Europe

A Musical Reading at the Norwegian Embassy

The Norwegian composer Ellen Bødtker opens up access to the Norwegian Dream in Us

October 22nd, 2019
Juliette Toussaint, News from Berlin
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Is it possible to hear the light? Artist Ellen Bødtker is taking up this challenge by using her virtuoso harp. She aims to merge words and music together, in order to create a unique sound.

This representation at the Norwegian embassy was held in view of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019, which elected Norway as its Guest of Honor this year. Norway is indeed considered as a land of great literature, not only by its talented authors but also because Norwegians read more than any other European nationality and the country has produced three winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Norway will present itself as Guest of Honor at the Book Fair under the motto The Dream in Us. This motto of the Norwegian performance is taken from the lines of the poem called The Dream in Us by Olav H. Hauge. In 2016, it was voted the most important Norwegian poem of all time. The motto aims to encompass the cultural and literary diversity of Norway.

This performance was therefore a sample of the Norwegian Dream in Us, to demonstrate what is possible with harp, e-bow and text - a perspective which will be presented more deeply on the occasion of the Book Fair Norway 2019, in Germany. In her work, the harpist repeatedly translates visual events into surprising sounds in order to merge words and music and therefore create new relationships between places, words and traditions. The Norwegian Embassy therefore jumped at the opportunity to proudly present their famous nation.

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