"Mitt lille land" (in ) is a song by

Ole Paus Ole Paus (1947–2023) was a Norwegian singer-songwriter and poet, widely regarded as one of the most innovative Norwegian musical figures of the 20th century and "Norway's most significant troubadour at the time of his death." Emerging during t ...

, written in 1994 as a lyrical description of Norway. The song gained strong popularity following the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

, which led to it being described by the media as "the new

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

." According to the

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

, the song "came to symbolize the sorrow many people went through." The song featured most prominently in all the memorial ceremonies following the attacks. The

memorial concert (30 July 2011) following the attacks was named "Mitt lille land," and the concert opened with "Mitt lille land" sung by

Maria Mena Maria Viktoria Mena (born 19 February 1986) is a Norwegian pop singer, best known for her singles such as " You're the Only One", "Just Hold Me", "All This Time" which charted in multiple countries. Early life Maria Viktoria Mena was born t ...

. The national memorial ceremony (21 August 2011) was opened with "Mitt lille land" sung by

Susanne Sundfør Susanne Aartun Sundfør ( (local Haugesund dialect; Help:IPA/Norwegian, ʉˈsɑ̀nːə ˈɔ̀ʈːʉːn ˈsʉ̀nføːrin Urban East ("standard") Norwegian); born 19 March 1986) is a Norwegians, Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer. ...

, followed by a speech by

King Harald V Harald V (, ; born 21 February 1937) has been King of Norway since 1991. A member of the House of Glücksburg, Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the line of succ ...

. On the

Norwegian Constitution Day Constitution Day is the national day of Norway and is an official public holiday observed on 17 May each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to as ''Syttende mai'' ("Seventeenth of May"), ''Nasjonaldagen'' ("National Day"), or ''Grunnl ...

in 2012, the

broadcast was opened with "Mitt lille land." The

Norwegian People's Aid Norwegian People's Aid () was founded in 1939 to provide post-conflict reconstruction assistance and humanitarian relief during conflicts. NPA is now engaged in more than 33 countries in de-mining, Humanitarian aid, humanitarian relief, promotin ...

and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

released a memorial album titled '' Mitt lille land'' and

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norway, Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Denmark, Dan ...

published a memorial book also titled ''Mitt lille land'' during the autumn of 2011. Numerous Norwegian artists have recorded cover versions of this song, among them

Sondre Bratland Sondre Bratland (born 11 September 1938) is a Norwegian folk singer, song teacher and Government scholar. He has performed traditional songs from Setesdal and Telemark, collected religious folk tunes and composed music to songs by poets as Olav ...

Christine Guldbrandsen Christine Guldbrandsen (born 19 March 1985 in Bergen, Norway) is a singer who is best known internationally for being the Norwegian entrant in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. She has released three albums in Scandinavia: '' Surfing in the Air'' ...

Maria Solheim Maria Solheim (born 19 January 1982 in Alsvåg, Øksnes Municipality, Vesterålen) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She was discovered at 15 years old, by a travelling musician, singing her own songs in a small fishing village. She has released ...

Thomas Dybdahl Thomas Dybdahl (born 12 April 1979) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Background Thomas Dybdahl grew up in Sandnes, Norway. He started his musical career as the guitarist in the band Quadraphonics. The band released o ...

Mari Boine Mari Boine (born Mari Brit Randi Boine; 8 November 1956) is a Norwegian Sámi singer. She combined a form of Sámi joik singing with rock. In 2008, she became a professor of musicology at Nesna University College. Biography Mari Boine was bo ...

Anne Grete Preus Anne Grete Preus (22 May 1957 – 25 August 2019) was a Norwegian rock singer in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s, first as member of the bands Veslefrikk and Can Can and later as a solo act. She released nine solo albums and won the Spellemannprise ...

Haddy N'jie Haddy Jatou Njie (formerly N'jie; born 25 June 1979) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, writer and journalist. Her father is Gambian and her mother is Norwegian. She grew up in Kolbotn near Oslo and is the eldest of five siblings. Her younger s ...

Kurt Nilsen Kurt Erik Nilsen () (born 29 September 1978) is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian reality show ''Idol'', which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of ''Pop Idol'' called ...

, D.D.E.,

Sølvguttene Sølvguttene ("The Silver Boys") is a boys' choir founded by Torstein Grythe in June, 1940. He held the position as conductor until 2004, when Fredrik Otterstad took over.Eldri Espedal StorhaugSølvguttene kom med julefredAftenbladet, December 12, ...

Tone Damli Aaberge Tone Damli Aaberge (born 12 April 1988) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous for being a contestant in the Norwegian version of the ''Idol'' series. Damli was the runner-up in the Norwegian version of ''Idol'' in 20 ...

and

. The song was originally written for the pro-EU organisation "Fra Nei til Ja" (From No to Yes) in connection with the

1994 Norwegian European Union membership referendum A referendum on joining the European Union was held in Norway on 27 and 28 November 1994. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1438 After a long period of heated debate, the "no" side won with 52.2 per cent of ...

, and the song has been described as

ironic Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...

. Ole Paus denied in 2011 that the song was ironic. According to Professor of Musicology Even Ruud, "the music and the text are very open. There is nothing in the song that is related to a particular time, which means that it can be interpreted in several different ways." The song was originally released on the album also titled ''Mitt lille land'' in 1994, which contained four tracks. The first track was ''Mitt lille land'' and the last track was a

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

performed by Ole Paus and Labour politician and then-Minister of Trade and Shipping Affairs Grete Knudsen titled ''Sjølråderetten fallera!''.

References

{{authority control Norwegian songs 2011 Norway attacks 1994 songs National symbols of Norway Norwegian anthems