Apparatjik to perform in Austria

Apparatjik have announced that they are playing a concert at the Steirischer Herbst Festival of new art in Graz, Austria on October 15th.

The festival’s website is available in English here.

 

Magne is also planning new solo exhibitions this fall. At the workshop in Halle last month he told a fan that there will be an exhibition in Oslo, followed by one in London. Sometime between September and November, but the exact dates had not been set.

The retrospective art book Magne Furuholmen – In Transit, which was originally to be published on May 31st, now has September 6th as a new publication date (in Norway) – possibly to coincide with the upcoming exhibition.

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.

Magne comments on “Hall of Fame” nomination

The list of nominees for the Rockheim museum’s “Hall of Fame” has already sparked a heated debate among so-called “music experts” in Norway. Still, at least everyone seem to agree that a-ha deserve their place on the list.

In a interview with the newspaper Dagbladet, Magne says that he appreciates the nomination:

“This is really great. a-ha is kind of existing in a “Hall of Fame” mode at the moment – after all we have nowhere else to be – so it’s a nice thing to be nominated.”

Dagbladet has also set up their own, highly unofficial, vote among their readers. a-ha is currently in second place, behind Jokke og Valentinerne.

“That’s cool, because I was certain that everyone were sick and tired of a-ha after everything that happened last year. So I would like to extend a big thank you to Dagbladet’s readers for their patience”, Magne says.

He doesn’t hide the fact that it’s good to be recognized:

“It’s important for us to feel represented in Norwegian music history, so in that sense it feels good.”

 
In other news, Morten apparently visited Moscow this weekend. He was there to speak/perform at a private event. Additional details were not available.

a-ha nominated for Norwegian “Hall of Fame”

 

Rockheim – the Norwegian museum of popular music in Trondheim – is planning to induct five bands and artists into a new “Hall of Fame” of Norwegian music later this year.

The first 15 nominees were revealed at a press conference at the National Library in Oslo today, and among them is a-ha. Other nominees include Alf Prøysen, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Åge Aleksandersen, Lars Lillo-Stenberg and Anne Grethe Preus. The whole list can be seen here.

In the jury that decided on the 15 nominees were the musicians Marit Larsen, Øystein Greni and Janove Ottesen, among others. To be considered, the band or artist needed to have their debut album released more than 25 years ago.

Another jury consisting of 100 people (60 musicians and 40 people from the music business and media) are now going to have a vote to determine the final five to be included in the “Hall of Fame”.

The induction ceremony will be held at Rockheim on August 21st this year.

Magne in Germany

Magne with students at the workshop in Halle, May 24th
(Picture from page-online.de)

Magne and fellow Apparatjik member Jonas Bjerre are in Germany this week, to hold a workshop for art students at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in the city of Halle.

The workshop started on Monday, May 23rd, and will continue throughout the rest of this week.

The idea is apparently to create new objects by using auto parts from a Smart car – continuing Apparatjik’s ongoing collaboration with the German car manufacturer.

Daily updates from the workshop project can be found here.

 
There was also recently an Apparatjik workshop in Moscow, following their concert there on May 13th. Here is some info from the Strelka Institute website:

After the performance at Strelka, Apparatjik will lead a closed workshop with Russian artists and musicians. Together they will work on a new interactive installation, which will connect Apparatjik’s creative work with local Russian context. The results of this collaboration will be shown at the Yota Space Festival in St. Petersburg this fall.

(Thanks to Carmen and Maria)

Apparatjik in Moscow

The cube in Moscow
(Picture by Marina Lystseva)

Apparatjik played their first concert in Russia this Friday, May 13th, at the newly established Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow.

There were initially only 200 invitations available for two people each, by registering on the Strelka website, but this week anyone who added their name to the event on Apparatjik’s Facebook page were automatically added to the guestlist (which ended up being 188 people). So there must have been at least 600 people in the audience (a Russian fan claims there were as many as 1500-2000 people).

A selection of pictures from the Moscow performance can be seen here.

And here are some YouTube clips:
Deadbeat    Datascroller    Snow Crystals    Supersonic Sound    Look Kids    Quiz Show

Simen and Peder from Moods of Norway accompanied the other apparatjiks on the trip to Moscow, and a couple of pictures have been posted on their Facebook page, including one with Magne and Karl Oluf Wennerberg in front of the Bolshoi Theatre.

Update: Check out this cool video clip from the Moscow concert on Vimeo.

Ending On A High Note chart update

Ending On A High Note entered the UK album chart at #43 this week, with 2,966 copies sold. It was actually in the top 15 in the first midweek chart update, so there was a significant drop in sales later in the week. Still quite good though, considering there doesn’t seem to have been much promo for it in the UK so far.

In Germany EOAHN is at #9 this week, and has now spent an amazing four weeks in the top 10 on the album chart. And after dropping down to #7 last week, it climbs to #4 in Norway.

