If you’re visiting the National Museum in Copenhagen, you should set aside time to enjoy a selection of Danish smørrebrød at the museum’s restaurant Smör, which opened with new owners, late March this year.
Our charming waiter Niclas Klixbüll explains that Restaurant Smør (Engl.: Butter) relies on a kitchen of Danish gastronomic pedigree. The menu consists of traditional smørrebrød with a modern twist and executed to perfection. The drinks to pair with the food are carefully selected from local breweries and distilleries.
The venue with its light walls and dark Danish designer chairs is inviting and cozy. Here you feel welcome to a country obsessed with rye bread! Rye bread provides the foundation for the open-faced sandwich, or smørrebrød. Typically slathered with butter, and topped with meat, fish or cheese. At Restaurant Smör inside the National Museum in Copenhagen they give this beloved treasure a modern twist. The open sandwiches here are made with seasonal, mostly local, ingredients.
welcome to rhe country obsessed with rye bread!
What about….
Soft boiled egg, lumpfish roe, Buretta from Rødovre with a crispy chicken skin, or
Smör’s Salami on Beef and Mangalitza, Portwine aspic, onion, traditional Danish flavored lard and green tomato, or
Creaky chicken salad on Danish free range chicken, Madagascar pepper, bacon and asparagus, or
Tatar of beef topside, ramson, pecorino, tomato and egg yolk.
Smörrebröd from a kitchen of Danish gastronomic pedigreeRye bread provides the foundation for the open-faced sandwich, or smørrebrød
Although two pieces of smørrebrød (which each cost around USD 15) should suffice for a filling lunch, it’s a shame to miss out on a slice of the Danish free range beef fillet with Tarragon Crème, caramelized onions and fried egg.
Local beer at Restarurant Smör“Vi er akvavit” translated into English means “We are aquavit”
Beer and aquavit fans will appreciate the handful of interesting local brews.
The venue with its light walls and dark Danish designer chairs is inviting and cozy
SMÖR is the brainchild of Madkastellet, famous for their award-winning, edgy food concepts. Ulrika Mortensen is Head of Communication & Brand Development.
Ulrika Mortensen, Head of Communication & Brand Development and head waiter Niclas Klixbüll
All photos: Tor Kjolberg
Reinvented Traditional Smørrebrød in Copenhagen: Restaurant Smör reviewed by Tor Kjolberg
A new report, Oslo: State of the City 1918, shows that Oslo is recognized as a capital for business as well as vigorous growth.
It is 5 years since Oslo decided to re-shape the city-region’s international identity, visibility, reputation and positioning and to frame the Oslo brand. In those 5 years, Oslo has emerged as a new and distinctive player on the European and global stage. The Region has taken responsibility for bringing into being an additional economic model for 21st century Norway, during a cycle of great change for both the country and the world.
The Oslo Opera House
A new economy and a new Oslo
In this cycle the changed commodities outlook and an aging population means that Norway has to shift decisively from an oil/gas and corporate economy towards a more diversified set of sectors powered by knowledge systems, small and medium sized companies, and a new generation of exponential technologies that will create the next generation of jobs.
The winds of change are global in scale. Urbanization, globalization, digitization and cross-border capital flows are all tending to concentrate opportunities in the most competitive, innovative and adaptive city regions. The global contests between cities and regions are shifting away from attracting banks and corporate HQs to a focus on science, technology, entrepreneurship, talent, lifestyle, institutions and soft power.
Groruddalen in Oslo from above. Photo: Lasse Tur
The Oslo region has been the fastest growing capital city in Europe. Since 2000, the Region’s population has grown by more than 25%, and many of the key dynamics are in place for growth to continue up to 2050. Oslo’s high standard of living, buoyant labor market and increased recognition of the region’s standard of public services has seen it become more attractive to young people within Europe and also beyond.
It is 5 years since Oslo decided to re-shape the city-region’s international identity, visibility, reputation and positioning and to frame the Oslo brand
In 2018, for the first time, 25% of the Oslo population is born overseas. High levels of in-migration of young people have transformed the demographic profile of Oslo and created the conditions to expand the city’s innovation and cultural scene.
In 5 years, Oslo has emerged as a new and distinctive player on the European and global stage
Oslo’s rapid regional growth has seen local governments and national government recognize that to accommodate this growth the capital has to develop a regional approach that involves intelligent use of regional infrastructure and assets, and large scale urban restructuring. This has not only seen Oslo grow its successful new airport into an internationally connected hub. It has also involved a process or urban densification and redevelopment to connect its harbor to the city center.
