Marit Larsen is the winner of the 2017 EDVARD Prize in the Popular Music category, for "Joni was right I & II". – Winning the Edvard Prize is just so incredibly rewarding. Thank you very much, says Marit from her home in New York.
/ 12/10/2017 / Janne SieversThe award consists of a trophy by Bruno Oldani, a diploma and 50.000 kroner.
- Winning the Edvard Prize is just so incredibly rewarding. I am still very proud of this release. "Joni was right" was a work victory, a first-time project for my record label and a true love child at the same time. Seeing a rewarding, exhausting and incredibly beautiful year summarized and celebrated in this way makes me warm and humble. Thank you so much, says Marit from her home in New York.
The jury's reasoning:
"The album "Joni was right I & II", initially consisting of two separate EPs, is a brave pop project with a jewelry box of songs in the rearview mirror. Exposing yourself to a direct comparison with previous masterpieces not only has a great height of fall, it can also quickly become an insurmountable obstacle. The stumbling blocks are many, and the road down into the ditch of half-good copies is dangerously short. Not so with Marit Larsen. Instead, she shows us new paths and new perspectives in a well-known and iconic musical terrain. In "Joni was right I & II" Larsen shines as an exceptionally reflective songwriter with a hard-won uniqueness.
Larsen has a rock-solid understanding of the musical heritage she manages as a composer, and can therefore take measured and elegant steps. Examples are the seamless and well-placed change of tempo in the song 'Bluebelle Mountain' and the rhythmically delayed melodic shifts in the verse in the song 'Shelby Avenue'. The album is a rare well-balanced mix of musical reference clarity and a delicately restrained identity.
This album dares, and wants, to go against the flow of the present and the celebration of the moment. Larsen emphasizes life's maturation, its realizations and perhaps most importantly: The continuation. When the song "A stranger song" becomes suspended in midair, and when the lyrics "Broken hearts can keep on beating" stop the progress of the song "Winter never lasts forever", then we must move on - towards what we do not know. Exploring the strange as a source of development is not the main track of popular music, but this is where Larsen emerges as a solid pop artist. TONO's EDVARD Prize in the Popular Music category 2017 is awarded to Marit Larsen for the album "Joni was right I & II".
The EDVARD Prize
The EDVARD Prize, named after Edvard Grieg, is a prize that TONO has awarded annually since 1998, and is awarded to composers and songwriters who have created musical works and lyrics of high artistic quality. With the prize, TONO wants to increase attention to Norwegian composers and lyricists, and to increase Norwegians' understanding of and knowledge of newly written Norwegian music. The prize winner's music or lyrics must have been premiered or published in the previous year. Emphasis is also placed on the composer's other production. See a OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS EDVARD WINNERS HERE.
The 2017 EDVARD jury consisted of composers Arvid Wam Solvang (jury chair), Hilde Wahl, Therese Birkelund Ulvo, Klaus Sandvik, Rita Engedalen, Gøran Grini, and publishers Jan Stefan Bengtsson and Stine Lieng.
For more information:
Janne Sievers, communications advisor at TONO, mobile 95760286, email: janne.sievers@tono.no
Photo: Sarah Winona Sortland