Kulturbrakka in Ås is one of several thousand concert organizers in Norway that enables the dissemination of music to live audiences: The format where the music comes into its own, believes artist and songwriter Erlend Ropstad.
/ 02/11/2021 / Kristian Dugstad- We could have had a typical pub scene, but we chose to make it much bigger, says Trond E. Nielsen, and stretches out his arms towards the 26 square meter plateau, which is the heart of KulturBrakka in Ås.
The new concert venue opened in May of this year, in the midst of a national lockdown, in a building that is due to be demolished in three to five years. Together with Nielsen, Ole Magnus Holm and André Kristiansen are behind the latest addition to Ås' nightlife. Three enthusiasts, in short.
– When we took over, there had been a motorcycle club here for many years. Now it has become an alternative cultural scene. The feedback has been that KulturBrakka has become a place that people have missed for many years.
Watch the video from KulturBrakka here:
This fall, KulturBrakka is doing its best to bring live music to a hungry concert audience. One of the first to rock out on the 26 squares is southern rocker Erlend Ropstad.
– As an artist who is a songwriter, musician and performer, it is the concert format that matters. It is where I really get to showcase my art, and where we come into our own as a band, he says.
Drum kits, guitar amplifiers and instruments are brought out of a packed Mercedes-Benz van. Ropstad and the band have 27 concerts on their agenda this fall, ending on November 17th at Rockefeller in Oslo. A magical, but far from glamorous life.
– It's incredibly rewarding, but also completely exhausting. We burn off a lot of energy, and when we leave the stage we have so many good substances pumping around in our blood that we are very excited at the same time as we are completely done. It's absolutely fantastic, but also terribly tiring.
TONO payments from concert performances of music are the largest and most important area of settlement for TONO members. In other words, it is a welcome development that concert Norway has begun to come to life again. Both for Erlend Ropstad, and all the country's other artists, and TONO members.
– It's wonderful to meet again this lost family of ours with concert organizers, who are a very special bunch.
One of the newest members of the family is KulturBrakka in Ås. with Erlend Ropstad is one of over 40,000 live performances TONO licenses in the course of a year.
– With us, everyone is of equal value. We are very careful about submitting reports to TONO, so everyone gets what they are entitled to. That is important, says Ole Magnus Holm.
– There will be a lot of work here in the future, but it's just fun, concludes Trond E. Nielsen.
