Knut Reiersrud (born 12 February 1961) is a Norwegian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitarist. His work also incorporates elements of Norwegian traditional music and

African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...

. Reiersrud has recorded and played with David Lindley, the Blind Boys Of Alabama,

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is ...

and Swedish blues musician Sven Zetterberg. He has also numerous collaborations with Middle East performers like Rim Banna and

Mahsa Vahdat Mahsa Vahdat (in Persian language, Persian مهسا وحدت) (born 29 October 1973, Tehran, Iran) is a Persian classical and world music singer. Mahsa Vahdat's music style is contemporary expression inspired by old traditional and folk and reg ...

. He lives in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He has collaborated extensively with the Norwegian organist

Iver Kleive Iver Kleive (born 25 May 1949 in Skien, Norway) is a Norwegian composer and organist. He is known for his composing style which is a fusion of traditional church music with other musical idioms such as blues, jazz, and Norwegian folk music. He ...

. He is lead guitarist and one of the original members of Cloudberry Cream.

Career

Reiersrud also plays the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

langeleik The ''langeleik'', also called langleik, is a Norwegian stringed folklore musical instrument, a droned zither. Description The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. Under the melody string there are seven frets per ...

, oud, and Turkish saz, he has composed music for four Norwegian movies, and together with Iver Kleive, took part in the opening ceremony of the '94

Olympic Winter Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

. In 2008 Reiersrud established his own festival «Trestock» at

Nesodden Nesodden is a municipality in Akershus in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Greater Oslo Region and many residents of the peninsula Nesodden commute to work in Oslo. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative ...

, where a superteam of Norwegian musicians contributed. Among the artists can be mentioned Odd Nordstoga, Valkyrien Allstars and Reiersrud with his own Knut Reiersrud Band, and in collaboration with organist

. Upcoming artists, exciting for the younger audience, include

Jarle Bernhoft Jarle Bernhoft (; Jarle Norman Bernhoft-Sjødin; born 21 June 1976), known professionally as Bernhoft (often stylized as Bern/hoft), is a Norwegian singer, musician and songwriter. His best known songs are "Streetlights", " Shout" (a Tears for ...

(ex «Span») with his new project; the band «Lester», composed of Nikolai Eilertsen (ex BigBang) and David Wallumrød; and the indie band «Maika». Other names include

The Grand The Grand may refer to: Buildings Official names * The Grand (Calgary), a theatre in Alberta, Canada *The Grand (Ellsworth, Maine), an arts center in Maine, U.S. * The Grand Doubletree, condominium and hotel skyscraper in Miami, U.S. * The Grand C ...

; Amund Maarud's rock band, Spellemannprisen nominated ; the girls who play lively frantic noise in Katzenjammer; the Rockabilly girls in

Lucky Lips Lucky Lips is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Ruth Brown in 1956 and was successfully covered by Cliff Richard in 1963. Ruth Brown and early cover versions The song was first recorded by the ...

; the country artist Ivar Thomas; the Nesodden heroes «Foggy Boys» and «Midnight Special»; the traditional music trio «Vrang»; and «Drøbak Bluesband». Reiersrud has for many years been host of the NRK radio program, ''Blues Asylet'', together with Knut Borge. The program is meant to be a playground and a respite for blues and blues-friends of all shades. In 2004, Krissy Matthews undertook a radio session with Reiersrud for ''Blues Asylet'' on

NRK P2 NRK P2 is one of three main, nationwide radio channels produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Its current format – focusing on news and current affairs, debate, analysis, culture, science, and society – is the result of t ...

Honors

*1991:

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

for the album ''Blå koral'' *1992:

Gammleng-prisen The Gammleng Award () is a Norwegian culture award created by ''The Fund for Performing Artists'' in 1982, 25 years after the fund was established in 1957. The award's official name is the ''Rolf Gammleng award to performing artists'' (). It's awa ...

in the class Studio *1995: Notodden Bluesfestivalpris *2004: Spellemannprisen for ''Pretty Ugly'' *2006: Danish Grammy for the tune "Nåde Over Nåde"

Discography

Solo albums

*1993 - ''Tramp'' (

Kirkelig Kulturverksted Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) is a Norwegian company and record label, founded in 1974 by Erik Hillestad. Among the musicians who have issued records on the label are Ketil Bjørnstad, Kari Bremnes, Erik Bye, Ole Paus, Sigvart Dagsland, Bjørn ...

