The electronical music scene makes Tromsø an innovative city, says Karl Kristian Hansen.

Searching for Tromsø’s true soul, it is not possible to ignore the electronical music scene. Röyksopp, Bel Canto and Biosphere are artists who have participated in developing and creating the electronica genres in Norway and abroad, and they are all from Tromsø. How is it possible for a small town to produce such innovative musicians?

-Looking back to the nineties the house/techno scene was to me a very important part of the city. Artists like Bel Canto and Biosphere brought us new impulses from the outside world, and made Tromsø an exciting and interesting place to grow up in. It prevented me from yearning to move to bigger cities, says Karl Kristian Hansen, who in 2001 came up with the idea of starting the Insomnia Festival.  The festival is a scene for all genres of electronical music, and Hansen is today the chairman of its board.

-If you look for quantity Tromsø has rather been a blues- or rock-city. But if you look for which musicians who have achived international recognition and sucess, it’s the musicians making electronical music who have succeeded, says Hansen.
-What fascinates me is that those working on the electronica scene are trying to create something different and a genuin expression. There is something truly innovative in having to throw away the traditional instruments to create electronical sounds, it forces you to create new music.
- From the nineties and up until today you could always find small venues and clubs playing completely new music in Tromsø. The little clubs pop up and disintegrate, just to be followed by other venues. Because the scene is always depending on individual idealists who work in the bar or are dj’ing, they are also fragile to changes.
So the small crowd who where gathering to listen and dance to house, techno, ambient or drum’n’bass in Tromsø in the nineties managed to back up the few musicians Tromsø had. Most of the musicians were also djs who played their own and their friends’ music in between the great international artists. Some of Tromsø’s musicians traveled to other cities in Europe and returned with new impulses and international contacts. Somehow relatively many of the artists managed to succeed outside of Tromsø and Norway. Since 1989 artists like Biosphere, Mental Overdrive, Ismistik/Bjørn Torske, Aedena Cycle, Y.B.U, Open skies, Alanïa, Bel Canto, Those Norwegians, Phonophani og Drum Island, have launched there albums in several European record labels, such as SSR, R&S, Djax, Reinforced, DeConstruction, Paper og Ferox. Recently Röyksopp has had sucess in the industry internationally. This spring Alog from Tromsø was awarded ”Spellemansprisen” (Norwegian music award) for best electronica.

-These musicians have done a great job in making Tromsø a modern, international and innovative city, says Hansen, but a small town will always have its drawbacks.
-What scares me a little bit is that the electronical music scene in Tromsø has always contained very few persons, so if someone move or give up, the scene is very vulnerable. Also, the public opinion in Tromsø never embraces these musicians until they come home with international record deals and millions of dollars. I guess this is because of the typical small town narrowmindedness. In a way it’s sad because our most famous musicians don’t feel they owe the city anything. At the same time maybe you need some resistance to become the best, muses Hansen.
-The very few electronica musicians have managed to make a great impact. This shows me that one single person from the far north can make a difference if they believe in what they are doing. This fantastic little electronical music scene in Tromsø could disintegrate and disappear at any time. For me starting the Insomnia Festival is my way of trying to help sustain this scene, and to back up a truly innovative crowd in Tromsø.

http://www.insomniafestival.no/