My London: Music Executive and LondonSwedes Choir director Michaela Lundin
Name: Michaela Lundin
Time in London: 6 years
Where do you live: Holloway
Instagram: @dukankallamigal
Hello Michaela – tell us a bit about yourself:
Hej hej! My name is Michaela and I live in North London with two flatmates and an army of loud pigeons on the rooftop. I’m passionate about music, food, documentaries, fluffy dogs, history, human rights, and equality.
I grew up in Gävle and Göteborg, but I lived 12 years in Stockholm before moving to London. So my accent is all over the place, haha!
What do you do for a living?
I work in the music industry as an A&R (artist & repertoire). It basically means finding and signing talents (artists, producers, songwriters), developing them, and project managing their musical work. Right now I work in A&R for Polydor Records, and I also consult for a management company called Northpole Management.
In addition to this, I also work closely with Charlotte on all the fantastic LondonSwedes events, on both Midsummer parties, the Crayfish Festivals and I’ve led the Lucia choirs for two years now! It’s been great fun to be a part of such a big and active community!
How come you ended up in London?
I have been in love with London since my first visit when I was 12 years old. I even told my mum back then that I would live here one day! So, when I was offered a job in London 6 years ago, I jumped at the opportunity.
You live in Holloway; what are the best parts about that area?
I’ve lived in a couple of places in north and east London in my 6 years here, but right now I live in north Holloway, which belongs to the London Borough of Islington.
Enjoying kebab at the local Crystal Kebab
Here are a couple of favourites in my area:
- Canonbury Tavern: they have a banging Sunday night pub quiz.
- The Old Queens Head is the best Friday and Saturday night dance floor. They play bangers only, people dance on tables and the whole place is like a giant house party.
- Noci is the best pasta in Islington.
- Provisions cheese and wine bar: just around the corner from me is a really cute French wine and cheese bar with an insane selection.
- Crystal kebab, down the road from me, serves up a world-class late-night kebab.
Melodifestivalen winner Cornelia Jakobs and Michaela Lundin at LondonSwedes Lucia Harrow School 2022
You have a big passion for singing; tell us more about how you discovered your talent.
Inspired by Spice Girls’ Girl Power I started playing piano, singing, and writing songs when I was 7, with a very clear objective to become a pop star haha. I moved to Stockholm at 16 to go to Rytmus Music College. I ended up staying in Stockholm, freelancing as a musician and singer, and I also worked as a vocal coach and event producer for many years. After a while, I started working on the industry side of music, but I’ve always had one foot in singing and performing; I can’t seem to let it go completely.. 🙂
What do you listen to in your headphones daily?
It’s a mad mix of everything; I listen to a lot of Anderson Paak. Chet Baker, Beyonce, LSD Soundsystem, HAIM, Adele, Arlo Parks, and Zeppelin. Ella Fitzgerald is probably my biggest hero vocally; she opened the door to jazz and scat singing for me.
Charlotte & Michaela at one of LondonSwedes Crayfish parties (2022)
You’ve been a big part of LondonSwedes events since 2020! Tell us how you ended up working with us on LondonSwedes:
I’ve meet Charlotte through friends during Covid, and we put our minds together and decided to host the events together as she was looking for a hostess at that time. We ended up doing all of the events together, and I even took on the role of choir director for Lucia, which has always been a dream of mine!
With my background in producing live events and freelancing singles and musician, there was immediate synergy with Charlotte’s projects! I’ve had SO much fun immersing myself in the Swedish community in London <3
LondonSwedes Crayfish Party 2022
Michaela with LondonSwedes Lucia at Harrow School 2022
You have recently started the LondonSwedes choir! Tell us all about it:
Yes, I’m really buzzing about this! Directing the choir for the amazing LondonSwedes Lucia events two years in a row was so much fun and gave me such joy to me. So I brought the idea to Charlotte about starting a year-round LondonSwedes choir, and she loved it!
We put out the word to see if people were interested, and the response was beyond anything we could ever hope for…! We started rehearsing in March, and we’re over 40 members! It’s really amazing to see it all come together and see how quickly people are making new friends and gelling musically. They all met for the first time eight weeks ago, and they already sound amazing!
What do you sing, and are you going to perform in any places?
We sing anything from Robyn and ABBA to more traditional choir pieces; it’s definitely a mixed repertoire- anything that feels fun to sing. We’ve just got started, but we will definitely be performing loads!
We have our first performance on June 6th, when we’re throwing a celebration for Sweden’s Nation Day celebrations together with The Swedish Church, you can read more and get your tickets HERE. We’re very excited!
Michaela with Måns Zelmerlöw at LondonSwedes Lucia at Lyric in Hammersmith 2021
If you were to eat out for an entire day, where do you go for:
Trying to pick only ONE option for these was torture. But here’s a list of good options:
Breakfast/brunch: The Bach at Broadway market
”Fika”: Pistachio cannoli at Sage
Lunch: The arepa at Maltby street market (this is to die for!)
Dinner: Unbelievable pizza at The George and Vulture OR meze at Bubala
And away from food, what are your London favourites?
* Maltby Street Market and The Bermondsey Beer Mile are my number one fav (I know it’s technically kind of food, but I also love it just for the vibe!)
* Columbia Road’s flower market is also wonderful. (They also do a lovely Christmas market).
* The blues bar in Soho called ‘Aint nothin’ but blues’ is a little gem, and cute speakeasy bars with live jazz like ‘Nightjars’ are brilliant.
* There’s so much great live music in London, you can literally fall in love with a new band every night of the week. Colors Hoxton, Oslo, The Garage and The Omeara are a few great places.
* The vintage shopping at Brick Lane, and Paper dress vintage deserves a mention as well!
* Finally, I love all the many sea towns around London that are perfect for a day trip in the summer! I go to Whitstable and Brighton every summer. Ramsgate is another fave!
What do you miss most about Sweden?
Most of all, I miss my family and all my friends! But I also really miss being able to go for a swim, kind of wherever you are in Sweden in the summer… I also really miss the culture and attitude around holidays back home, everyone taking a month off in July is genius and completely foreign to Brits.
Getting ready for Anderson Paak.
What do you love most about London?
I love the electric mix of people and culture in London, a city with the ambition to have room for anything and anyone. You meet people from all around the world every day, there’s so much to learn from everyone, and it really humbles you and opens your mind up when you have that many different perspectives around you. It also never gets boring here. There’s always so much to experience, like theatre, musicals, festivals, museums, and other happenings. It’s hard for a “YES-woman” like me haha…
Which is your best London memory of all time?
Wow, this was so hard to answer… I am blessed to have a lot of great memories here! One that comes to mind is when I saw Anderson Paak. for the first time at the Reading festival (‘GREATER’ London counts right? ). My friend and I had a great day at the festival as Andersson came on stage, the sun started to set, creating this glorious light and the concert was just amazing.
And which of the Swedish traditions in the UK are your favourite and why?
All of them! I love celebrations and traditions so much. I think I became even more Swedish when I moved to London, if I’m honest 🙂
