Archive for the ‘Morten’ Category

Morten on “God Kveld Norge”

Morten on "God Kveld Norge"

Morten appeared on TV2’s gossip programme “God Kveld Norge” last night, to promote the UNICEF show.

“When UNICEF asked me, my first thought was that I really wanted to participate. Jamaica was one of the countries UNICEF had in mind, and that’s where we ended up going.

The humanitarian aspect is a natural reason to support the work UNICEF is doing, but there’s also a political aspect; what kind of world do you believe in?”, Morten told host Dorthe Skappel.

He also mentioned that he’s working on some new music:

“I am currently working on some exciting stuff, within music. It’s stimulating and fun.”

Update: The interview is now up on YouTube

Morten performing in Guatemala, 1997

There is also an extra clip from the interview on the “God Kveld Norge” website, where Morten talks about the peace concert he did with Oslo Gospel Choir in San Martin, Guatemala in December 1997.

Attended by both Guatemalan and Norwegian officials, including the Norwegian foreign minister, the outdoor concert was supposed to be a celebration of the peace agreement signed in Oslo a year earlier, to end the country’s long-running civil war.

But things took a dramatic turn when three men, heavily armed with machine guns and hand grenades were captured by security personell during the concert. They had been paid a few thousand dollars to kill both local leaders and the Norwegian guests. Luckily, their plan failed.

In the interview, Morten says that he had brought his two sons Jakob and Jonathan with him to Guatemala and that he also remembers a bomb exploding in the area when the terrorists were captured.

“It was very unexpected. I’m used to consider all eventualities, not least because of my children, but those things took me by surprise”, Morten says.

Morten talks about Jamaica visit

Morten's sunglasses were popular among the girls in Kingston, Jamaica (Picture by Just Loomis)

Morten is interviewed in today’s VG, in connection with tomorrow’s comedy show on TV Norge to benefit UNICEF. The show will feature a report from Morten’s visit to Kingston, Jamaica this summer.

“We visited a community with much violence and difficult social conditions, quite a common type of area in Jamaica. Some of those we met, around 20 years old, were clearly on drugs and already heavily involved in crime. That’s how they’ve chosen to take control of their own life”, Morten tells the newspaper.

Among those he met was a 14 year old girl who was eager to get married.

“It’s normal for all girls that age to be thinking about boyfriends, but when they get pregnant at such a young age, it really puts them back in relation to their own future.”

– Do you feel privileged to have your children grow up in Norway?, VG asks.

“Yes, of course we’re privileged – we have such a high level of safety and security here that it’s almost incomprehensible for other people.”

– In that respect, the Utøya attack this summer was a big exception?

“It definitely was.”

In Jamaica, Morten apparently received a lot of attention. Not because he’s famous, but because he’s white and had expensive sunglasses.

“The children we met had no idea who I was. Jamaica is very isolated in that regard, as they only listen to local music. They don’t know who U2 are, or Coldplay, REM and Madonna. And certainly not a-ha! But that’s also what makes it an interesting place to visit”, Morten says.

“Humorkveld” to benefit UNICEF airs live on TV Norge tomorrow night. Part 1 between 19:00 and 20:00, and part 2 between 21:30 and 23:00.

Morten visits Jamaica for UNICEF

Morten in Jamaica (Picture from UNICEF)

Morten has recently visited Jamaica, to learn more about a project run by UNICEF.

A report from his visit to the country will be shown during TV Norge’s third annual comedy show to support UNICEF.

The comedy show is held at Oslo Konserthus and airs live on TV Norge next Sunday, September 25th, at 19:00.

Whether Morten will also be performing during the show is not known.

In April 2005, Morten performed the official UNICEF song “Children First” together with Hayley Westenra at an event in Copenhagen.

Morten preparing new solo album? (UPDATED)

According to the website of 140dB Management, UK producer Steve Osborne is “about to start work on a solo album for Morten Harket”.

Exactly when this was posted and how far along they are in the process is not known.

Osborne previously worked with a-ha as a producer, mixer and musician on the Foot Of The Mountain album in 2009. He also did alternate mixes of “Nothing Is Keeping You Here” and, most recently, “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)”.

 

Update: The solo album info has now been removed from the 140db Management website.

In a message sent out to several fans, 140db Management writes the following:

“Steve is not currently doing any work with Morten. Unfortunately that is an error at this stage and nothing has taken place. One of our interns got over excited and has placed that on a page as he has been updating our website and assumed this project is happening. At this stage nothing has happened or is actually confirmed.

You can definitely pass the word as there is nothing going on at the moment. Of course that may change in the future but our official comment is that nothing is happening at the present time. Steve is currently working on a band from New York called Glint.”

(Thanks to “greeneyedgirl” and Carlos)

Morten sings in Vennesla

Morten and various family members singing at the Haydom fundraiser in 2007. His father Reidar by the piano.

Morten was in Vennesla in Southern Norway on Sunday, August 14th, to sing Christian hymns together with Harket Mannssangforening (The Harket Men’s Choir) at the annual fundraiser meeting to support Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania.

Morten has performed at this event a number of times in recent years (see August 10th, 2009 news update). He first joined the choir in 2003, after his uncle Kjell passed away.

“This choir is a continuation of a quartet that my father and other relatives had many years ago. Now we have taken this up again. Our only scheduled appearance is singing at this Haydom fundraiser”, Morten told newspaper Vårt Land when he performed at the same event in 2007.

