Archive for the ‘Morten’ Category

Morten performs in Russia

Rehearsing at Music House in Copenhagen this week (Picture from Music House on Facebook)

Rehearsing at Music House in Copenhagen this week
(Picture from Facebook)

[Updated]: Morten travelled to Russia this weekend, to perform at two separate events in Yekaterinburg with his solo band.

The first concert was apparently held at the Pine Creek golf resort on Friday, 22 July, and seems to have been in connection with the Day of Metallurgist, which is a Russian holiday celebrating workers in the metallurgical industry. The logo on stage says Russian Copper Company, so that may be the company that’s hired him.

Setlist 22 July (with links to video clips):
1. Foot Of The Mountain
2. Stay On These Roads
3. Spanish Steps
4. Crying In The Rain
5. Brother
6. A Kind Of Christmas Card
7. Did I Leave You Behind
– – – – – – – – – – –
8. Let It Be Me

The second concert was held at the Hyatt Regency in Yekaterinburg on Sunday, 24 July, as part of the award ceremony of Eurasia Extreme Open 2016, a week-long handgun shooting tournament. The setlist included two additional songs; “Safe With Me” and “Wild Seed”.

Setlist 24 July (with links to video clips):
1. Foot Of The Mountain
2. Stay On These Roads
3. Spanish Steps
4. Safe With Me
5. Wild Seed
6. Crying In The Rain
7. Did I Leave You Behind
8. Brother
9. A Kind Of Christmas Card
– – – – – – – – – – –
10. Let It Be Me

These were Morten’s first solo performances since November 2014. It was also the first time he has played a-ha songs with his Brother backing band. On the 2014 tour he only played his own solo songs.

Pictures from Yekaterinburg:
The band backstage   Morten with his son Jonathan   Morten with a fan at the airport

Earlier this week, Morten was rehearsing with the band at the Music House venue in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The musicians were mostly the same as on the Brother tour in 2014; Vicky Singh on guitar, Lars Danielsson on bass, Per Lindvall on drums, but with Kjetil Bjerkestrand on keyboard instead of Christer Karlsson.

Music House has posted a few pictures from the Copenhagen rehearsals on their Facebook page.

Morten records song for Bendik Hofseth tribute album

The 'IX' box set

The ‘IX’ box set

Morten is one of the artists who have contributed to a new 25th anniversary box set of Bendik Hofseth‘s 1991 album ‘IX’.

Bendik Hofseth is an acclaimed saxophone player, who has played in Mike Mainieri’s jazz fusion group Steps Ahead and appeared on more than 100 albums in Norway and abroad. He has also released 10 solo albums. In 1995 Hofseth played saxophone on Morten’s album ‘Wild Seed’.

In addition to the original album remastered, the 3CD/1DVD ‘IX’ box set will also include a tribute CD with the whole album reinterpreted by Norwegian artists, among them Nils Petter Molvær, Silje Nergaard, Knut Reiersrud and Jarle Bernhoft.

Morten’s track is called “The Boy From Port Manteau”, and is a collaboration with saxophone player Håkon Kornstad and Norwegian producer Peder Kjellsby.

A sample of the track can be heard on Soundcloud.

This is the first time Morten has participated on a tribute album.

The exclusive box set, which will only be available as 500 numbered copies, can now be pre-ordered from newjelly.com. If you’re outside Norway, choose the €75 option which includes worldwide shipping.

Morten: “a-ha is a finished chapter for me”

Morten on stage in Leipzig, April 7th

Morten on stage in Leipzig, April 7th

Morten’s new autobiography My Take On Me is officially released in Germany tomorrow. The German edition is released first, to coincide with the current tour, but other languages will follow later (dates TBC).

To promote the book, Morten has been doing several interviews recently. An interview with the Swiss newspaper Blick, which was done before the concert in Zurich one week ago, was published today. In it, Morten says the concert in Bergen next month will probably mark the end of a-ha…again.

