the music. As I chat to 53-year-old Mikael
Johansson, a proper old-school raggar
sporting well-worn denim, a leather
waistcoat and shaggy hair that doesn’t
look too familiar with shampoo, a toddler
waddles by on unsteady legs dressed in
a T-shirt that reads “Raggare for ever”.
He’s 18 months old and his name is Ruben
Köppä, says his mum, Tina: “I had this
scene passed down to me when I was little
and I’m doing the same to Ruben.”
“My teenage daughters are into raggare
culture too,” says Mikael. “But then it’s all
they’ve ever known. I took my eldest to a
meet when she was one day old.”
If that all sounds a little evangelical,
then this does seem to be a culture that
inspires life-long dedication. “I’ll be
a raggar for the rest of my life,” Peder
Jonsson told me that Saturday afternoon
in Lidköping. “When I die I’m going to be
buried in my 1959 Oldsmobile 98.”
“I know of something better,” I told
him. “I met someone who drives a vintage
hearse. Maybe you can borrow that.”
“A hearse?” he laughed. “That’s cool.”
Norwegian flies to Gothenburg and
Stockholm from over 70 destinations. Book a
hotel and a rental car at norwegian.com
Find more online
nasco.se
nostalgeek.se
honkytonk.org
vastsverige.com/en/
Falkoping
Where we stayed
Skara Stadshotell, Skara
Great hotel in historic
Skara with ultra friendly
staff and classic Swedish
food.
rosers.se
Krusenberg Herrgård,
Uppsala
Immaculate waterside
getaway with amazing
spa and a seriously good
restaurant – and only
20 minutes drive from
Stockholm Airport.
krusenbergherrgard.se
What we drove
Volvo XC70
Un-raggar-like it may
be, but the XC70 is
comfortable and has a
host of cool features (it
even tells you to take a
coffee break if you’ve
been driving too long).
A 1,700km trip around
Sweden meeting the
raggare cost about €180
(NOK1,400) in diesel.
From left
⁄
Ruben
Köppä, 18 months,
whose mum Tina grew
up in the scene; Fredrik
Svensson, 39, with his
1971 Chevy Impala
Below
⁄
Mikael
Johansson, 53, has been
a member of Uppsala
raggare club Honky Tonk
since it formed in 1976
“I had this
scene passed
down to me
when I was
little”
CHRISTOPHER HUNT
CHRISTOPHER HUNT
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