Four a-ha tour dates in the UK in March 2016 were announced today:
25 March: Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK
26 March: O2 Arena, London, UK
28 March: The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, UK
29 March: Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, UK
There will be a presale tomorrow, 3 June, starting at 9am GMT. The general sale starts on Friday, 5 June, at 9am GMT.
Magne on stage with Apparatjik
Apparatjik will be performing a free concert at the Pavilion stage in Karlsruhe, Germany on September 12th. The concert is held as part of GLOBALE – 300 days of artistic events in connection with the 300th anniversary of Karlsruhe.
Some info from zkm.de:
“Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman, MEW singer Jonas Bjerre, the A-HA keyboard player Magne Furuholmen as well as the music producer Martin Terefe in a unique constellation: They have produced for the stage a unique show in which auction tickets for bidding are distributed among the public: one uniquely produced and mastered vinyl record will be auctioned, live on-site!”
Apparatjik’s latest project The Sound of Fosnavåg, performed together with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra at Fosnavåg Konserthus in October 2014, was broadcast on NRK P2 on May 20th – or at least parts of it. It can be heard online at radio.nrk.no, where it will be available until November 16th. There’s an interview with Magne at 1h 9mins, while the performance itself starts at 1h 16mins.
The new book cover, designed by Magne
(Photo by Judith Heinrich)
Magne and director Steve Barron appeared at The Arts Club in London last Thursday, May 28th, to celebrate the release of a new special edition of Barron’s 2014 memoir Egg n Chips & Billie Jean: A Trip Through the 80s, for which Magne has designed the cover.
“I’ve read the book and it’s hilariously funny. And not just the parts that I was a part of (laughs). There are some amazing stories in there and I’m happy that you let me contribute a little bit with the cover”, Magne said.
Paul Stolper introduced the two of them, who talked for an hour about Barron’s work with a-ha – he directed eight music videos for the band between 1985 and 2010 – and the other music videos he’s done. Barron also read an extract from his book about the time he and the band were in Montana filming the “Crying In The Rain” video in 1990. Afterwards they did a little signing session.
Magne and Steve Barron signing books
(Photo by Judith Heinrich)
“The first three [a-ha] videos that you did, they were all your ideas. They were all you. We were kind of just kids coming in. We might have been allowed to say something about it, but we just kept ourselves back. I don’t think it was until Manhattan Skyline that we said ‘Steve, we really want to talk about our situation’. The media are referenced and Brazil – the Terry Gilliam film – about this guy disappearing in newspapers and we started interacting about [that concept]”, Magne said during the conversation.
Some photos from the event were posted by Paul Stolper on Instagram:
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
Thanks to Judith Heinrich for the info.
Peter Kvint, who has been working on the new a-ha album Cast In Steel with Morten and Magne in Stockholm, posted an update on Facebook yesterday, saying that he was “celebrating delivery of A-ha album master”.
So the album seems to be on track for the promised September 4th release date. And it shouldn’t be too long until we get to hear the first single.
a-ha at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, March 2010
A concert in Argentina in September, taking place three days before Rock in Rio, was announced on Friday:
24 September: Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina
This will be the fourth concert a-ha have played at Luna Park. In 1991 the band did two concerts at the venue, while in 2010 they opened the Ending on a High Note Tour there, in front of 10,000 people.
“An incredible audience. We were carried forward on a wave of South American madness”, Magne said after the 2010 opening show. Now it looks like they may be opening the Cast In Steel Tour at Luna Park as well.
There will also be several other tour dates in South America in September/October, following Buenos Aires and Rio. This according to an Aftenposten article.
Even Ormestad
(picture from discogs.com)
Even Ormestad, known from the band Jaga Jazzist, is playing bass guitar on the new a-ha album Cast in Steel and will join the band on stage on the whole 2015-2016 tour. This was revealed in a conversation on the official Jaga Jazzist Facebook page today.
Ormestad has been a musician and producer for a number of Norwegian bands and artists in recent years, including Sassybeat – which was signed and managed by a-ha manager Harald Wiik. Most recently he produced Daniel Kvammen’s well-received debut album Fremad i Alle Retninga.
a-ha have not had a bass player with them on tour since Sven Lindvall’s departure in 2007. On the 2009-2010 tours, keyboardist Erik Ljunggren only played bass guitar on a few select songs.
As previously known, Ormestad’s Jaga Jazzist bandmate Lars Horntveth has been working on string arrangements for the new a-ha album – two songs, to be precise, according to their Facebook page.
And as for the rest of the backing band on the Cast in Steel Tour, Karl Oluf Wennerberg has hinted on Instagram that he will still be behind the drums, at least at Rock in Rio this year.
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).
From Lars Horntveth’s Instagram
Norwegian musician and composer Lars Horntveth, known from the bands Jaga Jazzist and The National Bank, has recently been working on string arrangements for the new a-ha album Cast in Steel, it seems.
Horntveth, who is currently based in Los Angeles, posted a picture on Instagram from a recording session for a-ha last week, April 24th:
“Done recording full orchestra in Macedonia from 6-10am via Skype in my garage in LA. Science fiction!”
In addition, he posted a picture of sheet music for a new song written by Paul.
Horntveth is also known for producing two of Susanne Sundfør’s critically acclaimed albums; The Brothel (2010) and The Silicone Veil (2012) – the latter of which included the lead single “White Foxes”.
“I really loved Susanne Sundfør’s “White Foxes””, Paul said in an interview last year.
Update: Per Lindvall and Peter Kvint are also busy working on the new a-ha album. On April 29th they did a recording session at the Atlantis Studio in Stockholm. Per Lindvall posted some info about the session on Facebook here, and Peter Kvint also posted some info here.
“My philosophy is to surround myself with truly talented people who make my work sound better than it actually is. Today with rhythm maestro Per Lindvall and sound guru Simon Nordberg. We recorded drums for a couple of new A-ha songs at Atlantis”, Kvint wrote.
Tour ad
Two new dates on a-ha’s Cast In Steel Tour 2016 were announced this week:
This will be the 12th a-ha concert in Paris since 1986, and the 5th a-ha concert in Amsterdam since 1993.
The total number of concerts on next year’s Cast In Steel Tour is now 17, with many additional dates expected to be added.
Tickets for Paris and Amsterdam are available now from gdp.fr and ticketmaster.nl.
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.
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