NOPA – Norwegian Association of Composers and Lyricists – marked its 80th anniversary on Tuesday with a concert, reception and award ceremony.
/ 16/11/2017 / Willy Martinsen
Photo at top: Ingrid Kindem (right) is chairman of the board of NOPA and TONO, and presented NOPA's honorary award to Karin Krog. (Photo: Christoffer Krook)
Three organizations are represented on TONO's board and other governing committees, in addition to independent representatives. One of the three organizations is NOPA, which was established in 1937 under the name "Norwegian Schlager Association". On Tuesday evening, the organization marked its 80th anniversary at Chat Noir with musical performances, speeches and the presentation of awards. Perhaps the most prestigious award – NOPA's honorary award – went to Karin Krog.
– It's absolutely fantastic, it hasn't occurred to me. So now I just have to keep working, says Karin Krog.
Prize money
But several other Norwegian songwriters and composers were also honored at Chat Noir on Tuesday. Among the winners were Silje Halstensen (Bendik) and Jan Eggum. Both received a Kardemommestipend – a working grant that is a gift from the Egner family. The NOPA awards went to Anne Lande (for lyrics) and Trygve Seim (NOPA's music award). Author and composer Ketil Bjørnstad received the Songwriters' Foundation's Honorary Award, and Erik Brataas received NOPA's Communication Award.
TONO's CEO Cato Strøm presented a gift from TONO in the form of a watercolor by artist Espen Dietrichson called "Double sounds from simple rooms #3."
What is NOPA?
While TONO is a management organization that sells licenses for the use of protected music in the public domain, and collects and pays out royalties to 30,000 Norwegian and more than 2,5 million foreign authors, NOPA is an interest organization for composers and writers of lyrics to music. NOPA's purpose is to promote Norwegian creative music, Norwegian musical works and lyrics related to music, strengthen professional communities, create meeting places and work for songwriters' artistic and economic interests. NOPA also conducts extensive political work, and works, among other things, to increase the use of Norwegian music.
Visit NOPA at nopa.no