Music of Norway
Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pilgrims from all over Europe coming to visit St Olav's grave in Trondheim.
[citation needed] Folk music in Norway falls in another 2 main categories based in the ethnic populations from which they spring: North Germanic and Sami.
In the second half of the 19th century, some fiddlers, especially those from Voss and Telemark, significantly Lars Fykerud (who eventually moved to Stoughton, Wisconsin in the United States and then returned to Telemark late in life), began introducing more expressive ways of playing, turning the traditional slått music to concert music for the urban classes.
He also saw to that Myllarguten played with him in concert, presenting a rural traditional musician to an urban audience for the very first time, in February 1849, at the very height of Norwegian romantic nationalism.
Romanticism style dominated Norwegian music "until well into the 20th century, whether expressed through modifications to the national Romantic idiom of Grieg or through a more classical/international line"[1] like Catharinus Elling or Halfdan Cleve.
These composers, inspired by Lindeman's collections and Ole Bull's Hardanger fiddling, incorporated Norwegian folk elements into their compositions.
At the end of the 19th century, the collection of folk tunes continued unabated, and composers like Christian Sinding and Johan Halvorsen were well-known.
Following the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905, Norwegian nationalism continued to grow in popularity and innovation, led especially David Monrad Johansen, Geirr Tveitt and Eivind Groven.
After World War II, Norwegian music began moving in a new direction, away from the Nordic and Germanic ideals of the past, and towards a more international, especially American, British and French, style.
Some music from this era attempted to address social and political concerns, such as Janson's dedication of a violin concerto to Chilean president Salvador Allende.
Composers of the last part of the 20th century include Olav Anton Thommessen, Per Christian Jacobsen, Magne Hegdal, Åse Hedstrøm, Asbjørn Schaatun, Tor Halmrast, Glenn Erik Haugland, Nils Henrik Asheim, Cecille Ore and Ketil Hvoslef.
For the last couple of decades working conditions for professional orchestras in Norway's bigger cities have greatly improved due to the construction of larger concert halls and emergence of new conductors.
On the other hand, the ideas Hans Georg Nägeli (1773–1836, Swiss) and Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832, Germany) had given to choral singing reputed to be a particularly effective means of decimation of culture.
The main contribution of Ludvig Mathias Lindeman was his collection of folk music and hymnody compilations, as well as the organization of a school for organists in 1883, which later became the Conservatory of Oslo.
Proof of this is the legacy chorale singing left in the U.S., especially since the founding of St. Olaf College Choir by F. Melius Christiansen in 1912; there were said to be 3000 in attendance at mass services.
[clarification needed] A second generation of conductors and composers continued this tradition until the beginning of the 20th century (Andreas Olaus Grøndahl in Oslo, and in Bergen Ingolf Schjøtt).
[10] Other popular Norwegian musicians playing electronic music include Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas, Todd Terje, Datarock, Flunk, Bermuda Triangle, Frost, Bjørn Torske, Sternklang and TeeBee.
One of the most important names is Kygo,[8][11] who first with his remixes and then with his debut single "Firestone" and album "Cloud Nine" gained international success and became one of the most influential electronic dance music (EDM) producers in the genre of tropical house.
[12] During the 2010s worldwide electronic music boom, DJ and producer Fehrplay signed to international labels Pryda Friends and Anjunabeats and played at the Creamfields festival in 2013.
[14] Popular hip-hop artists and groups during the mid 2000s to the early 2010s include Warlocks, Tommy Tee, Lars Vaular, Klovner i Kamp, Gatas Parlament, Paperboys, Madcon, Erik og Kriss, Jaa9 & OnkelP and Karpe.
His daughter, Anja Garbarek, is one of the artists that has renovated the jazz scene, combining sweet melodies with electronic sounds and pop beats.
The work of the Christian Wallumrod Ensemble ("Fabula Suite Lugano", The Zoo Is Far) serves as a leading example of contemporary Norwegian jazz, along with ECM Records artists Trygve Seim and Frode Haltli.
Additionally, British and North American radio stations, along with an import of jazz and rock records, widened the musical tastes of most Norwegians.
Troubadour Alf Prøysen (1914–70) stands out as a brilliant songwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, his songs often featuring lyrics connected with the local culture of the Hedmark area.
In the 1950s, the Monn Keys, featuring Egil Monn-Iversen, Arne Bendiksen, Sølvi Wang, Per Asplin and Oddvar Sanne, became one of the most popular groups.
Since the mid-1990s, Norwegian popular music has experienced a thorough transformation from a small and domestically-oriented scene into a rich and diverse society of musicians and industry representatives with their sights set on the international stage.
Norway's early black metal music was quite varied in experimentation and innovation – some bands (Mayhem, Emperor, and Gorgoroth) focused on creating a dark sound, others focused on using Viking elements (Borknagar, Enslaved), and still others (Limbonic Art, Dimmu Borgir) included keyboards to create the subgenre called symphonic black metal.
Most bands tune to the key of E and the lyrics focus on themes like darkness, cold, sorrow, depression, evil, satanism and Norse Paganism.
Other controversial events in this scene include the suicide of former Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin in 1991, and the murder of a homosexual man in Lillehammer by then-Emperor drummer Bård "Faust" Eithun in 1992.
Famous Norwegian death metal bands include Blood Red Throne, Cadaver, Carpe Tenebrum, Myrkskog, Aeternus, Zyklon, and Fester, as well as Darkthrone's first album Soulside Journey.
