EVERY GENRE PROJECT - March 20 - Hambo
Genre of the Day - Hambo
Album of the Day - Hambo till tusen (Hambo to a thousand) – Compilation
March 20, 2024
It is beyond astounding that the Swedes could go from this to the pop-glory of ABBA and Max Martin in about the span of a century. At least in the vernacular of humorous international anecdotes, Sweden’s music export is often commonly identified as death metal, and there is a certain irony in the fifth most developed country on the Human Development Index being so noted for embracing such a morose, vicious sound. I pin it mostly to escapism: there’s the ambience of frigid, long winters, perhaps mixed with the discrepancy between living in a highly developed country and the personal struggles one might still face. But today’s genre exists much more as the direct ancestor of the other strain of Swedish music, the happy, light-fare, meticulously well-produced pop of Max Martin and ABBA.
Hambo is the sound of Sweden in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the hot new dance trend of polka swept across Europe. The sound is distinctly dated to our ears now. However, it was radical during its time, eliciting quite the frenzy from high society. It was a couple’s dance and more high energy than what people were used to. Obviously young people embraced the saucy dance, and it moved through a changing, revolutionarily-inclined Europe in the mid 1800s like wildfire. Sweden’s preciseness with the hambo included a particularly strong emphasis on the first beat—most minor genre distinction ever—and, like a lot of genres, the only real differentiation between this and other related polska-derived genres is that it’s Swedish. Sometimes it is just as blunt as that.
Yesterday, though, I pointed out that a lot of music surrounding these dances exposes to me that music is so much more than a sonic experience, but an all-senses absorption, accentuated by color, movement, ambience, purpose. As simple and intuitive as I feel this realization should be to me, it’s easy to forget when I’m living in my headphones and on RYM. So to enhance our listening today, even though the hambo here was more strings-based than what I listened to, you get a little glimpse of the dance they’re doing. I could explain the dance steps, but after all, this isn’t Every Dance Project.
There isn’t a single true hambo album listed on Spotify for today’s genre, but we’re blessed with a compilation. This compilation covers eleven different hambos. There’s an iota of variation between them: sometimes, a male vocalist will hop in. While most are driven by the iconic, rare accordion, there’s also a few that feature a lilting fiddle. The names are at times a greater spectacle than the music: the long-winded name “Punkt och slut och därmed hambo” which translates to “full stop and thus hambo.” I love how definitive the word hambo is being used here: it only enhances the music’s potency. It stands on its own, on top of a few accordions, fiddle, and bass. Most of the melodies feature similar swings to each other. I particularly enjoyed the accordion harmonies on “Lillans hambo” which unexpectedly became my watershed 4000th saved song on Spotify. It also makes me crave an orchestra composed only of different accordions. And the riddle-like title “Hör du här du har hambo” features a chipper, jolly male singer whose crisp enunciation rides the distinctive accordion quite nicely. I can only imagine how incredible it would be to drink a cup of punsch in 1875 and dance a hambo, but at least we have Max Martin productions playing just about anywhere you can imagine to do the same today.