Posts Tagged ‘magne furuholmen’

Martin Halla EP now available

CD cover

Release Me – the EP that Martin Halla and Magne recorded at the end of May – was released by Universal Norway on Monday, July 2nd.

It includes new versions of four of the songs from The Voice, plus a cover version of “Dragonfly”.

Tracklist:

1. Release Me (2:36)
2. Hurt (4:07)
3. Take It With Me (3:44)
4. We Found Love (2:39)
5. Dragonfly (2:38)

One would perhaps expect Magne to be credited as producer or musician in the cover, but there is no such info listed, except for songwriting credits.

It does sound like Magne is doing the backing vocals on “Dragonfly”, though.

The CD is now available from platekompaniet.no, and digitally on iTunes, Spotify, Wimp etc.

30-second audio samples can be heard at amazon.de.

Furuholmen-fanfare fills Flø-festival

Magne in front of the "Desibel" horn (Picture from Studio Hugo Opdal)

Magne opened the third annual “Go With The Flø” art festival with a special fanfare on Sunday, June 24th, performed on “Desibel”, the world’s largest mobile horn, and featuring audio samples of tractors, local cows and workers at a nearby shipyard.

Last month, Magne stated that the bass frequency created by “Desibel” is capable of physically moving a cow. Luckily, no cows were tipped over by the sounds coming from the massive horn, but the fanfare did manage to make a bunch of them run away in panic.

“Hugo [Opdal] asked me if I wanted to turn the sound recordings into music. Which I was happy to do. It’s become a musical interpretation of the area”, Magne told newspaper Vikebladet on Friday.

The fanfare can be heard in this clip on YouTube.

 

Robyn Hitchcock, Magne and Anne Lise Frøkedal on stage (From YouTube video)

Later on, British musician Robyn Hitchcock played a concert at Vonheim, the local village hall. Magne, along with Anne Lise Frøkedal og Frode Strømstad, joined Hitchcock on stage.

A video from the concert can be seen here.
Around 2000 people found their way to Flø during Sunday’s festival.

“Everything is special at Flø. The village has become a center of experimental behaviour. In my opinion, this is the most tolerant village in Norway. When we arrived with the horn, the locals stood by the road, smiling and waving”, Magne told Sunnmørsposten.

Magne in London with Tini

Magne and Martin Terefe have been doing some recording sessions with Tini Flaat Mykland from The Voice at Kensaltown Studios in London this week.

Yesterday Tini posted a picture from the studio on Twitter. “Incredibly grateful for fantastic session-days”, she writes.

The Voice-special on TV2

A one-hour special about the first season of The Voice was shown on TV2 on Saturday, which included a new interview with Martin Halla and Magne, backstage clips and highlights from the show.

Host Øyvind Mund asked Martin why he chose Magne over Sondre Lerche at the first blind audition:

Martin: “I thought about some of the things he’s doing outside of music. He’s doing abstract work in the world of arts, and I’ve been making a lot of abstract music. So I thought we could connect on that level.”

– Has this contest been good for your self confidence?

Martin: “It’s been very good. I do have confidence in what I’m doing, but getting accept for it and being embraced by both the mentors and the people has been an extremely good experience.”

By the end of the interview, Magne was asked what will happen now:

Magne: “We’re going to record an album during the summer/early fall. We have already been in the studio to record an EP. Long days and long nights in the studio; it’s been many years since that was my lifestyle. But it’s incredibly inspiring and there’s a great atmosphere in the studio.”

Martin: “Yes, absolutely.”

– What are your ambitions for Martin?

Magne: “They are unlimited. But then again, I’m never able to limit myself.”

– So you have worldwide ambitions?

Magne: “Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying all along. And if it doesn’t work out, I can at least say that I tried. But I do have lots of contacts in London that have already heard of him, and to some extent listened to him as well. If I decide to bite down on something, my jaw locks – like a pitbull.”