“The history of Haydom is a story about an impressive effort done by idealistic people. With limited means they have managed to build a hospital that’s become important to a lot of people. If I, with my voice, can do something to support this work, I’m there”, he added.

No reports or pictures from this year’s event have appeared in the local press so far.

Morten at Bislett Games

Morten was in the audience at the annual Bislett Games track and field event in Oslo last night, where the highlight of the evening was Usain Bolt’s 200m victory with 19.86 seconds.

Interviewed in NRK’s broadcast from Bislett, Morten said:

It’s fun to be here. Usually I haven’t been able to attend, but this year I jumped at the chance. I’m here with a whole group, a lot of family, so it’s really fun.

Morten also said that within the world of sports, track and field is what has interested him the most. Although he hasn’t competed much himself.

The short interview with Morten can be seen on NRK’s web-TV here (starts after 5.40 minutes – and only available within Norway).

Update: I have now uploaded the interview on YouTube here.

Morten on Skavlan

 

Morten appeared on the Norwegian/Swedish talkshow Skavlan last night. He was the first guest and sat through the whole hour.

Other guests on the talkshow, which was taped in Stockholm on Thursday, were Arja Saijonmaa, David Garrett, Lykke Li and Yusuf Islam.

The interview centred around a-ha memories, like the Maracana concert in 1991, life as a celebrity and his knowledge as a teenager that he would one day become a international singer.

Talking about the relations between the band members in recent years, Morten said:

The last two years have been intense. We have simply been working quite a lot. It’s been more brutal when it comes to disagreements between us, where we have taken decisions that we didn’t do before. So what separates the last two years from all previous years is that it’s become a much more binary process. We have just moved on without caring if one of us doesn’t want to, as long as the other two wants to. It’s become a more brutal process in that sense, and that’s been healthy. It’s meant that we’ve been able to follow through on our decisions to a larger extent. Imagine if we’d been able to do that before!

Apparently there are many offers coming in about different projects, but he wouldn’t say much about future plans:

I refuse to say what I’m planning to do in the year ahead, at least at this point. But I consider it very likely that I’ll keep singing. I haven’t quit doing music.

The whole interview can be seen on SVT’s web-TV here.
It’s also available on NRK’s web-TV here.

Morten in Berlin

 

Morten has been in Berlin this week, to promote the live DVD.

On Thursday, March 24th, he was a guest on Radio Berlin. A video clip of the full interview can be seen at radioberlin.de. There is also a picture gallery on the same website.

He was also interviewed on WDR2 radio. A part of the interview can be heard at wdr2.de.

In the evening he appeared at the Echo Awards show, to present the award in the “Best international female artist” category. The winner was Amy Macdonald and a video clip of Morten presenting the award can be seen on YouTube here.

Then on Friday, he made a surprise appearance at an a-ha.com fan party which featured a full screening of the new live DVD.

 

Next Friday, April 1st, Morten will be one of the guests on Skavlan – the most watched television talk show in Northern Europe. Skavlan is broadcast on NRK1 in Norway and on SVT1 in Sweden. Morten has appeared on Fredrik Skavlan’s talk show twice before, in 2002 and 2003.

Morten: – Life after a-ha is exciting

“Queen goes a long way back for me”, Morten said at the premiere of “We Will Rock You”.
(Picture by Heiko Junge/Scanpix)

Morten and Inez attended the Oslo premiere of the Queen-musical “We Will Rock You” at Folketeatret tonight.

Freddie Mercury’s style of singing was a major influence on Morten as a teenager, and he’s been known to perform songs like “Love Of My Life” and “Killer Queen” on several occasions.

Freddie Mercury was one of the vocalists I tried to sound like when I first started singing“, Morten told Dagbladet on the red carpet.

He hit me when I was around 15-16, during a period when I was really developing [as a singer], and I walked the streets trying to sing like him and Johnny Cash. That’s how I became what I am.

Morten was also asked about his current plans after a-ha.

What I’m going to do now? The possibilities are endless. But reality itself sets the limits, you could say that being creative is about setting certain limits.

The end of a-ha is not sad at all“, he added in a short interview with TV2. “It’s great to have the time to do something different“.

Morten is also interviewed in this video clip on VGTV.

Original Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor also attended the premiere in Oslo, and May was expected to perform at the end of the show.

Oslo press conference

Morten at the press conference

Morten at the press conference

Morten held a press conference in Oslo on Friday, to talk about the upcoming concert in Oslo Konserthus on 4 October, where all the proceedings will go to the Christian organization Mercy Ships.

Also present was Lord Ian McColl, medical surgeon and chairman of Mercy Ships UK, who has done volunteer work for the organization since 1996.

Morten first heard about Mercy Ships one year ago, when a cabin neighbour told him about it. The neighbour, Erling Natvig, turned out to be the chairman of Mercy Ships Norway.

I couldn’t understand that I hadn’t heard about this fantastic project before. Therefore the most important thing about this concert is to spread the word about Mercy Ships“, Morten says.

They take care of people with limited resources, and heal them. It’s an impressive work.

For the concerts in Oslo and London, a-ha will be backed by 30 musicians from Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

This won’t be an ordinary charity show, where the program has been put together at the last minute. The audience will get to hear our whole debut album, “Hunting High And Low”, in a unique concert“, Morten says.

Links:
TV2: a-ha synger for sykehuskip i Afrika (with video clip)
Dagbladet: Morten Harkets giver-iver
VG: a-ha gir bort billettpenger til flytende sykehus
Dagen Magazinet: Harket hyller Mercy Ships

Powered by WordPress