The Oslo region has been the fastest growing capital city in Europe
Oslo is not only a city of finance and business serving its national commodities and maritime economy – it is a diversified city of knowledge, culture, medicine and advanced technology. Since 2010, many of its emerging sectors have grown rapidly, including telecoms and IT (4% jobs growth per year), technical advisory (4%), and arts, culture and entertainment (3%).
Both the New York Times and Lonely Planet have recently listed Oslo as one of the top places to visit worldwide,
For the new wave of fast-growing and rapidly globalizing city regions, culture is an essential ingredient if the region is to successfully accommodate the innovation and creative economy. This is very true in Oslo. As the region competes at the global cutting edge, cultural investment is helping to cement Oslo’s reputation for quality of life, boost its destination appeal, meet the preferences of the innovation economy, and communicate its core values in a time of change.
Oslo: State of the City 2018
Oslo’s growing cultural reputation is the product of a 10 years cycle of investment which began with the Opera House followed by The National Museum, the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, the new Public Library and the Munch Museum, all providing a major boost to the competitiveness of Oslo’s cultural amenities while also improving public services, public space and public access.
One international survey identifies 92% of Oslo residents are quite or very satisfied with cultural facilities in the city, such as concert halls, theatres, museums and libraries.
Both the New York Times and Lonely Planet have recently listed Oslo as one of the top places to visit worldwide, in recognition of the city’s ever-improving offering of exciting architecture, cultural and art experiences.
Oslo has always been something of a pioneer in adopting green and sustainable models
Oslo has always been something of a pioneer in adopting green and sustainable models, but this has really accelerated in the last 5 years. Oslo has become renowned globally for implementing some of the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets anywhere in the world. The City plans on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to 1990 levels by 2020, and by 95% by 2030. If successful, this will make Oslo faster at reducing emissions than any other city or country.
it appears that there are three core dimensions to the way the region has evolved in this latest cycle. Oslo has emerged as an innovation region on the international stage. Relative to other small regions around the world, Oslo region continues to grow more firms, create more co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators and startups.
The Acrobat, by Rolf Thoresen
A cycle of investment in cultural infrastructure and neighborhood redevelopment is capturing the imagination of prospective talent. Oslo is also a region promoting new approaches to social cohesion and inclusion, family-friendly urban living, and healthy lifestyle at all stages of life
What does this all mean for Oslo?
As a result, it is fair to say that Oslo’s new business model (innovation, science, culture) is increasingly in demand. It also increasingly benefits from an integrated region that adds scale and capacity to help Oslo absorb demand in a well-managed way.
Oslo was known for being a small, pleasant, safe, domestically oriented city that was on the cusp of change. Today, more of Oslo’s edges are known by the world: its urban quality and vibrancy is being recognized, its work-life balance is feted, and its diversity, innovation and ambition is widely perceived by external observers. Oslo is becoming a leader.
eRoads Arlanda – world’s first electrified road for charging vehicles has opened in Sweden. The first working tracks on Road 983 was started in October 2017 and has now been completed and electricity turned on. Modified electric vehicles can now be charged while they’re driving.
eRoadArlanda is one of several projects in the Swedish Transport Administration’s pre-commercial procurement of innovation for the development of electrified roads and the project was started in June 2013. The newly opened stretch of road outside Stockholm transfers energy from two tracks of rail in the road, recharging the batteries of electric cars and trucks.
First out on the 2km (1.2 miles) long road was an 18-ton electric truck transporting goods between Arlanda and the PostNord terminal in Rosersberg
First out on the 2km (1.2 miles) long road was an 18-ton electric truck transporting goods between Arlanda and the PostNord terminal in Rosersberg, and the road is set up to bill the driver for the amount of electricity the car pulls from the road as it moves. The techniques that have been developed in recent years are based on conductive technology that use an electric rail installed in roads to power and recharge vehicles during their journey.
The first working tracks on Road 983 was started in October 2017
The goal of the project is to generate knowledge, experience and decision data that is conducive to the creation of a platform for the electrification of larger transport routes in Sweden. The Swedish government’s road agency has already drafted a national map for future expansion. The project is an important part of Sweden’s target of achieving independence from fossil fuel by 2030 requires a 70% reduction in the transport sector.
