Morten at the Billboard Music Awards

Tonight Morten joined Pitbull and Christina Aguilera on stage to sing the classic refrain of ‘Take On Me’, which was added to the ‘Feel This Moment’ song arrangement especially for the Billboard Music Awards show!

Although his appearance was short, the audience responded with a lot of enthusiasm and many sang along to the familiar lines. The reaction online was full of excitement as well, with ‘a-ha’, ‘Take on Me’ and ‘Morten Harket’ trending worldwide alongside other BBMA artists.

You can watch a video of the performance here:

Following the performance, Morten was interviewed backstage. He was asked about the inspiration for ‘Take On Me’, what it’s like to have a song that has been covered and sampled so much, and which artists inspire him today.

Q: “How do you feel when some of the hotter stars of today want to reach back and make you be a part of it? Is that a good feeling?”

A: “Definitely, it’s a great feeling. It reflects on the way it was for us when we started out as well. We related to a lot of things we looked up to, and that’s how it goes, in cycles. But again, you pick up on young artists as well. I am in my 50s now and I can get a real kick out of very young artists doing great things.”

Morten was also interviewed for a longer time in the press room, and there is a clip available here:

Related Links:

USA Today: ‘Billboard’ awards put on one impressive Vegas show (four out of four stars)

Popcrush: Pitbull + Christina Aguilera ‘Feel This Moment’ With A-Ha Frontman Morten Harket at 2013 Billboard Music Awards

PerezHilton.com: Pitbull & Christina Aguilera Have An A-Ha Moment At The 2013 Billboard Music Awards!

Xtina-Web.com: Backstage photo gallery

Getty Images: Gallery

Morten will perform at the Billboard Music Awards!

On Sunday, May 19, Morten will perform ‘Feel This Moment’ with Pitbull and Christina Aguilera at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The show airs on ABC at 8:00pm EST (time zone converter).

Don’t miss any of the excitement from the Billboard Music Awards!

Programming starts at 6:30pm EST with the Cambio Blue Carpet Show, when all the stars arrive at MGM Grand Arena. Billboard also has a poll for people to vote for the performance they are most excited for here.

Keep up with the action via the Billboard BBMA page, the BBMA Backstage Stream and of course on Facebook and Twitter.

Apparatjik at SMK Denmark

Nearly a year after their well-received performance at Roskilde in front of as many as 50,000 people, Apparatjik returned to Denmark for a concert at Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) in Copenhagen on May 3. The Light Space Modulator was assembled on a platform in front of large paneled windows in the gallery, generating an expanded light and visual show for the audience.

Apparatjik performed the majority of the set inside the cube, with an intriguing mix of new and familiar graphic and shadow visuals projected on its walls. The band was joined by Canadian singer Lowell for several songs in the set, including two songs from her EP ‘If you can, solve this jumble’, which were performed outside the cube.

Danish site Gaffa.dk gave the concert 5/6 stars, and called the performance ‘short and stunning’. The reviewer notes that “The National Gallery was the perfect setting for this event, that basically mostly had a character of performance art and multi-media-video-installation-whatever-art event. Therefore it also is impossible to rate it based upon the normal preferences for a rock concert. I therefore conclude that Apparatjik gave the audience a successful, well done and thorough show that worked extremely well during these compact and clear-cut 49 minutes.” (Translation by Heidi)

Set List:

Josie
Arrow and Bow
Pakt
Control Park
Time Police
Supersonic Sound
Do it myself
Superpositions
Shake Him Off (Lowell Ft. Apparatjik)
The Birds (Lowell Ft. Apparatjik)
Snow Crystals
Tell The Babes
Deadbeat

Video:

Photos:

Gaffa.dk posted a photo gallery from the concert here
SMK posted a number of photos on Instagram
Photos below: a-ha.com, Statens Museum for Kunst and Carlos Macia

‘Norwegian Wood’ private view in London

Magne’s new exhibition ‘Norwegian Wood’ opened at Paul Stolper Gallery in London on May 3 and runs through June 1. The works are inspired by Beatles lyrics, and the impulse to create them was a natural progression of Magne’s involvement with the upcoming Beatles movie.