Magne presents Sir Peter Blake exhibition

The renowned British artist Sir Peter Blake is in Norway this week, to hold an exhibition of his works at Magne’s gallery Stolper + Friends in Oslo. The exhibition is called The Oslo Suite and is inspired by Norway and famous Norwegians.

Blake has also covered the nearby Shed 13 warehouse with his art, like Damien Hirst did last year.

Yesterday he met the press together with Magne to talk about these projects.

“I think it’s amazing that we have been fortunate enough to have Peter make a whole exhibition based on Norwegian characters, on Norwegian historical figures. And inspired by Norway. I think we should count ourselves very lucky to have Peter here and to have this exhibition happen”, Magne told NRK1’s evening news last night. There’s a video clip here (starts at 12:30).

Peter Blake and Magne in front of the a-ha print (Picture from Dagsavisen)

In addition to prints depicting Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, Sonja Henie and Edvard Munch, Blake has also included a print based on a live photo of a-ha from the 80s, taken by Janne Møller-Hansen.

“When I was asked to hold an exhibition here, I wanted to base it on pictures of famous Norwegian people. And since I’m a good friend of Magne, I wanted to include a-ha as well”, Blake tells Dagsavisen.

Magne was perhaps slightly less amused.

“For me it’s difficult to hang a picture of myself on the wall, but this is a choice that he’s made. Based on which Norwegians he’s familiar with. My entire budget for this year’s Christmas presents has now been spent on buying two prints for Morten and Paul”, Magne jokes.

The Oslo Suite opens at Stolper + Friends tonight and will be on display until July 1st.

Related articles:
thornews.com   a-ha.com   aftenposten.no

Magne in the studio with Martin

Magne has been in the studio with The Voice-winner Martin Halla this week, to record an EP which will be released by Universal later this month.

“On Tuesday we recorded an EP with several full versions of songs from The Voice plus an additional song, which will be released now in June. When that’s done, I’ll start work on a whole album”, Martin Halla told TV2.no.

He was back in Bergen this weekend, where he did his final exam concert after studying music at The Grieg Academy for the past four years.

Update (June 5th): The EP will include four songs that Martin performed on The Voice; “Hurt”, “We Found Love”, “Release Me” and “Take It With Me” – plus a cover version of the Magne/a-ha song “Dragonfly”. (Info from VG)

Time capsule workshop

Workshop at Magne

As mentioned on April 11th, Magne is going collaborate with young students to create a special time capsule to be kept in the Norwegian National Archives.

On Tuesday this week, 17 students from selected schools across Norway, along with their teachers, took part in a workshop held at Magne’s own atelier in Asker.

“This is probably the first and last time I’m having visitors at my atelier. It feels a bit private”, Magne told the visiting guests before they entered, newspaper Budstikka reports.

The time capsule will be formed as a sculpture, and made up of a number of metal boxes. These boxes will contain letters where students have written down their thoughts on the July 22nd tragedy and the society we live in.

“I’m picturing an obelisk with words on it, maybe a sentence. You can write whatever you want – the more variation, the better”, he told his young collaborators.

At the workshop he showed the students how to punch words into soft metal, which is how the sculpture will be decorated on the outside. This technique is something they are later going to show their fellow students.

“You don’t often get the chance to engage people from all over the country like this. I’m a sort of facilitator here, not the creator. This is sensitive material, so I was a bit nervous. I agreed to do it because this isn’t mainly about the tragedy, but about the future. The focus here is that the students will send letters to the future, and that’s an interesting idea”, Magne says.

The time capsule, which is made in connection with the upcoming documentary film Til Ungdommen, will be opened in 2031 and is described as a gift to the youth of the future. More than 50.000 Norwegian students have signed up to take part in the time capsule project so far.

There is more info and a gallery from the workshop on the project’s own website at tilungdommen.com/tidskapselen.