), released in the U.S. in 1994 under the title ''Footwork'' *1995 - ''Klapp'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) *1998 - ''Soul of a Man'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) *1999 - ''Sub'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) *2001 - ''Sweet Showers of Rain'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) *2004 - ''Pretty Ugly'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) *2009 - ''Gitar'' (Big Dipper Records) *2013 - ''Aftonblues'' (Bluestown Records) *2015 - ''Tears Of The World'' (

ACT Music ACT is a German record label founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT Music + Vision founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz labe ...

), with Mighty Sam McClain *2018 - ''Heat'' (Jazzland Recordings)

Collaborative works

*1982 - ''Rooster Blues'' (

Hot Club Records Hot Club Records is a jazz record label established 1982, by guitarist Jon Larsen in Oslo, Norway.Dregni, Michael (2008) ''Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing'', OUP USA, , p. 229 The label has released over 35 ...

), with «The Four Roosters» *1993 - ''Roots To Scandinavian Blues'' (Hot Club Records), with

Nappy Brown Napoleon Brown Goodson Culp (October 12, 1929 – September 20, 2008) better known by his stage name Nappy Brown, was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singing, singer. His hit record, hits include the 1955 ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard' ...

*1991 - ''Blå koral'' (

), with

*1996 - ''Himmelskip'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted), with Iver Kleive *2000 - ''Den Signede Dag'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted), with Iver Kleive & Povl Dissing *2000 - ''4G'' (

Curling Legs __NOTOC__ Curling Legs Productions A/S (established 1992 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian record label with a catalogue encompassing all styles of jazz and improvised music. It was started by Knut Værnes and Morten Halle to release their own m ...

), guitar album with

Frode Alnæs Frode Alnæs (born 3 March 1959) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist and composer, known from cooperation with international artists like Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, Arild Andersen, Jon Balke, Ole Edvard Antonsen, Ketil Bjørnstad, Henning ...

Knut Værnes Knut Værnes (born 1 April 1954) is a Norwegian jazz musician (guitar), composer and band leader, known from several recordings in the jazz rock genre. He grew up at Bøler in Oslo, where he became an accomplished guitarist. Career Værnes was ...

& Bjørn Klakegg *2006 - ''Nåde For Nåde'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted), with Iver Kleive *2011 - ''One Drop Is Plenty'' (Kirkelig Kulturverksted), with Mighty Sam McClain *2013 - ''Som Den Gylne Sol'', with

and

Povl Dissing Povl Dissing (27 January 1938 – 18 July 2022) was a Danish singer, composer, guitarist, and harmonica player. He made his album debut with ''En aften i folkeklubben'' in 1965. His public breakthrough came in 1973 with the album ', a collabora ...

*2014 - ''Blues Detour'', with

Eric Bibb Eric Charles Bibb (born August 16, 1951) is a Grammy-nominated American-born blues singer and songwriter. Early life and education Bibb was born in New York on August 16, 1951. His father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name f ...

and Ale Moeller *2015 - ''Trail of Souls'', with

Solveig Slettahjell Solveig Slettahjell (born 2 April 1971) is a Norwegian jazz singer, known for her soulful, seductive voice. Career Slettahjell was born in Bærum, Norway, and made her recording debut with the album ''Slow Motion Orchestra'' (2003), which co ...

and

In the Country In the Country (initiated in 2003 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian Jazz trio comprising pianist Morten Qvenild, bassist Roger Arntzen and drummer Pål Hausken. Biography The band was started by the three fellow students at the Norwegian Aca ...

*2019 - ''Flying like Eagles'' ( ACT), feat. Knut Reiersrud, Phil Donkin and Jim Black

References

External links

*
Knut Reiersrud performing Scrapper Blackwell´s Back Door Blues
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiersrud, Knut 1961 births Living people Fingerstyle guitarists Norwegian blues guitarists Oud players Spellemannprisen winners Musicians from Oslo ACT Music artists Jazzland Recordings (1997) artists