Showcase Scotland 2010: Unni Boksasp Ensemble
‘Spotlight on Norway’: Unni Boksasp is a young, vital and charismatic folk singer who originally hails from Tingvoll on Norway’s north-western coastline.
For her ‘Spotlight on Norway’ performance, the celebrated vocalist is backed by an all-star team of musicians; fiddlers Jorun Marie Kvernberg (of Majorstuen fame) and Olav Luksengård Mjelva, bassist Magne Vestrum and Trygve Brøske on harmonium.
The diverse vocalist, who has her scholastic training from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Faculty of Art and Folk Culture at the Telemark University College, performs both as a solo artist as well as in a band setting. The core of Boksasp’s repertoire is the rich vocal traditions of the Nordmøre region on Norway’s north-western coast. Boksasp has studied the vocal style extensively for years with some the tradition’s finest performers.
Boksasp has also performed contemporary works written by such well-established composers as Henning Sommerro and Henrik Ødegaard.
2007 saw the release of Boksasp’s first solo outing, ‘Songar fra Havdal’, an album that earned Boksasp a number of highly positive reviews in the domestic music press. A review excerpt: ‘The disc’s arrangements are sophisticated and leave room for the excellent vocals that are the album’s focal point. This is a debut that solidifies a continued existence of the region’s rich musical heritage.’
In addition to a wide range of successful performances for domestic audiences, Boksasp also performed several well-attended showcases at the 2009 Folkelarm event in Oslo which drew a considerable international music industry contingent. Boksasp’s performance was highlighted by many of the international delegates as being one of the event’s finest.
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