Description
Kari Svendsen has always been there. Banjo-Kari. Oslo-Kari. Vise-Kari.
Her tireless efforts for the Oslo ballads and for ballad singing in general also meant that she was awarded St. Hallvard-Kari in 2011. At that time, special emphasis was placed on all the hours she had put in when she helped start up the Josefine Visescene in 1995.
In 2024, it will be 400 years since the medieval city of Oslo burned down, and 100 years since Christiania changed its name back to Oslo. It will also be 57 years since Kari made her debut on record with the single "Grannie" with The Young Norwegians (1967) before joining Øystein Sunde's Christiania Fusel & Blaagress and releasing the single "Mamma vi'kke ha" in 1968.
In the 70s she guested on a number of albums with everyone from Øystein Sunde, Convivium, Jan Eggum, Knutsen & Ludvigsen, Lillebjørn Nilsen, Erik Bye, Åge Samuelsen and Vandrarne and she made a name for herself in a number of revues, before finally releasing albums under her own name. But even though she has "always" been there, she has not spoiled us on the album front.
She only has three solo albums to her credit:
Kari Svendsen (1978), Solskinn og sang (1982) and Kari går til filmen (1991), in addition to the two albums På Stengrunn (1973) and På Gjensyn (2019) – both with lyrics by Rudolf Nilsen. It is also worth mentioning the two Gatesangerne albums Gatesangerne (1995) and Oslo-viser (2000).
Yet she is one of the most touring artists in the country, performing everywhere from the National Stage to retirement homes.
In 2023, Kari's friend, fan and collaborator Marianne Berg felt that the time had come to release a new album. And since Kari's circle of friends is as varied as it is unpredictable, the choice of producer fell on saxophonist and composer Rolf-Erik Nystrøm – one of Norway's - and the world's - leading improv and contemporary musicians. An odd couple, many would say, but the two have developed a strong friendship both on and off stage. Rolf-Erik usually plays in the group Poing together with Frode Haltli and Håkon Thelin. Poing jumps from collaborating with Maja Ratkje and Lasse Marhaug to Ole Paus and Lars Lillo-Stenberg. From heavy contemporary music to Åge's Levva livet!... and Kari is often a guest when they play live.
Like a Norwegian Rick Rubin, Rolf-Erik has taken hold of Kari's repertoire and taken every imaginable liberties. At his side has been drummer Jørgen Smådal Larsen (Kråkesølv, Lukestar) and together they have drawn inspiration from musical areas that Kari is perhaps not best known for frequenting. Classical, jazz, contemporary music on the one hand and blues, desert rock and Arabic tones on the other. But in the middle stands Kari rock solid. She does what she has always done. She is just placed in a completely new landscape.
Kari Svendsen Spesial! is Kari's first album in 33 years. She is now at her peak both vocally and technically on the banjo. She has brought with her some of the country's best musicians. Helge Lien and Edvard Askeland come from jazz, Knut Reiersrud from the blues, Rolf-Erik Nystrøm from rock and contemporary music, Håkon Thelin from contemporary music, Frode Haltli from folk music and on the closing song her former husband and best friend Lillebjørn Nilsen also makes a guest appearance.
The title of the album is inspired by her father Knut's favorite brandy , Brandy Spesial . From him she also got many of her songs and her strong interest in revue songs and especially the history of Oslo.
Musicians on the album:
Kari Svendsen vocals, 5-string banjo
Rolf-Erik Nystrøm saxophone, vocals
Frode Haltli accordion
Håkon Thelin double bass
Knut Reiersrud guitars, harmonica, choir
Helge Lien piano
Edvard Askeland double bass, choir
Ingrid Berg Mehus violin, Hardanger fiddle, vocals
Magnus Boye Hansen violin
Bendik Bjørnstad Foss viola
Steinar Ofsdal bansuri (flute)
Magnus Breivik Løvseth tuba
Eirik Østenstad Sanner euphonium, trombone
Jørgen Smådal Larsen choir
Christian Engfeldt choir
Stig Henrik Hoff choir
Tracklist:
1. Easter (Rudolf Nilsen/Lillebjørn Nilsen)
2. Father has told (Lillebjørn Nilsen)
3. The plaster boy (Nils Ulrik Alfred Sinding Pedersen/trad.)
4. See you again (Rudolf Nilsen/Jon Arne Corell)
5. Barely dead (Finn Bø, Bias Bernhoft/Aimé Maillart, Jaromír Vejvoda)
6. The Dream of Morrada (Harald Tusberg/Egil Monn-Iversen)
7. Oh, the one who was a dandelion (Alf Prøysen/Alf Cranner)
8. The Marching Competition (Finn Bø, Carsten Carlsen/Fred Gilbert)
9. The Shameless Old Lady (Klaus Hagerup/Alf Cranner)
10. Song about Song about the Akerselva River (Vilhelm Dybwad, Lillebjørn Nilsen/Leopold Sprowackers)
11. The New Comrade (Rudolf Nilsen/Steinar Ofsdal)
12. Aunt Beate (Lillebjørn Nilsen)
13. Good Night Oslo (Lillebjørn Nilsen)