Undergrunn, Frida Ånnevik, Kristine Tjøgersen, Hans Hulbækmo and Anne Hytta are the recipients of TONO's EDVARD Prize 2024.
/ 18/10/2024 / Willy MartinsenThis year's winners of TONO's EDVARD Prize can finally be announced! The composers and lyricists who will receive the awards in the five categories in 2024 are
Popular: Underground
Text: Frida Ånnevik
Open class: Anne Hytta
Challenger: Hans Hulbækmo
Contemporary: Kristine Tjøgersen
Read all the jury's reasons below!
The awards have been presented in complete secrecy. At various times over the past few weeks, the winners have received a pleasant surprise from TONO consisting of 70,000 kroner, as well as a trophy and a diploma designed by composer and artist Magne Furuholmen.
– With the EDVARD Prize, which is awarded to songwriters, composers and lyricists, we honor those who create music, which has such a large and important place in the lives of most of us. What makes the EDVARD Prize special is that it is a heavy professional jury consisting of experienced songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers. Winning this prize is clear proof that the winners have touched something deep with both the audience and their music-making colleagues, says Karl Vestli, CEO of TONO.
The EDVARD Prize has been awarded annually by TONO since 1998, and is awarded in five categories to composers and lyricists who have created musical works of particularly high quality in the previous year. A highly qualified professional jury selects the winners. The jury in 2023 consisted of Sten Ove Toft (independent, jury leader), Agnes Hvizdalek (Norwegian Composers' Association), Alexander Austheim (NOPA), Andrew Smith (Music Publishers), Jan Erik Mikalsen (Norwegian Composers' Association), Maria Stene Brendstrup (Music Publishers), Johanne Flottorp (independent) and Thea Hjelmeland (NOPA).
Awarded to: Jo Almaas Marstein, Jon Ranes, Marcos De Medina-Rosales Haugestad, Patrick Levent Bakkeng, Sverre Gudmestad and Gabriel Ystad Doria (UNDERGRUNN) // Egoland
In about a year, Undergrunn went from being an Oslo phenomenon to becoming one of Norway's most popular groups. Marstein, Fretex, Plaza, Loverboy, Rikpappa and Pus delivered the album Egoland in 2023 with raw energy and club-friendly hooks. Egoland shows a group in constant evolution with compositional depth and thought-provoking songs that provide insight into reflections on success and identity. The album has set a new standard for Norwegian pop music and will stand as an important chapter in the group's musical journey.
Awarded to: Kristine Tjøgersen // Pelagic Dreamscape
Kristine Tjøgersen has a fantastic ability to utilize the orchestral apparatus to create new sounds and exciting expressions. With her masterful grasp of orchestration and her understanding of the unique characteristics of the various instruments, she creates a new and immersive soundscape that truly takes us out onto the open sea. The work has an extensive and well-crafted form. Fantastic cascades that propagate through the orchestra, and clever use of electronic elements, contribute to the audience joining the journey through the billowing and roaring sea. It is innovative and original, and shows that there are still unexplored ways to use the orchestra.
Awarded to: Anne Hytta // Brigde
In Brigde, Hardanger fiddle player and composer Anne Hytta gathers threads from her musical contemporaries and weaves them together into breathtaking soundscapes. The strings of the Telemark Chamber Orchestra, expanded for the occasion with Amund Sjølie Sveen's vibraphone and glass tones, form a perfect playing partner for Anne Hytta's Hardanger fiddle. The half-hour-long work appears well-composed and holistic, and although it undoubtedly has its roots in folk music, Brigde is first and foremost an unsurpassedly beautiful and deeply personal journey through a diverse soundscape. This music cannot be captured in a specific box and is therefore a natural winner of the EDVARD Prize 2024 in the Open Class category.
Awarded to: Frida Ånnevik // Dancing and Laughing
Frida Ånnevik has for many years distinguished herself with a strong pen and a good flair for writing about big and small things in a down-to-earth way. With "Dance and Laugh" she depicts the contrasts that tear at us humans in a subtle way. "I am what I dreamed of, and what will never come to be. I am a dance floor and a trench" is an example of how she plays with expressions you rarely hear in the same sentence. But with Ånnevik's way of putting these together, it comes across both naturally and not least tastefully. The lyrics let the listener understand that things don't have to be either or. You can want to dance and laugh, and you can be both scared and light. That in itself is perhaps a reminder we all need from time to time.
Awarded to: Hans Hulbækmo // Random Turnip
Hans Hulbækmo is perhaps primarily (recognized) as a drummer and percussionist, but on "Tilfeldig Næpe" we have been invited into his expanded compositional universe. On the album we experience a playfulness that is difficult to compare to anything else. It simmers and crackles, fiddles and fumbles. And in the absence of innovative fresh product concepts: pings and plongs. Whether it primarily challenges or simply fascinates we are unsure, but Hans Hulbækmo has masterfully led us into temptation. As soon as you press the play button it feels as if you are transported and suddenly sitting at home in Hans Hulbækmo's mountain cabin. With coffee, pretzels, wool socks and a fireplace. Coincidentally? Turnip.
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has more than 42,000 members in Norway, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to be able to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users.
Contact Info:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mobile 909 65 254, willy.martinsen (a) tono.no