I first met Seasick Steve ten years ago at the Notodden Blues Festival. He had moved to Notodden two years earlier. I immediately liked the guy, and we had a talk about music and life in general. Since then I saw him several times the next year, but now I haven’t seen him for some years, mostly due to his extensive touring outside of Norway. Yesterday he played the main stage at the Slottsfjell Festival, and time has been good with Steve.
Saturday at the Slottsfjell Festival had the same warm and beautiful weather as the first two days. The whole area was packed with happy people, and the mood was just as good as the other days. An outdoor festival without rain or cloudy weather is a rarity in Norway. I can’t remember more than a handful of the couple of hundred festivals I have attended since I was young, where the weather has been this good for the whole festival. (Picture above: Magdi from Karpe Diem)
The second day of the Slottsfjell Festival offered another mix of new and established artists, pop, hip hop, rock, black metal, singer songwriter, you name it. The weather was just as nice as the first day, and the kids didn’t seem to be too hungover from the night before. (Picture above: Shining)
The Slottsfjell Festival is one of many music festivals in Norway in the summer. Since we have just a short period with a chance of some sun and warmth, the months of June, July and August are packed with outdoor festivals. This year the weather has been very good so far in the eastern part of Norway, and lucky Slottsfjell, the first day was beautiful, and the next two days will also have lovely weather. Here is a report from the first day. (Picture above: Erlend Hjelvik from Kvelertak.)
This year at Bergen Fest, Naomin Shelton was the unexpected positive experience to me, like Charles Bradley was at the Oya Festival last year. And intersting enough, both artists are signed to Daptone Records, the foremost record company for old-time soul after 2000.
I have a special respect for artists and musicians who transcend the borders between musical styles and who also make it hard for music librarians to categorize in an easy way. Jamie Cullum is such an artist, who moves between jazz and pop with no obvious difficulty. He is only 34 years old, but has been recording since he was 19, and playing publicly even before that.
In 2008 Shelby Lynne released the CD Just A Little Lovin’, her homage to Dusty Springfield, still one of the best British singers of all time. I saw Shelby Lynne do the songs from the CD at the Austin Music Hall during SXSW in 2008, and it is still one of my favourite albums.
Unni Wilhelmsen is one of my favourite singer songwriters. She has made good songs and released great albums since the mid 90’s, and is always a pleasure to see live. Tonight she played at John Dee in Oslo, as part of her summer tour. Here are some pictures from the concert.
Karpe Diem is the most successful Norwegian hip hop band. The started as a band in 2000, 16 years old. Since then they have won several prizes, sold many CDs and played sold out venues around Norway. Last weekend they were one of the headliners at the Steinkjer Festival.
I have written about Ida Jenshus before, so this will not be a word-heavy blog. She played the Steinkjer Festival last weekend, as the first act on the Saturday. The interesting thing is that Ida comes from Steinkjer, and with her success the last few years, one would expect the locals to come running to see her.
Artist Pictures Blog 