JazzNorway in a Nutshell
Influential web-site allaboutjazz.com provides the ultimate guide to current Norwegian jazz with its JazzNorway in a Nutshell 2008 tour.
Early May 2008 saw allaboutjazz.com visiting Norway with a delegation of more than 40 international jazz aficionados. The trip concentrated on Norway’s southwest coast and included a visit to Stavanger’s MaiJazz Festival, Bergen as well as a number of scenic locations. The delegation were treated to concerts with such heavyweights as Bugge Wesseltoft, Tore Brunborg, Jon Balke, In The Country and Jan Garbarek.
Writes the web-site: JazzNorway in a Nutshell 2008 (JNiaN) is a junket designed for media, promoters and programmers from around the world to experience the vast diversity of Norwegian music, but by including trips around the country to soak up the country's distinctive culture, it creates an even deeper understanding of how the music has evolved. Jazz is, after all, a cosmopolitan melting pot of influences, as capable of incorporating the folk music of Norway as it is the American blues form. The tour is also a means of creating a social network, not just between the artists and the attendees, but between the attendees themselves, where new ways of linking jazz activities from around the globe are encouraged and cultivated.
allaboutjazz.com’s JazzNorway in a Nutshell 2008 trip appears to have been a successful one. Writes the web-site in its report: The entire trip was a resounding success in exposing the forty attendees to music and artists known and unknown. It also conveyed more than just a sense of how vivid and vibrant the Norwegian music scene is. By taking a trip down the coast from Bergen to Stavanger and making several stops, attendees went home with a stronger sense of Norwegian culture in general. But just as important, while some of those attending knew each other prior to the trip, there were plenty of new connections made, creating a link between writers, photographers, festival organizers/programmers and club owners that transcended simple acquaintance.
Instead, friendships were formed and a commitment to maintaining contact that will not only help in bringing the music of Norway to the world, but also create situations where, through cooperative efforts, music in general can be kept alive across multiple continents and countries. From Canada to Japan, Slovenia to Portugal, Malaysia to France, thanks to Lars Mossefin, Bo Gronningsaeter, Ann Iren Odeby and Aud Grete Ekestad, there is now a group of forty people even more committed to working together as advocates for the music. JazzNorway in a Nutshell has successfully engendered, amongst its attendees, a collective goal of creating even more exposure for Norwegian music than existed prior to this remarkable journey.
Read the entire excellent and thorough article here.
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