A conductive technology uses an electric rail installed in roads to power and recharge vehicles during their journey
“The electric road project and the shift away from fossil fuels will help boost Sweden’s competitiveness,” the organization says. Energy is transferred from two tracks of rail in the road via a movable arm attached to the bottom of a vehicle. The electrified road is divided into 50m sections, with an individual section powered only when a vehicle is above it.
When Sturlason Press Agency in Oslo closed its operation in the 1970s, the photo archive of nearly one million images was stowed away in a basement.
Svein A. Sturlason (1906-1989) started his business in Oslo in the 1930s. He photographed about 1600 theater performances in Oslo between 1942 and 1980 as well as hundreds of thousands of photographs from around the world, covering news, politics, social life, culture, royal history and wars from 1900 to the early 1960s.
The enormous press archive was stored in a basement and remained untouched until spring 2010. In 2010, the archive was reopened, and it was agreed that it would be deposited, supported by the Ministry of Culture and The Norwegian Freedom of Expression Foundation, in the National Archives, Riksarkivet.
The Oslo-Bergen railway at Ustaoset 1961
There was no catalogue of the photographic material, so listing the contents of the archive has to be made from scratch. Samples taken so far show that the archive contains, besides many familiar images, several images which have never been seen. Most of the pictures in the collection have a typed text on the back explaining the time and place of the shot. These are valuable aids to identification.
Svein A. Sturlason 1944
The archive and the rights to all images in the collection belongs to Sturlason AS Polyfoto. Here Daily Scandinavian presents a selection of unique images from the collection.
Below, the Norwegian author Bjornstjerne Bjornsen and his wife Karoline Bjørnson (Aulestad 1897). Their daughter Bergliot Ibsen (Henrik Ibsen’s daughter in law) in the background. Photo: Visnes Dahl
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Two Norwegian revue and film actors and theater directors Ernst Diesen (1913-1970) and Leif Juster (1910-1995)
Ernst Diesen (left) and Leif Juster
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975) fishing in Spain.
Francisco Franco
The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) (far left) passing the National Theatre in Oslo, 1906.
Henrik Ibsen
The Norwegian speed skater Hjalmar “Hjallis” Johan Andersen (1923 –2013) won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of Oslo, Norway. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and as such, became the most successful athlete there.
Norwegian speed skater Hjallis
King Haakon VII (1872-1957) known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was a Danish prince who became the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the union with Sweden. He reigned from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
King Haakon VII (1931)
King Olav V (1903-1991) was king of Norway from 1957 until his death. Here with Crown-prince Harald (b. 1937 – now King Harald V of Norway).
King Olav V of Norway and Crown-prince Harald 22 July 1958
King Olav V of Norway after the coronation in June 22 1958.
King Olav V of Norway
The Norwegian campaign during WWII, though hastily improvised, was meant to play to Britain’s maritime strength. Cutting off the supply of Swedish iron ore shipped through Narvik, which the Ministry of Economic Warfare believed could fatally weaken the German war effort in months — was dubious.
Narvik 1925
Queen Elizabeth at the Derby, photographed by Sturlason.
Queen Elizabeth at the Derby
The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The image was not signed and there is no info in its backside.
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen
Sonja Henie (1912 – 1969). Three-time Olympic Champion, ten-time World Champion and six-time European Champion. Unknown time and place. Photo: Myres Press Agency
Anni Mogensen, who took over the leadership of the National Museum in Copenhagen in March this year, after holding a position there as head of public programs for two years, has just one aim: to convey cultural heritage in a context you have only in very few places. That is the museum’s major value and it is very precious.
I met Anni Mogensen in her office in the great treasure house of the museum in Ny Vestergade and she is warm and friendly and answers my questions softly and carefully. And she has vast ambitions for the museum – plans that will, if they see the light of the day, transform the museum for generations to come.
The aim of the National Museum in Copenhagen is to convey cultural heritage in a context you have only in very few places
Mogensen and her team are aiming to put the museum through a major renovation project that will culminate in a complete redisplay of its galleries. However, the building is old and partly protected, which is a challenge considering that the state of the essential services, such as electricity, heating and ventilation, which are in dire need of repair. Mogensen will test out different ways of doing this together with her team.
The National Museum, Copenhagen – the atrium
That doesn’t sound so remarkable until you begin to absorb the scale of the job. Mogensen tells me there are 10,000 square meters of exhibitions, equal to 14 football pitches. It’s a six kilometers walk containing 45,000 items.
