Hej! How are you, how is everything going? It is our first time doing a second interview (the first one) with an artist. And we hope do more 🙂
Going very well. It’s been an incredible year for me with the release of Slow Eastbound Train, and lot’s of playing with other projects, and two full concert commissions. Tuesday is the premiere for my first commission for a classical ensemble at the Vrimmel Kulturfestival in Norway.
I have seen you live in Bergen and now going to see you in Salon IKSV Istanbul and Cer Modern Ankara on 19th-20th November with Norwegian oud. It is a great chance to see you in Turkey again.
We talked about your latest album Slow Eastbound Train (which is amazing) do you have any plan releasing any new works? Maybe under the name Norwegian oud?
I definitely have plans for new recordings. My main focus is to follow up Slow Eastbound Train with the same trio (Helge Norbakken and Eyolf Dale). We will record in June, and probably release early 2017. Release dates are not decided yet. Norwegian Oud is a project where we share the band leader position. I think it will sound great, hopefully we will do more concerts later, but the only thing we planned is the three concerts in November.
Tell us about Norwegian oud. How does it differs from your previous works? And How did you decided naming the project?
I’ve been playing with Arild Hammerø half of my life, usually as a duo. Two years ago I did a commission for a Norwegian string orchestra, and me, Arild and Yinon were soloists. It worked very well, and we wanted to play more together. It will for sure sound different from last time. We planned most of the set already, and we have a couple of days to prepare it when me and Arild arrives Istanbul. The name of the project is a wordplay, referring to Norwegian Wood, and the instrument oud. Viktor Bensusan came up with this name for a project that we worked on a couple of years ago, but since that project didn’t happen, we took the name for this project instead.
You will play with Yinon Muallem in Istanbul and Ankara. He is also a great musician. We familiar his Turkish and Jewish melodies. Are you planing to play/ cover traditional songs from Anatolia? Is there any surprises:)?
There will be lots of surprises 🙂 We bring some original tunes, and we also bring some Norwegian, Turkish and Jewish melodies.
It is really hard to find information about Arild Hammerø. He looks like a great guitarist. What do you think about him?
We went to the same gymnasium, and have played together since. He is a very creative guitar player with unique technique. Usually he plays acoustic guitar in the duo, but he’s also a great rock guitar player, and plays and sings in the great band Atlanter,
We forgot to ask your favorite things about Istanbul last time 🙂 What do you like about Istanbul and Turkey?
I’m a fan of Istanbul in many ways. The traditional music is great, the food is fantastic, and the history is extremely interesting, and the fact that many of the oldest buildings is still there, makes it a very strong experience.
Have you ever been in Ankara before? How is it make you feel play different cities in Turkey. Is there any city that you want to visit and play someday or someone to work together in Turkey?
It’s my first time in Ankara, and I’m looking so much forward to it, and I’m very curious on how it’s different from Istanbul. I went to a small Turkish fishing village to do a painting course when I was around 10 years old. It was my first meeting with the Muezzing calling from the minarets. Maybe that was the beginning of the admiration I have for Turkish and Arabic music? I want to go back to this fishing village again (I don’t remember the name, I’ll have to find out), and I also want to see places in Turkey I didn’t visit before (which is pretty much the rest of Turkey).
We noticed that you are really into football 🙂 I saw you share lot of comments. Do you have any words to Turkish football fans?
I’m a big Molde fan, and it was a big moment when we beat Fenerbahçe in Istanbul. I really wish I was there! And I’m looking forward to the next game between Molde and Fenerbahce in Molde. I’m on tour that week, so I can’t watch it at the stadium. I hope Fenerbahçe gets the 2nd place in the group, and that we meet again in the final 18th of May!