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.
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.
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(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.
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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.
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Morten on "God Kveld Norge"
Morten appeared on TV2’s gossip programme “God Kveld Norge” last night, to promote the UNICEF show.
“When UNICEF asked me, my first thought was that I really wanted to participate. Jamaica was one of the countries UNICEF had in mind, and that’s where we ended up going.
The humanitarian aspect is a natural reason to support the work UNICEF is doing, but there’s also a political aspect; what kind of world do you believe in?”, Morten told host Dorthe Skappel.
He also mentioned that he’s working on some new music:
“I am currently working on some exciting stuff, within music. It’s stimulating and fun.”
Update: The interview is now up on YouTube
Morten performing in Guatemala, 1997
There is also an extra clip from the interview on the “God Kveld Norge” website, where Morten talks about the peace concert he did with Oslo Gospel Choir in San Martin, Guatemala in December 1997.
Attended by both Guatemalan and Norwegian officials, including the Norwegian foreign minister, the outdoor concert was supposed to be a celebration of the peace agreement signed in Oslo a year earlier, to end the country’s long-running civil war.
But things took a dramatic turn when three men, heavily armed with machine guns and hand grenades were captured by security personell during the concert. They had been paid a few thousand dollars to kill both local leaders and the Norwegian guests. Luckily, their plan failed.
In the interview, Morten says that he had brought his two sons Jakob and Jonathan with him to Guatemala and that he also remembers a bomb exploding in the area when the terrorists were captured.
“It was very unexpected. I’m used to consider all eventualities, not least because of my children, but those things took me by surprise”, Morten says.
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Morten's sunglasses were popular among the girls in Kingston, Jamaica (Picture by Just Loomis)
Morten is interviewed in today’s VG, in connection with tomorrow’s comedy show on TV Norge to benefit UNICEF. The show will feature a report from Morten’s visit to Kingston, Jamaica this summer.
“We visited a community with much violence and difficult social conditions, quite a common type of area in Jamaica. Some of those we met, around 20 years old, were clearly on drugs and already heavily involved in crime. That’s how they’ve chosen to take control of their own life”, Morten tells the newspaper.
Among those he met was a 14 year old girl who was eager to get married.
“It’s normal for all girls that age to be thinking about boyfriends, but when they get pregnant at such a young age, it really puts them back in relation to their own future.”
– Do you feel privileged to have your children grow up in Norway?, VG asks.
“Yes, of course we’re privileged – we have such a high level of safety and security here that it’s almost incomprehensible for other people.”
– In that respect, the Utøya attack this summer was a big exception?
“It definitely was.”
In Jamaica, Morten apparently received a lot of attention. Not because he’s famous, but because he’s white and had expensive sunglasses.
“The children we met had no idea who I was. Jamaica is very isolated in that regard, as they only listen to local music. They don’t know who U2 are, or Coldplay, REM and Madonna. And certainly not a-ha! But that’s also what makes it an interesting place to visit”, Morten says.
“Humorkveld” to benefit UNICEF airs live on TV Norge tomorrow night. Part 1 between 19:00 and 20:00, and part 2 between 21:30 and 23:00.
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Morten in Jamaica (Picture from UNICEF)
Morten has recently visited Jamaica, to learn more about a project run by UNICEF.
A report from his visit to the country will be shown during TV Norge’s third annual comedy show to support UNICEF.
The comedy show is held at Oslo Konserthus and airs live on TV Norge next Sunday, September 25th, at 19:00.
Whether Morten will also be performing during the show is not known.
In April 2005, Morten performed the official UNICEF song “Children First” together with Hayley Westenra at an event in Copenhagen.
Posted in Morten Tags: humorkveld, jamaica, morten harket, tv norge, unicef Comments Off on Morten visits Jamaica for UNICEFAccording to the website of 140dB Management, UK producer Steve Osborne is “about to start work on a solo album for Morten Harket”.
Exactly when this was posted and how far along they are in the process is not known.
Osborne previously worked with a-ha as a producer, mixer and musician on the Foot Of The Mountain album in 2009. He also did alternate mixes of “Nothing Is Keeping You Here” and, most recently, “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)”.
Update: The solo album info has now been removed from the 140db Management website.
In a message sent out to several fans, 140db Management writes the following:
“Steve is not currently doing any work with Morten. Unfortunately that is an error at this stage and nothing has taken place. One of our interns got over excited and has placed that on a page as he has been updating our website and assumed this project is happening. At this stage nothing has happened or is actually confirmed.
You can definitely pass the word as there is nothing going on at the moment. Of course that may change in the future but our official comment is that nothing is happening at the present time. Steve is currently working on a band from New York called Glint.”
(Thanks to “greeneyedgirl” and Carlos)
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a-ha performed “Stay On These Roads” together with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra as part of the National Memorial Ceremony at Oslo Spektrum today, to remember the victims of the July 22nd attacks.
With them on stage they also had Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on keyboard. The song was arranged for orchestra by Kjetil Bjerkestrand.
If you missed the live broadcast, a-ha’s performance can be seen here. The whole 2-hour ceremony is available at nrk.no.
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Morten and various family members singing at the Haydom fundraiser in 2007. His father Reidar by the piano.
Morten was in Vennesla in Southern Norway on Sunday, August 14th, to sing Christian hymns together with Harket Mannssangforening (The Harket Men’s Choir) at the annual fundraiser meeting to support Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania.
Morten has performed at this event a number of times in recent years (see August 10th, 2009 news update). He first joined the choir in 2003, after his uncle Kjell passed away.
“This choir is a continuation of a quartet that my father and other relatives had many years ago. Now we have taken this up again. Our only scheduled appearance is singing at this Haydom fundraiser”, Morten told newspaper Vårt Land when he performed at the same event in 2007.
“The history of Haydom is a story about an impressive effort done by idealistic people. With limited means they have managed to build a hospital that’s become important to a lot of people. If I, with my voice, can do something to support this work, I’m there”, he added.
No reports or pictures from this year’s event have appeared in the local press so far.
Posted in Morten Tags: harket mannssangforening, haydom, morten harket, vennesla Comments Off on Morten sings in Vennesla