The museum contains 10,000 square meters of exhibitions, equal to 14 football pitches. It’s a six kilometers walk containing 45,000 items
They cannot close the museum. It is one of the most visited museums in Copenhagen, 350,000 visitors last year, so that’s entirely out of the question. Work will have to be phased and is projected to take nine years. And who will pay, when the government’s funds are reduced by two percent annually? There will certainly be a need for fundraising campaigns.
Anni Mogensen, Head of the National Museum, in playful surroundings – at the children’s collection
By the end of all this Mogensen hopes to achieve a display that is more coherent – and more interconnected. “Human history has always been driven by exchange, by cultures communicating. The interconnection she is keen to demonstrate might also be across time. “We have responsibilities,” she says. “The history can meet us in the life we’re living today, but at the same time expand across time and place, for instance through existential themes such as death,.” She is referring to a Grand Tour in time from the most ancient parts of the ethnographical collection through the Viking Age ending up in our present time. Where are we going from here?
The museum’s job, Mogensen says, is to take the long view, to confront the whole of human history, to understand that present time is just a moment in the turbulent story of the world. The National Museum in Copenhagen is a symbol of Denmark and a repository of global knowledge. “We present stories from the present alongside monuments of antiquity as well as listening to and playing with our children,” explains Mogensen.
Focus on the children
Just now the museum has a focus on the children. At the end of the interview we go over to the director’s keenness to demonstrate the interconnectedness also across themes. This year all power is given to the children. There’s an emphasize on exhibitions and activities for children. They’re even asking the children what they think is good and less good about the museum. Mogensen is proud of the backing given to and from the coming generation. “Children are honest, playful, curious and a source of inspiration,” she says.
However, many children think it’s boring to visit museums. They have to be quiet, they can’t play and they’re forbidden to touch anything. But the National Museum of Denmark is about to change all this. They have launched a ‘boredom button’. If cabinets with arrowheads and potsherds don’t interest them, this button is designed to bring the museum to life, so the children experience that history wants something from them.
Viking Exhibitions The next big initiative on the agenda is a total renewal of the museum’s Viking exhibitions, also with the museum’s many foreign visitors in mind. The Viking collections in Copenhagen as well as in Stockholm and Oslo are all in the process of renewal, and a cooperation comes naturally.
A collection of drinking horns
“I would never be doing something like this without asking who it is for,” says Mogensen. “It’s all about asking the question: ‘How is our public going to profit from this?’ “I cherish every day working in this environment,” she concludes.
When exploring the National Museum, why not take a break to enjoy delicious Danish smørebrød accompanied with special made beers and aquavits at Restaurant SMØR right in the center of the museum.
Anni Mogensen studied rhetoric and social sciences at Copenhagen University and holds a HD from Copenhagen Business School. After a position at the Danish Embassy in Canada, she took the position as Head of Public Programs at the National Museum in Copenhagen, before she was promoted to Head of the Museum in March this year.
National Museum of Denmark The National Museum is Denmark’s cultural historical main museum, covering both Denmark and foreign cultures. The Museum is actually 20 different museums spread all over the country, whilst the National Museum in Ny Vestergade is a time-machine with destinations such as Vikings, Egyptian mummies and a hash stall from Christiania.
Feature image (on top): Timepiece from the Medieavl times
All photos by Tor Kjolberg
National Museum in Copenhagen – A Journey in Time and Space, written by Tor Kjolberg
The works of one of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s contemporaries, sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), dominate the Vigeland Sculpture Park (Vigelandsparken) in Oslo in Frogner Park to the west of the city center, an extensive display of human life and emotion cast in stone and bronze.
The most captivating piece here is Vigeland’s Monolith, a swirl of 121 intertwining figures carved from a single block of granite in a moving tribute to the human condition. A 10-minute walk south of the obelisk, at the edge of the park, is the Vigeland Museum.
This was the artist’s atelier and home in the 1920s and is full of sketches, photos, casts and sculptures linked to his work in the sculpture park.
One of the sculptutes in the Vigeland Park, Angry Boy
Also within the park is the Oslo City Museum (Bymuseet) in the beautiful Frogner Manor House which explores 1,000 years of Oslo’s cultural history and urban development.
From the Emanuel Vigeland Museum
A few block uphill near Slemdal T-Bane station is the Emanuel Vigeland Museum. Gustav Vigeland’s brother, painter Emanuel Vigeland (1875-1948), was also fascinated by themes of life and death, and used them in the alfresco decoration of a mauseleum, entitled Vita (Life), the museum’s main attraction.
The Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, written by Tor Kjolberg
The Swedish Pompeii Project started in 2000 as a fieldwork project initiated at the Swedish Institute in Rome. The aim was to record and analyze an entire Pompeian city-block, Insula V 1.
Since then archeologists in Sweden have uncovered gold and jewelry at the site of a fort called Sandby Borg on the Swedish island of Öland. Hundreds died in a ‘brutal massacre’ at the island fort 1,500 years ago, and recently archeologists have unearthed one of their most exciting discoveries so far; an onion from the time of the massacre.
During the excavation of a home, the archeologist found something they originally thought must be some kind of a large nut. However, when testing, the lab confirmed that it was in fact a burnt onion. So, it is the oldest onion discovered in Scandinavia.
1500-year old burnt nut found at Sandby Fort
Why the Sandby Fort has been left untouched for 1,500 years still remains a mystery. Since autumn 2010 the Swedish Pompeii project and its research is directed from the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University. The onion is an exciting find, because it means that the area’s trade with ancient Rome must have included foodstuffs, in addition to things like gold and jewelry.
Before the brutal massacre, the site appears to have been a peaceful and prosperous place, where people lived comfortably in small huts and reared livestock for meat. But their peace was shattered when a group of unknown men burst in one night butchering the residents in a vicious and unexplained attack. This is maybe one of the reasons Atlas Obscura has nicknamed Sandby “Sweden’s Pompeii”.
Pompeii-like ruins frozen in time have been uncovered in Sweden
‘It’s like Pompeii: Something terrible happened, and everything just stopped,’ said Helene Wilhelmson, a researcher at Sweden’s Lund University,
Pompeii, Italy / Pompeii, Sweden
The site was left undisturbed for the next 1,500 years. One theory is that the location became taboo after the massacre, with people simply too terrified to set foot there.
The Swedish Pompeii project 2007
Perhaps the onion will help shed some light on the situation
1,500-year Old Sweden’s Pompeii, written by Tor Kjolberg
Over the course of six months in 2017, young refugees and youth living in Norway and Greece participated in four National Geographic Photo Camps in the Norwegian cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, and in Athens, Greece. National Geographic Photo Camp is a program that teaches young people from underserved communities, including at-risk and refugee teens, how to use photography to tell their own stories and explore the world around them.
Mentored by renowned National Geographic photographers, these young people explored each other’s cultures and the meaning of home, with the goal of creating increased understanding and developing deep connections with others through photography as a universal language.
“National Geographic Photo Camp aims to inspire a new generation of storytellers as well as the members of the community who view their work,” said Kaitlin Yarnall, vice president of media innovation at the National Geographic Society. The “What is a Home? exhibition celebrates this wonderful program and provides new audiences with the opportunity to view the powerful work of these young people and experience their stories through photography.”
What is a home? A home can be a place, but it can also be a feeling
This is the first time the Nobel Peace Center cooperates with National Geographic in creating an exhibition. “It has been fantastic to work with a renowned and inspiring storytelling institution like National Geographic on a project that is empowering young people and inspiring us all to think in new ways. The work of these talented, young photographers tells us that everybody needs to feel at home, although our understanding of home can be very different,” said Liv Tørres, director at the Nobel Peace Center.
A decade of storytelling. Ar rhe National Geographic Photocamp
Together with photos taken by National Geographic photographers Lynn Johnson, Andrea Bruce, Pete Muller and Marcus Bleasdale, the work from the young photographers will be showcased in the “What is Home?” exhibition displayed on the Peace Wall outside the Nobel Peace Center.
The Nobel Peace Center is situated on the City Hall Square in Oslo, on the harbour front. Photo: Johannes Granseth / Nobel Peace Center
The Peace Wall is the building fence hiding the construction site for the new National Museum that is being erected in Oslo, visited by thousands of people every day. It was turned into an arena for contemporary art in 2015 as an initiative of the Nobel Peace Center in cooperation with the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbygg).
The exhibition will run through September 2018.
Kaitlin Yaranall
About the National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is a leading nonprofit that invests in bold people and transformative ideas in the fields of exploration, scientific research, storytelling and education. The Society aspires to create a community of change, advancing key insights about the planet and probing some of the most pressing scientific questions of our time, all while ensuring that the next generation is armed with geographic knowledge and global understanding. Its goal is measurable impact: furthering exploration and educating people around the world to inspire solutions for the greater good. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.org.
