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September 25, 2005
Salvatore
The story goes that one evening in 1998 some Norwegian musicians were listening to the 1970s German group Neu! and immediately decided to form a new band. This became Salvatore, and they explored Neu!'s greatest invention, the "motorik" or "endlose gerade" drum beat, a 4/4 beat with no fills continuing in a trance-like fashion for an incredibly long time. But this was only the beginning. While their search for euphoric music may have begun with Neu!, they went on to use other kinds of grooves that also have a great sense of affirmation.
Posted by barry at 9:26 EM
September 18, 2005
Valg 2005
("Election 2005"). The single word in this newspaper headline, maktskifte, means "power-shift" and this announces that the reigning government lost this week's general election in Norway. The three people you see are the leaders of the three political parties that will form the new coalition government.
In the centre you see Jens Stoltenberg, leader of Arbeiderpartiet ("the labour party"), which received the most votes in this election (32.7%).
On the left is Kristin Halvorsen, leader of S.V. (Sosialistisk Venstreparti, the "socialist left party"), which received 8.8% of the vote.
And on the right is Åslaug Haga, leader of Senterpartiet ("the centre party"), which received 6.5% of the vote.
Posted by barry at 11:51 EM
September 11, 2005
Panteautomat
Here's something which may or may not be unique to Norway, but I haven't experienced a system like this elsewhere. Whenever you buy a soft drink bottle, or a beer bottle or a beer can, the money you pay for it includes pant. The amount of pant you pay depends on the type of can or bottle. For example, a 0.5l plastic bottle of water has 1kr pant and 0.6l has 2.5kr. This is a money deposit that is returned to you if you bring your empties back to the shop. This is best experienced in a supermarket, where you can do this at a self-service machine, the Panteautomat.
Continue reading "Panteautomat"
Posted by barry at 3:09 EM
September 4, 2005
Stave Churches
Medieval Stave Churches, so called because they are constructed with wooden staves, could once be found in various parts of Europe, but they have survived only in Norway. There are 28 here and I visited two of them.
Most of the stave churches were built between the 1130s and 1350. The Black Death spread in Norway from 1349 and construction of all kinds soon ceased.
Continue reading "Stave Churches"
Posted by barry at 4:06 EM