By:Larm 2013 Oslo Is Coming Up

Next week the 17th by:Larm festival will be arranged in Oslo. From the start in Trondheim in 1997, it has grown to be an imoportant festival for the music business in Norway. Every year record company executives, managers, media people and an increasing number of international representatives gather in Oslo for four days of music and seminars. Here are some of the artists from last year’s by:Larm while we are counting down to February 13th. (Picture above: Bernhoft)

Gunhild Sundli

by:Larm started out as a touring festival, visiting one Norwegian city every year. Trindheim, Bergen, Tromsø, Stavanger, Kristiansand were all visited once or twice the first 10 years. After that the organizers decided that these cities were actually too small for the festival, with too few professional clubs for the showcases. The only real alternative was Oslo, so the festival got a permanent residence here.

LidoLido

The original plan of alternating between different cities, was to get all the music executives and media people out of their offices and to gather them at one place where they had to interact during the festival. This worked really well for the first years, and I think by:Larm is responsible for bettering the communication between the different participants in the extended music business in Norway.

Astaroth

For the last few years, by:Larm’ has gradually switched its focus to a more international orientation, how to promote new Norwegian acts internationally. This also means that the filter for getting a showcase has got tighter, and they are not letting through as many bands as in the beginning. They also combine the lesser known bands with established artists, much in the same way as SXSW does.

Magnet

This year well known acts like Torboneger, Thomas Dybdahl, Shining, Neneh Cherry, Tim Christensen, Blood Command, John Olav Nilsen, Gunhild Sundli, God Seed, Nidingr and Honningbarna are playing with talented newcomers Mikhael Paskalev, Oslo Ess, Highasakite, Sirkus Eliasen, Razika, Malvin Nøsen & The Company and Lucky Lips, plus many other talented artists and bands.

Siri Nilsen