And away we went to Sweden's first a cappella festival, hosted and co-organised by The Real Group.

The festival took place September 10-14 2008 at Västeras Concert House.

After we landed at Arlanda airport (near Stockholm) we took a bus to Västeras and during the ride we could get a (sleepy) glimpse of the swedish countryside.

And that was the last I saw of Sweden because after arriving at Västeras we were totally absorbed in/with workshops, seminars, concerts, rehearsals and of course... after parties.

To be honest: we were quite anxious to participate and sing at this festival considering our repertoire: no one knows Real Group material better than... The Real Group! Eventually it turned out fine. Katarina (whom I secretly fell in love with...), the Anders brothers and Peder and Emma are very normal human beings (ha ha) but most of all they are very accessible and want to share their enormous knowledge and stage experience. The friendly and relaxed atmosphere was combined with a professional organisation which operated very smoothly. The absence of competition made it even more agreeable and gave opportunity to try out things you wouldn't do if you were judged by somebody.

Every morning we could get a warm up by either Mette Maagaard (Vocal Line), Katarina and/or Anders Jalkeus. We did not attend every warm up because of the rather early hour they started (09.00........you know this song: we are the softies my friend, and we'll keep on sleeping without end...). Only Jan Wouter took the courage two times to get up at seven to go jogging but then: he had to fit into his marriage suit the week after this festival.

After these beginnings the different groups attended their workshops and individuals could take their pick of workshops or seminars by choosing tickets from the counter at the Foyer. We got workshops by Anders Edenroth and Katarina Stenstroem and Jussi (bass from Rajaton) and Morten Kjaer (Vocal Line). We got some good advice and criticism which we are going to take benefit from. During the afternoons we were able to find a room (with PA and mics!) in which we could practise our newly acquired knowledge. Luc and Jan Wouter went to a workshop given by Jake Moulton. This guy excells in vocal percussion and human beat boxing (haha). In the evenings there were concerts. On Thursday it was given by Pust (Norway), Kongero (Sweden) and Cosmos (Latvia). On Friday we heard Vocal Six (Sweden) and Vocal Line (Denmark) and last but not least on Saturday we attended a concert given by Rajaton (Finland) and some group called The Real Group (!!!!!!Scream!!!!!). After this last concert we had a nice chat with Mr. Matthias Becker who gave some interesting workshops himself and a real after party with some dirty dancing by Tanja and Jan-Diether (who's bad?). On Sunday a sing together was organised, but we had to leave in the middle because we had to catch our bus back to the airport. So there was no Real Good-bye. This can only mean that we have go back to the second Real Festival in ...? and then hopefully stun everybody with our own material!