"Klangen av Hoem" - a gala concert for Edvard Hoem 70 years

When Edvard Hoem's daughter, Ine – who's studied jazz in Trondheim and has several awarded albums behind her – contacted Moldejazz to suggest a celebration, we thought it was a wonderful idea. We contacted Erlend Skomsvoll to arrange music to the carefully chosen texts written by Hoem. Skomsvoll is a merited pianist, composer and arranger who's worked with big musical names like Chick Corea and Pat Metheny.

Friends of Kaffistova
In his early years, when Edvard Hoem started school in Molde, he immediately became a part of a young, creative literary environment. They dubbed themselves 'Kaffistovas venner' (Friends of Kaffistova), after the location for their gatherings in Romsdalsheimen. After a couple of years, the group made what must be called Norway's first festival of poetry, until the events eventually were made part of Moldejazz. Thus, Edvard was engaged in Moldejazz already in his youth.

His connection to Molde was solidified when he wrote the theatre piece “Kvinnene langs fjorden” (The women by the fjord) for Teatret Vårt in 1973. Since then he's developed authorship that's made him one of Norway's most beloved literary figures.

The opening towards the world made this country great
In connection to Moldejazz, Hoem's epic opening speech before the 1989-festival, “Når festivalen opnar” (when the festival opens) is worth mentioning. It is a masterpiece of lyrical prose painting a picture of how jazz came to Norway and of the universal importance of this form of music,

– And so the song of cities came to our province. An irresolute little town became a New Orleans… And so the open embrace stands against stingy a time, thinking free thoughts can be thought in a Norway for Norwegians. That believes a Norwegian culture can exist behind closed borders. It was only the opening towards the world that made this country great.

In the celebratory concert in our venue, Bjørnsonhuset, Hoem himself will also contribute to the performance – which may well include this excerpt. Ine Hoem has picked a selection to sing – a mix of psalms and non-sacral texts from opera-repertoire as well as translations and more.

– I grew up with this music and have been singing many of these songs my whole life. This is a perfect occasion to get to sing my dads songs in new arrangements, says Ine, before the concert that'll show how enormously broad Hoem's work has been so far, as a writer of songs, poetry, prose and as a translator.

The sound of Hoem
The project is called “Klangen av Hoem” (The sound of Hoem) and the sound is arranged and controlled by Erlend Skomsvoll. He has brought, among others, Hoem's collaborator through many years, Henning Sommero, who's written music for many of Hoem's texts. The baryton sax-master, John Pål Inderberg, is also joining them on stage. Their performance will also reflect other composers collaborations with Hoem and show that the repertoire of this 70-year-old still is rock solid in 2019, with its good texts, innovative music and a team of musical stars. This sound is performed in a big format at Moldejazz. Nonetheless, Skomsvoll reveals that although the arrangement in “The sound of Hoem” is new – Edvard's expression is so personal and distinct that, no matter if he or someone else perform the texts, you'll always know it's him who wrote them.

Erlend Skomsvoll, piano and arrangements / Ine Hoem, vocals / Trygve Fiske, double bass / Håkon Mjåset Johansen, drums / Birger Mistereggen, perkussion, jew's harp / Martin Myhre Olsen, Hanna Paulsberg, Elisabeth Lied Trøen, John Pål Inderberg, saxophones and more.

Oslo Strings: Ragnhild Lien / Lise Voldsdal / Isa Caroline Holmesland / Kaja Fjellberg Pettersen. Edvard Hoem and Henning Sommerro also takes part.