A while back, some Norwegian young pop stars — Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Askil Holm and Alejandro Fuentes — decided to call themselves were referred to in the Norwegian press as the "De Nye Gitarkameratene (New Guitar Buddies)".
Mind you, they are popular musicians.
But the problem is that there is already a real and original Gitarkameratene (The Guitar Buddies)! It's a supergroup made up of four of the most beloved and popular musicians / singers / songwriters on the Norwegian folk / pop scene — Jan Eggum, Øystein Sunde, Lillebjørn Nilsen and Halvdan Sivertsen. All four — alone and together– are alive and kicking and continue to make great music!
It was, in my opinion, arrogant for these youngters to give themselves that name. To put it in a perspective that people in North America might understand, it's as if a bunch of recent American Idol winners formed a group and called themselves the "New Highwaymen" or the "New Traveling Wilburys". Outrageous!
The young pups received positive attention for their English-language version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
But the name situation has inspired a well-deserved Norwegian-language parody by some Norwegian commedians who call themselves Hallelujahkameratene.
The St. Olaf College Norwegian Department's blog provides the lyrics in Norwegian (as well as a video of the "Ny Gitarkameratene" singing the song). I've done a rough translation of the lyrics as there doesn't seem to be any available..
Hallelujah Parodi
Ja, du har sikkert hørt den før
Nå gjør vi som de andre gjør
Vi hadde nesten begynt å miste trua (=troen)
Men hele gjengen fekk (=fikk) en trang
Te (=til) å synge en gammel Cohen-sang [Leonard Cohen]
Og platesalget stiger – hallelujahHallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
Her står jeg i en svett kvartett
Med ekskjæresten te (=til) Elin Tvedt [værdame fra TV2 og programleder i TVNorge]
Og det e (=er) ikke no' (=noe) å bli sjalu av – haha!E (=er) det rart man blir litt sår
Når en snørrunge på atten år
Står og lirer av seg Ha…lleujah!Kurt Nilsen bør jekkes ned litte grann
Han trur (=tror) at vi e (=er) et backing-band
Når han presse (=presser) stemma (=stemmen) bør du gå og skru avPublikum må tas med storm
Og kem (=hvem) faen e (=er) egentlig Askil Holm?
Og ka (=hva) drev han med før han sang Halleluja-a-a-ah?Ideen ække (=er ikke) original
Men det er en ganske grei moral
For drømmen vår var å bli intervjua (=intervjuet)
Her står vi med en sur gitar
Like konstruert som Spice Girls var
Med en klissete versjon av HallelujahHallelujah,
Halle Berry [am. skuespiller],
Hal-edussen (=helledussen)
Hallelujah
And here's my own very rough translation:
Yes, you have of course heard it before.
Now we do what others have done.
We had almost begun to lose our faith,
But the whole gang hungered
To sing an old Leonard Cohen song
And the record sales climbed — Hallelujah!Here I am in a cool quartet
With the ex-boyfriend to [TV2 host] Elin Tvedt
And that's nothing to be jealous of — ha ha!Is it strange for one to be a little sore
when a punk of eighteen years of age
stands and laughs at you? Ha–llelujah!(Norwegian /World Idol winner) Kurt Nilsen should tone it down a bit.
He believe that we are a backup band.
When he pushes his voice you should go and turn it off.The public must be bowled over
And who the devil is Askil Holm, really?
And what did he do before he sang Halleluja?The idea isn't original
But there is a serious moral to the story
Because our dream was to be interviewed.
Here we stand with a beat-up guitar
And the group is constructed like the Spice Girls were
With a slimmed down version of "[Cohen's] Hallelujah"Hallelujah,
Halle Berry
Hal-edussen (=helledussen=Wow!)
Hallelujah
The comedians performing are Espen Beranek Holm, Marit Voldsæter, Ole Morten Aagenæs, Kai Taule,as part of Gullfisken, a Norwegian comedy program in January 2007.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
simply amazing!