Opening of Jazzfilm 2024: STURM UND DRANG – GREATEST OF ALL IS THE MUSIC
The film is a portrait of colourful, musical personalities, friendship and a tradition that is about to disappear.
Sneak preview of Ulf Myrvold's new documentary about the legendary colorful ensemble Sturm & Drang, who for 30 years have delighted restaurant guests and who fill the Valkyrie in Oslo with a festive audience every Wednesday.
Sturm und Drang will perform in the hall after Wednesday's performance! Sturm und Drang is a phenomenon in Oslo's music scene, which involves a number of established musicians, and performances on many music stages in Oslo.
Their concerts at places such as Justisen, Krølle kro and Valkyrie restaurant are legendary for everyone who got to experience the concerts. The musicians have performed together in various constellations since the early 80s, while the current line-up came together as "Sturm und Drang" in 1994.
The orchestra represents a tradition that is about to disappear from Oslo's musical life, with high-level music in small "brown" clubs, where the music can still be said to be folk music, in the sense that the musicians did not play on stages with sound systems, but performed acoustically around the tables, in places without an entrance ticket. The music was part of the party. This led to the audience consisting of a mixture of people of all ages, from students to pensioners.
Musicians such as Nils Økland, Gertrud's Gypsy Orchestra, Stian Carstensen, Mikko Lampila, Eilif Moe and others performed in this environment. Today, Sturm und Drang continues this tradition at the Valkyrie restaurant - "Valka" in the vernacular - every Wednesday.
Still free entry and "loose necks" mean that the venue is packed every Wednesday, and still with a varied audience of all ages. It all started when pianist Per Karang "discovered" gypsy music in the 70s and imported LPs with gypsy music via the city's music stores.
In 1977, Karang traveled as a student to Budapest, where at the time gypsy orchestras performed in a number of the city's restaurants. Inspired by Karang, violinist Ragnar Heyerdahl settled in Budapest a few years later, to study the music. Heyerdahl was employed by the Norwegian Philharmonic Orchestra where he still plays. Here he met double bassist Svein Haugen.
From this, the orchestra Sturm und Drang was formed, consisting of Per Karang (piano), Ragnar Heyerdahl (violin), Svein Haugen (double bass), Eilif Moe (guitar/vocals) and Magne Henriksen (accordion). Henriksen died in 2021, and violinist Erik Fossum Svendsen joined the orchestra. Eilif Moe is referred to as a legend in Silda jazz, and has performed with musicians such as Paolo Vinaccia and Egil Kapstad.
The film is a portrait of colourful, musical personalities, friendship and a tradition that is about to disappear.
Photo and direction: Ulf Myrvold
Cut: Thomas Kristian Larsson
Opening of Jazzfilm 2024 starts at 13:45 p.m.: Strawberries, bubbles and music by Tine Asmundsen and Håkon Storm-Mathiesen at the entrance to the cinema. The movie starts at 14:15.
Allowed for everyone
