Norway
Troll HunterThursday, 08 September 2011
The Blair Witch Project’s found-footage horror formula finds an unlikely new ingredient in this Norwegian phenomenon. The monsters disturbed in the woods by an amateur film crew this time are trolls, fairy-tale staples corralled by a top-secret... Read more... |
CD: Razika – Program 91Sunday, 28 August 2011
Although sadness currently cloaks Norway, the release of Razika’s joyful debut album might raise a few spirits. From Bergen, this all-female four-piece are school friends jointly born in 1991, hence part of the album title. Program 91 is a ska-... Read more... |
Forests, Rocks, Torrents: Norwegian and Swiss Landscapes, National GalleryWednesday, 20 July 2011
The National Gallery has in recent years made a speciality of examining the hitherto unexamined. Just for starters, a surprise hit some years ago was Spanish Still Lifes, 2007 saw Renoir Landscapes (who knew?), last year there was the ravishing... Read more... |
Beginner's Guide to the music of Scandinavia: not what it says it isSaturday, 09 July 2011
Certain Nordic countries are identified with particular forms of music. Norway and Finland are the home to various strands of metal. Sweden’s pop songwriters and producers are world-renowned, attracting the likes of Britney Spears to Scandinavia.... Read more... |
CD: Huntsville – For Flowers, Cars and Merry WarsSunday, 05 June 2011
Music from Norway can have moods and textures that aren’t found elsewhere. Templates are thrown away and boundaries between genres are non-existent, bringing a thrilling unpredictability. Huntsville, a three-piece with roots in improv music, jazz... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Aarhus: SPOT Festival 2011Tuesday, 31 May 2011
On the Jutland coast, Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city after capital Copenhagen. Its attractive continental atmosphere is amplified by the presence of this week’s temporary population, which includes visitors from Britain, Estonia, France,... Read more... |
One Man, Two Guvnors, National TheatreTuesday, 24 May 2011
Dropped trousers, audience participation and an onstage skiffle band fronted by a singer/songwriter boasting specs by way of Buddy Holly: what has become of the National Theatre's Lyttelton auditorium? Well, let's just say that for the entire first... Read more... |
I Am the Wind, Young VicTuesday, 10 May 2011
Today’s Britons are a minor miracle of globalised taste. Typically, we are amazingly eclectic: we eat curry and sushi, read Swedish novels or South American magic realists, dress like Italians, drive German cars, listen to world music. Our houses... Read more... |
Jenny Hval – When Viscera takes controlMonday, 02 May 2011
Viscera, the new album by Norway’s Jenny Hval, is a striking, often disturbing, surreal examination of how the body can take control, winning out over thought. Hval enfolds her explicit, literature-inspired lyrics in music that suddenly shifts from... Read more... |
Reinventing the Record: Strange New Formats of the Digital AgeThursday, 28 April 2011
While rumours of the album's demise may well have been premature, the digital age certainly does present increasing challenges when it comes to getting punters to keep and treasure music. Of course, really it all went wrong with the CD: those... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Andrew LittonFriday, 22 April 2011
We’re talking in Berlin for two reasons: Andrew Litton has just renewed his contract with the Bergen Philharmonic – he’ll see out at least 12 years as the Norwegian orchestra’s principal conductor – and they’ve now reached the holiest of holies on... Read more... |
CD: Moddi - FloriographySunday, 10 April 2011
Pål Moddi Knutsen is from Senja, an island off north Norway’s west coast. Inside the Arctic Circle, it’s so far north as to be all but adjacent to the borders with Sweden and Finland. Due east, Murmansk is less than half the distance of Oslo. It’s... Read more... |
