A Smorgasbord of Nordic Pop

By Lavanya Ramanathan

In a town filled with Prince face-offs and Britpop/indie dance nights (what does that even mean?), Hej Hej, the all-Scandinavian DJ night, arrived at Cafe Saint-Ex a year ago like a blast of fresh, Nordic air.

Hej Hej (pronounced hey hey, it's Swedish for "hi!") became the place to go for Washingtonians of Scandinavian descent. Then came the masses, the connoisseurs of Scando-pop who wanted to hear Jens Lekman, the Shout Out Louds and Ida Maria.

The event's fans are " really on their game," says Natalya Minkovsky, who with Melissa Gilmore Vivari founded the dance night following a trip to Iceland and a for-kicks all-Nordic set at their old Black Cat dance party Bluestate. They say they're struck by the cultures of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, not just the music of that part of the world.

Behind the DJ booth, the frosty ladies (who, oddly, don't dress like Abba, don't seem to love Ikea and only occasionally don viking hats) say they play what they like -- upbeat pop, though they note that Norway has a strong heavy metal scene, and Sweden has its own hip-hop. To stay up on the scene, they visit sites such as http://www.itsatrap.com.

On Tuesday, they return to Saint-Ex to celebrate the first anniversary of their ever-growing, ever-evolving bash. They'll take requests and generally keep the crowd moving (in return, they're requesting that guests dress up like Bjork, for fun, of course). And down the road, the ladies of Hej Hej are among the sponsors of a concert by Sweden's the LK on March 8 at the House of Sweden in Georgetown.