“The work of these talented, young photographers tells us that everybody needs to feel at home, although our understanding of home can be very different,” said Liv Tørres, director at the Nobel Peace Center. Photo: NTB
About the Nobel Peace Center
One of Norway’s most visited museums with approximately 250 000 visitors per year
presents the Nobel Peace Prize laureates and their work, in addition to telling the story of Alfred Nobel is an arena for debate and reflection around topics such as war, peace and conflict resolution
is internationally recognized for its emphasis on documentary photography and interactive technology.
The museum presents changing exhibitions, engaging digital solutions, films, seminars and events
and is an independent foundation, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee appointing the board.
Olav Njølstad is the leader of the board, Liv Tørres is the Executive Director.
The museum is financed by a combination of public and private funds; the main sponsors and collaborating partners are Hydro, Telenor Group and ABB.
New exhibition in Oslo: What is a Home? Is based on a press release from the museum
The authentic Hávamál was the more than 1000 years old famous guide on how to manage everyday life. A new and readable translation into English is now available from Danish publishing company Gudrun.
Hávamál is one of the more famous and certainly one of the most popular of the so-called Eddaic poems. The part of Hávamál which is published in the tiny, charming book from publishing company Gudrun is unique in its being neither heroic nor mythological, but rather a poem of didactic nature.
Hávamál is one of the more famous and certainly one of the most popular of the so-called Eddaic poems
The Edda signify for the northern culture what the Vedas mean to India and the Homeric poems are for the Greek. Their variety and wealth are such, that they have been a source of inspiration and delight for generations, and still are.
Scholars do not agree on where the Hávamál was written, nor when; some argue it originated in Norway, some hold it was composed in Iceland, others still in the British Isles. Apart from the problem og discovering where the Hávamál was composed, there is the question of origination.
Bookcover
Is it a collection of ancient sayings, which were hovering in the cultural atmosphere of the ancestors of the Vikings, and finally written down by a scribe in one of these countries? Is it a mixture of Latin proverbs and the old heathen wisdom bound together in the metre of Edda?
The question of age of the Hávamál is of course related to the question of where and how. There is almost a consensus that it was composed in the period around AD700-900, though it could have been written down for the first time later.
Harald Fairhead’s saga. Vignette by G. Munthe
One thing is certain, however. The spirit of the poem, at least, has been greatly influenced by the attitude and culture of the Viking era culminating in the period AD800-1000.
The Edda signify for the northern culture what the Vedas mean to India and the Homeric poems are for the Greek
The aim of this little softcover book is to make the Hávamál accessible to the English reading public. Many people have helped the translator Björn Jónasson. An in the book’s foreword he thanks Mr. Christopher Sanders of the Amamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen and Mr. Martin Regal of the University of Iceland, for their invaluable criticism, and especially Mr. Bernard Scudder for his criticism, ideas and inspiration. “Where this translation has succeeded, it is because of the aid of these generous people, and where it has failed, is in through faults if mine,” writes Jónasson.
The Sayings of the Vikings, from the book’s foreword
The Norwegian group caught the eye of Conan O’Brian and the rest of the world when it performed at the Nobel Peace concert in 2017 and super-producer Stargate produced the success single “5 Million Miles”. One year after, the band again exposes passion and trust.
The indie pop group was formed as a duo when singer Ingrid Helene Håvik from Ålseund met drummer Trond Bersu at the Ytondheim Jazz Conservatory in 2010 and began to write, record and perform together. Håvik rends towards the Björk/Lykke Li school of idiosyncratic vocalese. The two recruited Thomas Dahl, a producer, to help out on bass and guitar, and Øystein Skar joined the group to play synthesizer.
The band released their debut album “All That Floats Will Rain” in 2012
The band released their debut album “All That Floats Will Rain” in 2012 to rave reviews, and now Highasakite is again marrying up where the pair started, just Håvik and Bersu in a room doing what they love, performing “Out of Order”. Håvik expresses warmth, passion and trust. There is one key line that resonates above the chiming guitars, swelling synths and the drums: “And I will bring my baby home…” Perhaps not a love song, but a significant step in a healing process.
“It was important for me to find my way back to the core,” explains Håvik. In “Out Of Order” the original Highasakite has found their soul again and I hope this new phase of the duo brings out more music like this.
“Out Of Order” is out now via Propeller Recordings.
Norwegian Pop Band Highasakite Is Back With Brand New Single, written by Tor Kjolberg
