Madrugada

Madrugada, who release a new album on 28 January, are confirmed for Kongsberg Jazz Festival!

Since the release of their debut album “Industrial Silence” in 1999, Madrugada have recorded four studio albums and one live album – and secured a level of appreciation among Norwegian audiences that few other bands can match. On “Industrial Silence”, Sivert Høyem sang “Oh in time, you and I, we’ll shine” – as if it was a promise to be fulfilled. And we have waited, and hoped … and at the end of January the long-awaited new album, “Chimes at Night”, will be released, followed by a major tour in Norway and abroad.

In the decade after “Industrial Silence, Madrugada released four more studio albums. When the band split up in 2008, after arduous work to complete their self-titled album, it appeared the story was over. When they reunited in 2019, to everyone’s surprise, it was the start of a new chapter – since when their audience has just kept growing.

Madrugada started working on “Chimes at Night” after their comeback tour in 2019. It has been created in their own Oslo studio, Malabar, as well as at Velvet Recording in Spydeberg and in Berlin. Most of the music on the album is new, but the band has also breathed new life into a few older songs. The album was recorded in February 2020, at the legendary Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles, in the same rooms that have seen the creation of classic albums by bands like Fleetwood Mac and The Doors. We predict that the popularity of this unique Norwegian band will skyrocket with the release of the new album.

Frida Ånnevik

In autumn 2020, Frida Ånnevik celebrated her 10^th anniversary as songwriter and artist. In that decade she had released five solo albums, performed many concerts, had several wonderful collaborations and made unexpected turns in her career. The anniversary was marked with a digital concert on her home turf, of her first album, “Synlige hjerteslag” (“Visible heartbeats”).

Throughout the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Frida and her band have toured around the country, giving indoor and outdoor concerts, playing festivals, Sentrum Scene and Rockefeller in Oslo, and many more venues.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 and working from home became the new normal, Frida and colleague Chris Holsten made a Norwegian version of JP Sax / Julia Michaels’ major hit “If the world was ending”. The result, “Hvis verden”, touched a deep nerve with everyone who was sitting at home, trying to get to grips with home schooling and new conferencing technology – while not being able to have much social contact or hug family and friends – and generally feeling that the world was falling apart. The song has been streamed over 18 million times and was awarded the prize for “Song of the Year” in the Spellemann music industry awards in 2020.

Having played many gigs over the last two years, Frida Ånnevik is only performing a chosen few Norwegian festivals in 2022. She and her band will guide the audience into a world of deep-seated musical feeling as they perform songs from across her albums. We look forward to welcoming her to Kongsberg!