A Bergen Girl’s Black Metal Story

By Liam Carroll Seated in her tattoo studio, wearing a black dress that leaves her fully-tatted arms exposed, Jannicke Wiese-Hansen reflected on her role in the madness of the black metal story. Wiese-Hansen, 44, grew up on the west coast of Norway in Bergen, and began getting into heavy metal music around the age of …

Radio pros at Bergenfest

By Billy Ray Malone NRK P1 music reporter Hilde Zahl scanned the crowd at Bergenfest – the annual music festival in Bergen, Norway – and spotted a woman wearing a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tee shirt. Zahl walked right up to the woman, crossed her ankles, dipped into a curtsy and, without skipping …

Bergenfest spotlights eclectic acts in a historic space

By Billy Ray Malone Bergenfest started in 1993 and has come a long way. What began as an Americana music festival has grown into a diverse musical profile with a growing audience every year. The festival sold out of five-day passes this year, so only one-day tickets were available. Genres at the festival today include country, metal, soft-rock, hip-hop, EDM (Electric Dance Music) and …

BergenFest or RainFest?

By Shannon Kehoe The window in the room of our hostel blew shut from the force of the wind, waking me up. The rain tapping on the glass prompted me to open the weather app on my phone. Rain. Forecast for the entire day. I got up and began getting ready like every other day, …

Exploring the drinking culture at concerts in Norway and the U.S.

By Ethan Reddish When I came to Norway, I noticed how prevalent alcohol was in daily life, at least compared to my home in small-town south Georgia. In Norway, people seem to drink with every meal but my family never drank at lunch or dinner. My college, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, is a dry campus, but …