Related articles:
Budstikka   Tidens Krav   Romerikes Blad   Jærbladet   austagderfk.no

Magne talks about Flø performance

Magne was interviewed in Sunnmørsposten’s paper edition on Friday, about the upcoming Go With the Flø festival on June 24th, where he will use the “Desibel” horn system to perform a specially made sound collage.

“It will be an opening fanfare based on sound recordings from the shipbuilding industry – made at the Kleven Verft shipyard, and sounds from the village of Flø. A collage of different sounds. I think this will be a radio hit on P3 this summer”, he jokes.

“The horns form a sort of sculpture of different frequencies. It’s a monumental way of spreading sound.”

The largest horn is 12 meters long. “Desibel” is currently being used at an art festival in Denmark, but will soon be on its way to Flø.

“People can expect a really powerful sound. The bass frequency is capable of physically moving a cow”, Magne says. Therefore he thinks it’s wise for people to bring ear protection to the festival.

“We will of course try to spread the sound carefully, but the sound collage is meant to give the audience both a mental and physical experience.”

This will be the fourth time Magne visits Flø with different art projects, following “Anticlimax” in 2008, “Camera” in 2009 and the Apparatjik concert in 2010.

“Flø is sort of addictive. It’s an incredibly great place to be. So when you first make a visit, you get addicted to the place”, he says.

Team Magne wins The Voice final

After 18 weeks of blind auditions, battle rounds and live shows – tonight it was time for the Norwegian final of The Voice, live from Chateau Neuf in Oslo.

The show opened with Magne and the other mentors performing the Patti Smith song “Because The Night”, where they were joined by the four finalists at the end. There’s a video clip of it here.

The finalists then did a song each:

Aleksander Åsgården (Team Sondre) performed “Finer Feelings”
Hege Øversveen (Team Hanne) performed “Are You Happy”
Martin Halla (Team Magne) performed “Take It With Me”
Leif Anders Wentzel (Team Yosef) performed “Feeling Good”

After all the votes had been collected, the winner turned out to be Martin and Team Magne – and that moment can be seen here.

“Magne has been an extremely supportive mentor. He’s been available at all hours of the day”, Martin told host Øyvind Mund on stage.

When asked what will happen with Martin now, Magne said:

“I’m sure a lot of people will have an opinion on that. But I will try to do my part, to make sure he gets the best possible conditions for further growth.”

As the winner, Martin gets a Lexus car and a record contract with Universal Music.

Magne is sure to be involved in some way with the album Martin is going to make. But he is also planning to keep working with several of the other talents on his team.

“I think we’ll make an album for people really interested in music, not an album that will be ready in time for the 2012 Christmas sale”, Magne said last week, about his plans for an album with Monika Blomeid.

Magne also has plans to work more with Tini Flaat Mykland. Next month, Magne and Martin Terefe will do some recording sessions with her in Martin’s studio in London.

Go With the Flø festival 2012

The mobile horn system "Desibel" at Vevring in 2009 
(Picture from Vikebladet)

The third annual Go With the Flø art festival is held on Sunday, June 24th this year, and once again Magne will play a central part in the proceedings, newspaper Vikebladet reports.

The festival is set to open with a new piece of music composed by Magne, which will be played on the world’s largest mobile horn loudspeaker system called “Desibel” – first used by composer Maja Ratkje at the Vevring exhibition in 2009.

Magne’s composition is based on sounds recorded at a local shipyard and in the village of Flø.

British musician Robyn Hitchcock will play a special concert at the festival, and will be joined by Magne on stage, in addition to Anne Lise Frøkedal og Frode Strømstad from the band I Was a King.

Magne is also one of the artists taking part in a group exhibition at Flø, along with Bjarne Melgaard, Damien Hirst, Jim Medway and others.

One section of the exhibition is called “Go With the Flø New Talents”, and is a chance for young artists to show their works. The artists have been selected by Magne, Paul Stolper and Håvard Vikhagen.

More info about Go With The Flø can be found at hugoopdal.no.

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