Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Terje Bråtveit & Einar Olsen release Norwegian blues LP 'Blå tonar frå Suldal'


The music duo from Norway known as Terje Bråtveit and Einar Olsen have released their anxiously awaited LP blues record, “Blå tonar frå Suldal” (Blue shades from Suldal). The album contains 11 original tracks and one traditional tune for an approximate total listening time of 45 minutes. It has been proudly published on the MolsenHouse Music independent record label without the support of the corporate music infrastructure. Rolling with blues, rocking with groove, and narrating the tales of the Norwegian people in their own native tongue, “Blå tonar frå Suldal” is perhaps the world's first traditional Norwegian blues album.

Blues musicians Terje Bråtveit and Einar Olsen cite as main artistic influences artists such as ABBA, the Beatles, the early work of Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Rolling Stones. Their music on “Blå tonar frå Suldal” showcases them as belonging to this caliber of artists themselves, with performances as genuine as that of Davis and Vaughan, and songwriting as natural and intuitive as that of the Beatles.

Making excellent blues music is not the only impetus behind “Blå tonar frå Suldal” by Bråtveit and Olsen, however.

“Three years ago, a crazy thought hit me,” writes Einar Olsen. “How to make a blues show in native Norwegian, based on local stories – trying to make 100 years of history interesting for common people.”

This noble and fascinating project obviously had merit, but Olsen soon recognized it wasn't a job for any single musician.

He writes, “I couldn't make it alone! I needed someone with a strong voice and native skills of history and writing – and this 'someone' had to be Terje Bråtveit from Suldal. The collaboration of 'Blue Shades...' began. He wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music.”

The language of their “Blue Shades from Suldal” record is Nynorsk, also called Neo-Norwegian or New Norwegian. It is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Bokmål. It is believed that “Blå tonar...” by Bråtveit and Olsen is the first blues album specifically written in the language.

“Blå tonar frå Suldal” by Terje Bråtveit and Einar Olsen is available online worldwide. Blues fans, rock fans, and anyone interested in the culture and traditions of Norway should absolutely get in early. Very early!

-S. McCauley
Lead Press Release Writer
www.MondoTunes.com

“Blå tonar frå Suldal” by Terje Bråtveit and Einar Olsen –

Website -


No comments:

Post a Comment