According to a press release posted at music-news.com, Morten’s touring band this time will be the a-ha musicians Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on keyboards/bass, plus Dan Sunhordvik from Magne’s solo band on guitar.
In addition to solo material, he will also perform “some selections from the a-ha catalogue”.
(Picture by Just Loomis)
Manager Harald Wiik is interviewed in today’s VG, and reveals that members of Pet Shop Boys and Swedish band Kent have written songs for Morten’s new album.
Here are some quotes:
“This has been an open process where Morten obviously has written a number of songs himself, but we have also been in contact with various other songwriters.
When there’s an opportunity to work with Pet Shop Boys and Kent, of course we’ll say yes. Both bands have extremely good songwriters and have been at the top of Morten’s wish list.
We are well underway with the new album. Our goal is to be finished by Christmas, which would mean that the album is released in March next year.
There will also be a solo tour that starts in April. But this all depends on whether we get finished in time or not.”
Pet Shop Boys vocalist Neil Tennant has in previous interviews talked about a-ha being one of his favorite bands and about Morten having a fantastic voice.
Kent vocalist Joakim Berg has also praised a-ha and their songwriting skills, most recently in an interview with ABC Nyheter last year. You may also remember that his brother Adam Berg directed the music video for “Summer Moved On” in 2000.
Update: Wiik provides some further comments to Dagbladet about the album and tour.
Regarding the songwriting collaborations, Pet Shop Boys have written one song for the album, while Joakim Berg and Martin Sköld from Kent have written two songs together with Morten.
Work on the new album started in April this year. It’s being produced by Steve Osborne, and will be released by Starwatch/Universal.
Wiik also shares some more details about the tour:
“Morten will be touring all over Europe, starting in mid-April, and there’s likely to be a tour in South America in February/March. Plans for the fall of 2012 aren’t ready yet, but we assume the tour will include Japan and Oceania in that period.”
Three Morten Harket concerts in the UK have been announced by a-ha.com today:
11 May: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK
13 May: indigO2, London, UK
14 May: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK
a-ha.com says there will be a pre-sale for all three shows on the a-ha Facebook page starting on Wednesday, October 26th, while the public sale starts on Friday, October 28th via Gigs and Tours.
To keep track of all the dates on the 2012 tour, visit the Morten Harket tour page.
French promoter Gérard Drouot Productions has announced a Morten Harket concert at La Cigale in Paris on May 9th.
There will be a pre-sale 10am on Monday at gdp.fr, while the public sale starts on Thursday, October 27th.
Meanwhile, tickets for the Zurich concert on May 2nd are now available at ticketcorner.ch.
Update: Zurich and Paris have also been confirmed by a-ha.com now. Album release in March, according to the official site.
Apparatjik did their sixth performance of the year last Saturday at the Orpheum in Graz, Austria, as part of the Steirischer Herbst Festival.
This time, only Magne and Jonas were present of the original Apparatjik members. Instead of Guy and Martin, they were joined by Tobias Wilner (vocals) and Bo Rande (trumpet) from the Danish band Blue Foundation. A picture of the quartet in “combat disco” outfits has been posted on Facebook.
The set included a few new songs, which can be heard on YouTube:
Clip 1 Clip 2 Clip 3 Clip 4
More video clips are available here, here and here.
According to a fan on the apparatchick forum, Magne told her that this was probably the last time they performed inside the cube. He also said that musically he’ll only be focusing on Apparatjik in the coming year, although it will be a while until the four of them meet up to work together again.
BTW, earlier in the week, Magne did an e-mail interview (in his usual “witty” style) with Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, which has been posted here.
(Thanks to “Mortianas” and Denise for videos and info)
Info about four Morten Harket solo concerts in Germany and Switzerland in April/May 2012 were revealed (prematurely) by a German ticket agency today.
Following the info leak, Morten’s management decided to officially confirm the dates, Andrea at a-ha-net.de says.
These are the dates (so far):
30 April 2012: Munich, Germany
2 May 2012: Volkshaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
4 May 2012: Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany
6 May 2012: Berlin, Germany
More venue and ticket info to follow…
Update: The Swiss promo agency Good News have posted some info about the Zurich concert and a new promo picture on their website.
According to the website, which cites Universal, the album is now slated for a February 2012 release.
(Picture: Universal)
Following the recent confusion about whether or not Morten had started work on a new solo album (see August 31st news update), a-ha manager Harald Wiik can now confirm that Morten is indeed working on his fifth solo album, to be released sometime next year.
The info appears in an interview with Swedish singer Anna Järvinen in Bergensavisen today, where she mentions that she’s always wanted to work with Morten:
“I have always wanted to do a duet with Morten Harket. Let’s hope he reads this. I guess he’s got more time now?”, Järvinen says.
The journalist then contacts a-ha manager Harald Wiik, who says the following:
“That’s nice to hear. Morten is working on a solo album to be released next year, but I can’t give much more details at this point.”
Morten’s previous solo album Letter From Egypt, which was released in 2008, sold around 30.000 copies in Norway.
Update: In an additional comment to VG Nett, Wiik says they’re aiming for a March/April release next year.
Sondre Lerche, Magne, Hanne Sørvaag and Yosef Wolde-Mariam. (Picture by TV2)
Magne will be one of the mentors on the Norwegian version of the talent show “The Voice”, TV2 revealed at a press conference in Oslo today.
Joining him as mentors are Sondre Lerche, songwriter Hanne Sørvaag and Yosef Wolde-Mariam from Madcon.
“I agreed to do it because the show is about backing someone that you believe in and trying to give them the best possible conditions. I want to support the talents I believe in and give them an opportunity to shine. This is a big difference from other talent shows, because in “The Voice” we’ll follow the talents and try to further develop their own style”, Magne says.
Magne was aware of the American version of the show, which aired on NBC earlier this year, before he was approached by TV2 in Norway:
“I was offered to write a song for the guy who won “The Voice” in the US, so I already had some experience with the show before TV2 asked me. That meant that I was more open to be a part of it”, he tells VG.
He has said no to several other talent shows in the past, but feels that “The Voice” is a different concept:
“In the past I have said no to everyone that’s asked. I don’t like the type of talent shows that have been shown on Norwegian TV before. But this time all the focus will be on the voice and the talent. There won’t be any ridicule of people who think they can sing, without really having any talent. The selection process is done in advance, so our job is simply to choose the ones we really believe in.”
Sondre Lerche also has a good impression of the concept:
“I agreed to do “The Voice” because I have seen the show in the US and I really like it because it’s a constructive talent show. It’s about the music and the process. I think it’s cool to be involved in other people’s projects, I know the value of giving people a chance”, Lerche says.
More articles and pictures about Magne and other mentors have been posted at TV2.no and Dagbladet.
“The Voice” will air on TV2 in Norway sometime next spring, while the pre-auditions are starting on October 12th. The winner gets a record deal with Universal.
While at the Smart Urban Stage exhibition in Frankfurt on September 13th, Magne was interviewed by Belgian website The Word.
The interview has now been posted here.
(Thanks to Carmen for the link)
From “Humorkveld” on TV Norge, September 25th.
Click on the “CC” button for English subtitles.
To learn more about how you can support UNICEF, visit www.supportunicef.org.