During the day on May 2, Magne was interviewed by NRK at the gallery as final touches on the exhibition were made. You can find the article by NRK here, which includes a short video of Magne discussing his new work, as well as several images of the prints themselves.

In the article, Magne explains that he used antique wood cutting tools borrowed from Sir Peter Blake in the creation of these prints, however he found the tools at times to be too delicate, and would use a saw to achieve the effect he wanted. To provide a glimpse of his creative process, Paul Stolper has posted photos of Magne at work on the prints earlier this year at Atelje Larsen in Helsingborg, Sweden.

Magne was also present at the gallery for the private view from 6-8pm that evening. The event drew an eclectic gathering of fellow artists, musicians, journalists, UK based Norwegians, colleagues, family and friends of the artist, and other followers of Magne’s work, some having traveled internationally to attend. Among those in attendance were Sir Peter Blake, Guy Berryman, Mel C and Steve Barron. The gallery was quite full, at times requiring people to stand outside on Museum Street before entering to see the works; however the weather in London was mild and no one seemed to mind.

In addition to the ‘Norwegian Wood’ prints – which you can see in detail on Paul Stolper’s site here – there were copies of the In Transit book and ‘Alpha Beta’ postcard box sets available to view and purchase. As the more recent release, In Transit was a popular item, and Magne was happy to sign and dedicate copies when asked. For those who are interested, there are additional copies of the book and card sets at the gallery, however be sure to call ahead to confirm availability as the supply is limited.

Screenshot at top: NRK. All other photos: Nicola Hunt, Carmen Capriz and Liz Colclough

Magne Furuholmen to score music for Norwegian Blockbuster

The following press release went out this morning:

The multitalented musician, composer and visual artist Magne Furuholmen, known from the international pop group a-ha, has agreed to compose the original score as well as supervise the recordings of other music for the upcoming film “Beatles” produced by Norwegian production company Storm Rosenberg. The news that the film is allowed to use original recordings by the Beatles has already given it international attention.

“Beatles” is based on the famous novel by Lars Saabye Christensen – a story about four Norwegian youngsters growing up in the 60s and 70s, modeling themselves on their musical heroes; The Beatles.

Furuholmen himself did much the same, as he left Norway at the age of 19 to become a world-famous artist with his band a-ha.

As a composer Furuholmen saw a-ha’s first single, ‘Take On Me’, race to the top of the US Billboard chart in 1985, as well as in 27 other countries worldwide, with an iconic synth riff written by Furuholmen – a riff which incidentally is back in the US Billboard top ten this week – almost 30 years after the original’s release, and this time as a key element of the current hit song ‘Feel This Moment’ by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera.

Among many highlights in a 25 year musical career, a-ha did the theme song for the 1987 James Bond movie, “The Living Daylights”, as well as shared the stage with Sir Paul McCartney for the song “Let it Be” during the Nobel Peace Prize Performance in 2001.

Furuholmen has previously scored music for arthouse films like “Cross my Heart and Hope to die” (1994), “Dragonflies” (2001), and the series “Hotel Oslo” (1997), for which he won the Edvard Prize, and he was recently appointed a Knight of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in his native Norway for his international musical efforts.

Says Furuholmen, “My own musical journey really started with listening to The Beatles while growing up, and it is such a thrill to be allowed to work with this iconic material and to be a part of presenting this great story on film.”

For further info, please contact:
Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
Producer
T: (+47) 901 53 651
jorgen@stormrosenberg.no

Johan Husvik
Music Supervisor
T: (+47) 482 94 657
johan@stormrosenberg.no

See also: www.facebook.com/stormrosenberg

Related Links:

Official Site: www.stormrosenberg.no | | Twitter: @stormrosenberg

VG – Norsk film får «help» av Beatles
Comoyo – Endelig er Beatles-avtalen i boks for «Beatles»-filmen
NRK P3 – Norsk «Beatles»-film får nytte Beatles-musikk
VG – Magne + Beatles = Sant