Below are a few translated quotes from the Blick interview (but bear in mind this has been translated from English to German and back to English):

“a-ha is now a finished chapter for me. I have had some wonderful years with this band. But after the current tour, it will probably be the definitive end. The three of us are simply not close enough anymore to continue recording albums, travelling around the world and playing concerts.”

– But do you have to be close friends to keep doing that?

“No, but working with a-ha needs to be fulfilling for me on a spiritual level as well. And that is not the case anymore. Maybe the whole thing just wore itself out over the last 30 years.”

– And the money won’t make you stay together?

“Oh, I have been richly rewarded enough by a-ha. I don’t have to keep doing something that I don’t necessarily want to do.”

– Won’t you miss all the fame?

“Not at all! Success and power never interested me. I don’t like to watch myself on TV. I don’t like that guy with the microphone. Moreover; what is so great about it, when you have to spend hours hiding in your hotel room because hundreds of screaming fans are waiting outside? I prefer to meet people individually rather than in masses. But I don’t have the emotional capacity or time to meet everyone individually. In the end, I’m only one person.”

– What are you going to do after a-ha?

“I will return to the simple life with my girlfriend and my 7-year old daughter. That is where my heart is. After our last concert in Norway on May 7th I will walk away barefoot and turn off the lights.”

Morten’s new autobiography My Take On Me can be ordered from Amazon.de.

Tickets for the May 7th concert in Bergen are available from Ticketmaster.no.

Morten in Brazil to shoot TV commercial

Morten has been in Brazil over the last few days, to shoot a TV commercial for Hydro.

According to P4, the commercial is directed by Norwegian director and photographer Reinert K. Olsen aka Ray Kay, who has previously done music videos for artists like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and Beyonce, as well as commercials for brands such as Pepsi and AT&T.

A promo reel of his previous work can be seen on Vimeo.

Ray Kay also did two commercials for Hydro last year, which can be seen here and here. Earlier today he posted some photos from the current shoot in Brazil on his Facebook page.

A number of fans have had their photos taken with Morten in Sao Paulo and Belém since Friday. Here are some of them:
Picture 1   Picture 2   Picture 3   Picture 4   Picture 5   Picture 6

Video: Morten at The Batcave in 1983

Morten dancing at The Batcave, 1983

Morten dancing at The Batcave, 1983

A very early video clip, quite possibly Morten’s first TV-appearance, is currently making the rounds among a-ha fans.

The clip in question is taken from a 7-minute report about The Batcave nighclub in Soho, London, which is considered to have been the “birthplace of the Southern English goth subculture”. The report aired sometime in 1983 on the programme “Reporting London” on London Weekend Television (LWT).

Although the clip was uploaded to YouTube in 2010, it wasn’t discovered until recently that Morten appears in it. He can be seen for a few seconds on the dancefloor, wearing one of his self-designed outlandish outfits from that time. All three a-ha members were frequent guests on the London club scene in the early a-ha years.

The clip can be seen on YouTube here. Morten appears at 5:35.

Morten’s autobiography coming in March

Cover of the German edition

Cover of the German edition

Last year, Morten revealed in an interview with the Sunday Mercury that he was working on his autobiography together with British writer Tom Bromley:

“Morten is currently working with writer Tom Bromley on his biography and says “It’s been very good, he’s a really nice guy and we have had some interesting sessions. He makes me remember things, makes me see things again”.

He chuckles: “I then read his interpretation of me and attack that and then resurrect it.”

The book does not have a title as yet, although Morten laughingly promises it will have one.”

The book now seems to be finished, and has been given the title Morten Harket: My Take On Me.

The 256-page German language edition is now available for pre-order from amazon.de, with a March 14th release date. No word yet on when the British or Norwegian editions can be pre-ordered.