“zbig1” on the WOTM forum has put together the following list of all European countries where the live album has charted so far (Updated 15 May):

1. Norway – Best place #3, All places: 6-3-7-4-6 and 5 weeks in Top-10
2. Germany – Best place #3, All places: 3-7-8-9-14 and 5 weeks in Top-10
3. Poland – Best place #21, All places: 21-35-42-27-39 and 5 weeks in Top-50
4. Russia – Best place #24, All places: 24 and 1 week in Top-25
5. UK – Best place #43, All places: 43 and 1 week in Top-100
6. Switzerland – Best place #56, All places: 56-59-98 and 3 weeks in Top-100
7. Austria – Best place #61, All places: 61-72 and 2 weeks in Top-75
8. Belgium Wallonia – Best place #70, All places: 70 and 1 week in Top-100
9. Netherland – Best place #72, All places: 72-86 and 2 weeks in Top-100
10. Belgium Flanders – Best place #87, All places: 70 and 1 week in Top-100
11. Spain – Best place #92, All places: 92 and 1 week in Top-100
12. France – Best place #163, All places: 163 and 1 week in Top-200

And here’s how the DVD has performed in the music DVD charts around Europe
(Updated 15 May):

1. Norway – Best place #1, All places: 1-1-1 and 3 weeks in Top-10
2. Germany – Best place #1, All places: 1-1-1-1 and 4 weeks in Top-10
3. Austria – Best place #1, All places: 1-10-5 and 3 weeks in Top-10
4. Sweden – Best place #1, All places: 3-6-1-8-6 and 5 weeks in Top-20
5. Hungary – Best place #6, All places: 6-20 and 2 weeks in Top-20
6. Switzerland – Best place #6, All places: 6 and 1 week in Top-10
7. Ireland – Best place #7, All places: 7 and 1 week in Top-10
8. Netherland – Best place #11, All places: 20-11 and 2 weeks in Top-30

(Thanks to zbig1 and tryffel for the chart info)

Chart success for Ending On A High Note

 

The CD version of Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert has entered the official German album chart at #3, which is an impressive result for a live album.

In Norway it entered the album chart at #6, before climbing up to #3 this week. Other first-week chart entries include #21 in Poland, #61 in Austria and #72 in the Netherlands.

 
The DVD entered the German music DVD chart at #1. In Sweden it entered the music DVD chart at #3, before dropping to #6.

Despite the two missing songs, the DVD/Blu-ray features a brilliant production. High quality filming and audio all the way, which can really be experienced in full on the Blu-ray disc. And although there’s not much bonus material, the 15-minute documentary is a nice addition.

 
In Norway, the reviews have been quite good. The newspapers VG, Dagbladet, Bergensavisen, Østlandets Blad and Romerikes Blad all give Ending On A High Note 5 out of 6. Trønder-Avisa even gives it 6 out of 6.

 
In the UK, Ending On A High Note will be released on April 25th. The four available versions can be pre-ordered from amazon.co.uk through the links on the left. And remember that all sales help support this site.

Magne pays tribute to Harald Zwart

 

The Norwegian director Harald Zwart, who has made movies such as One Night at McCool’s and The Karate Kid, was the main guest on the talkshow Litt Av Et Liv on NRK1 tonight.

a-ha fans also know him as the director of the “Velvet” and “Forever Not Yours” music videos.

In addition to having friends and family of Zwart in the studio, the show also included several video greetings from people he has worked with, such as Michael Douglas, Steve Martin, John Cleese
– and Magne Furuholmen.

 
Here’s what Magne had to say:

Hi Harald. Congratulations on all your amazing success. In many ways you are the film industry’s equivalent to a-ha; a Norwegian with success abroad. You are also similar to us in that you just keep getting better and better with time. So I’m happy to see that you are succeeding, which I never really doubted you would.

Harald Zwart

We have worked together on a few occasions, we have been to Cuba together and you have also made what is possibly a-ha’s most controversial music video…in a freezing morgue in Hamburg. And each time we have worked with you has been a very enjoyable experience.

I am sure that you will keep making even greater things in the years to come and make a lot of people happy with the things you do. You have the guts, you are skilled and you are fearless. And you also have a great wife to support you – just like I have. So then you’re all set.”

 
Litt Av Et Liv can be seen on NRK’s web-TV here (only available for viewing within Norway).

Apparatjik on NRK2

Magne performing inside the cube in Berlin.

Apparatjik wrapped up their project at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin with two performances on March 26th and 27th.

The culture programme Nasjonalgalleriet on NRK2 in Norway had a report about Apparatjik’s Berlin project in tonight’s broadcast, with comments from all four band members and the director of the gallery.

The report can be seen on NRK’s web-TV.

 
For more footage from Berlin, check out two videos on vimeo.com here and here, plus a German TV-report from RBB on YouTube here.

 
Apparatjik also appeared on NRK1 last week, in a documentary about the small village of Flø, where they performed as part of the “Go with the Flø”-festival in June last year.

The documentary can be seen here. Magne and Apparatjik appear between 5:20 – 6:00 minutes and 22:00 – 27:30 minutes.

 
Apparatjik’s latest single “Combat Disco Music” is now available on iTunes and in the Apparatjik online store.

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