Hans Per Rotmo (10 March 1948 – 24 October 2024) was a Norwegian singer and songwriter, known by most Norwegians as the leading figure of 1970s folk-rock band , and also known as the writer of hit songs like "Fire fine lænestola" and the Christmas tune "Vårres jul". Rotmo sang in his own dialect, from

Verdal Municipality Verdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the List of towns and cities in ...

. Rotmo was a supporter of the revolutionary communist movement

AKP(m-l) The Workers' Communist Party (, AKP) was a Norwegian communist party (1973–2007). AKP was a Maoist party and one of two communist parties in Norway; the other was the older Communist Party of Norway which had remained pro-Soviet. The relationsh ...

in his younger years, and many of the lyrics of his songs, especially those from the Vømmøl period, are influenced by the thoughts of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, although the surface content of most of these songs concern the population of rural Norway, the industrial progress that followed

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and the effects of the latter on the former.

Personal life and death

Born in

on 10 March 1948, Rotmo was a son of merchants Peder Aksel Rotmo and Hjørdis Aasander. He was first married to Anne Lise Olsen, and from 1986 to actress Hege Rohde. He graduated as cand.mag. in history from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1973. Rotmo died from cancer on 24 October 2024, at the age of 76.

References

External Links

* * 1948 births 2024 deaths Norwegian songwriters 20th-century Norwegian male singers 21st-century Norwegian male singers University of Oslo alumni Deaths from cancer in Norway {{Norway-singer-stub