Morten and Tomine at P3 Gull awards

Tomine singing at the P3 Gull music awards last night

Tomine singing at the P3 Gull music awards last night

Morten and his oldest daughter Tomine attended the P3 Gull music awards in Oslo yesterday, where Tomine appeared as guest vocalist on a live performance of the Nico & Vinz hit song “Thats How You Know”.

The performance can be seen on YouTube.

“I’m very proud of her, and I think it’s great that she’s finding a path of her own”, Morten told TV2 before the show.

Pictures of Morten and Tomine on the red carpet: VG    TV2    Dagbladet

Earlier this year, Tomine released the singles “Follow Me” and “Daddy Does”. She has also recently been a guest vocalist on the songs “Hvis Du Vil” by Unge Ferrari and “Elephant” by Loveless.

Morten records new version of “Hunting High and Low”

Morten and Raghad Kanawati in Hemland, directed by Sara Broos

Morten and Raghad Kanawati in Hemland, directed by Sara Broos

The new short film Hemland, in which Morten appears together with Syrian refugee Raghad Kanawati, aired on SVT1 in Sweden yesterday.

The film includes a new, acoustic version of “Hunting High and Low” that Morten recorded with Peter Kvint at Studio Brun in Stockholm recently. In addition, “Brother” is played during the end credits.

Hemland is now available for viewing online at svtplay.se (until June 2nd).

Morten appears in new documentary

Raghad Kanawati and Morten

Raghad Kanawati and Morten

Morten appears in a new 14-minute short film called Hemland, which also features the songs “Hunting High and Low” and “Brother”.

The Swedish short film is part of a new series of eight documentaries called Fans.

Hemland (Homeland) tells the story of Raghad Kanawati, a Syrian woman who grew up listening to a-ha’s music in Damascus back in the 80s. She later became a refugee and ended up in Sweden.

In the film, which was shot in Sweden in January this year, she gets to meet Morten for a conversation.

“My goal was to portray a muslim woman who grew up with pop culture and had one foot in the Western world, and a pop star who is more interested in butterflies and carpentry than living the life of a pop star“, director Sara Broos told NTB.

“It was not a meeting between an idol and a fan, they met as people outside of those roles. It was a very emotional and personal meeting. Morten was very touched by Raghad’s story, and that’s why he agreed to take part”, she told nwt.se.

Morten attended the premiere at Filmhuset in Stockholm on April 13th, along with Peter Kvint. A short radio interview with Morten from the premiere can be heard at sverigesradio.se (starts at 7 minutes).

Hemland will air on SVT1 in Sweden on May 3rd. Visit almafilm.se for more info about the film and a few pictures from the Stockholm premiere.

Articles:
Morten Harket stiller i film om syrisk flyktningfan
A-ha-sångaren i film från Sunne

Morten and Magne attend Echo Awards

Echo Awards

Echo Awards

Morten and Magne attended the 24th Annual Echo Awards in Berlin on Thursday night (March 26th), to present the award for Best German Music Blu-ray or DVD.

“I thought we were here to get a prize for ‘most comebacks in a band history'”, Magne joked on stage, before presenting the Echo award to Helene Fischer for her live DVD Farbenspiel – Live aus München.

A video clip of Morten and Magne on stage can be seen at ardmediathek.de.

Two short interviews with them before the show have been posted on YouTube here and here. Plus a clip of Morten signing a few autographs here.

Paul was unable to join the others at the award show, as he had a flight to catch earlier in the day. But all three of them did appear together on Wednesday night (March 25th), as they attended the Echo Award 2015 Charity Dinner at Grill Royal. Some pictures of a-ha arriving can be seen at gettyimages.de and purestars.de.

And if you missed the a-ha press conference on Wednesday, a new 24-minute video of the band in conversation with Tom Bromley has been posted on YouTube.

The ticket pre-sale for the 2016 Cast In Steel a-ha tour in Germany, Switzerland and Austria started yesterday, while the general sale starts on Monday, March 30th. Visit a-ha.com for info on how to buy tickets.

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