Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

I just got home from a great show: Thomas Dybdahl! About four years ago my good friend Emily gave me a CD of an artist called Thomas Dybdahl, but it wasn't until a year later that I found out that he was Norwegian (he sings in English). Tonight, the musical connection came full circle as I got to see him in concert in Tromsø. It was a great show complete with sing-a-longs, trumpets, accordians, and a girl playing a Mack beer bottle. What culture. It was great to hear him between songs giving shout outs in Norwegian, and the music was predictably gorgeous. So fun!

Despite Thomas' great show, Rachel and I gave him a run for his money for the best show in Tromsø. Last Thursday we performed at the monthly open mic night called Hugin's Report. (Hugin being the bird of knowledge in Norse mythology if I remember what Silje told me!) After an hour of painfully slow and slightly boring acts, Rachel and I finally got up to bring the house down. We weaved a smooth version of the song "Silver Rider" by Low. It was great! Very beautiful.

Just moments after we finished, I was again called back to the stage where I shocked the audience with a little Caucasian rap! That's right, bringing back the memories of fourth grade, I got up on stage, put on the dog tags, and was ready to drop some phat beats. I had used some geeky computer knowledge to make a back-beat for one of my favorite rap songs that one my freshman roommates, Matt Curry, introduced me to: Reverse Psychology. It's a very witty rap song all talking in reverse psychology with the chorus being "put your hands down." I thoroughly confused the audience, but they all understood the language of the thumping bass and head nods. I had a great time, and even when the music cut out prematurely, Rachel came up and beat boxed and I finished the rap a capella. Good stuff! And even better is that it was video taped!

You can check out the madness known as Hugin's Report here: Rachel and Scott and Caucasian rap.

You can also check out clips from the Thomas Dybdahl concert here: Dybdahl 1, Dybdahl 2, Dybdahl 3, Dybdahl 4, Dybdahl 5

Enjoy the music of Tromsø!