Early sources of inspiration included Otis Rush, Albert and Freddie King, B.B. King, and Roy Buchanan. Roffe has also covered Bellman and Ferlin. Over time, he developed his own style, and is beloved for it. This is his first time performing in Longyearbyen.

“The blues are all I have,” sings Roffe. That’s no small thing, to say the least.

Dark Season Blues©2018

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