It's Friday — and that might mean Happy Hour for some. So here's "Bare Går Og Tar En Øl (Just Go And Get A Beer)", a 2009 release from the Norwegian band, Ole Ivars.
Ole Ivars is a dansband, meaning tjat they play a type of music that is pop oriented but with what we in the USA might call a 1950s , early 1960s vibe. It's also known as schlager music in Sweden. The group won "Band of the Year" at Norway's version of the Grammys, Spellemannprisen, in 1999.
What's fun for me about this video is that they have filmed it at the The Scotsman — to which they refer in the song — a British style pub in Oslo. It's often the first pub I go to the evening after I arrive in Norway. Last time I was there, the performer on stage that night went right into Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" as soon as I walked in the door. It felt like Lind, Nilsen, Fuentes, Holm (the fake "Gitarkameratene" — as opposed to the infinitely superior real ones) were stalking me!
Some folks in Birmingham, England (UK) who run an English-language blog on schlager music call Ole Ivars "dansband royalty" — in part because the group has sung with Swedish schlager star, Kikki Danielsson, a Eurovision winner.
But it's true. Ole Ivars is quite popular in Norway. I can't say I'm a big fan of dansband music, but you can swing dance to it. And I think it has a place on some Fridays! Have a great weekend!
