The Tromsø techno scene is the origin of many of Norway's most important artists within

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

. The internationally best-known names are

Röyksopp Röyksopp (), a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland. Berge and Brundtland were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in Tromsø, Norway. They enjoye ...

Biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...

and

Bel Canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

. The record label

Beatservice Records Beatservice Records (established 10 October 1994 in Tromsø, Norway) is a Norwegian record label releasing electronic music. It was initiated by Vidar Hanssen who was DJing for a local student radio with the program ''The Beatservice Radio Show'' ...

and the Insomnia Festival makes

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the 21s ...

still leading in the country as of the development and promotion of the genre.

History

The city of

has since the early 1980s been mentioned as "the techno capital" of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The first generation of the Tromsø techno scene consisted of, among others,

Geir Jenssen Geir Jenssen (born 30 May 1962)Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, , p.197-198 is a Norwegian electronic musician and composer who records as Biosphere. A resident of Tromsø within the Arctic Circle, Jenssen is well kno ...

(

Anneli Drecker Anneli Marian Drecker (born 12 February 1969, in Tromsø, Norway) is a Norwegian singer and actress from the city of Tromsø. She is the frontwoman for the dream pop band Bel Canto. Life and career Drecker's father Peter, a German from Biele ...

(

), Per Martinsen ( Mental Overdrive), Rune Lindbæk and Bjørn Torske. A local student radio by the name Brygga Radio, including Bjørn Torske, had success with radio show Beatservice at this time. Here was Vidar Hanssen, who later founded the record label

, a keen contributor. The success of especially

and Mental Overdrive, both at home and abroad, inspired an increasing number of Tromsø residents to invest their time in the genre. This resulted in several new projects in the 1990s, with groups such as Aedena Cycle, Alanïa, Drum Island, and

Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above- freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

Svein Berge Svein is a Norwegian masculine given name which may refer to: Rulers * Sweyn Haakonsson (died c. 1016), in Norwegian Svein Håkonsson, an earl and co-ruler of Norway from 1000 to c. 1015 * Svein Knutsson (c. 1016–1035), King of Norway as Sweyn I ...

and Torbjørn Brundtland, who later formed the world-renowned group

, were very active in the scene at the time, and members of several of the above mentioned groups. Other new and important names at the time were

Gaute Barlindhaug Gaute Barlindhaug is an electronic musician from Tromsø, Norway. He is currently known under the artist name Kolar Goi. Career As a member of the quartet Aedena Cycle, together with Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge from Röyksopp, and Ko ...

( Kolar Goi), Kolbjørn Lyslo and Ole Johan Mjøs. In 2002, the Insomnia Festival was founded. It is today Norway's leading festival for

, alongside Numusic in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , US usually , ) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. T ...

. In the later years, artists like Doctor Katasztrofa, F.A.C.E., The Clean Shaven Grins, Kohib and the award-winning Alog have emerged from the scene.

The TOS.CD

To celebrate ten years of the Beatservice Radio show in 1994, Vidar Hanssen decided to collect tracks from all of the Tromsø techno artists for a compilation CD. The result was released in October 1994: "''TOS.CD - Tromsø Techno 1994''". Established acts like

, Mental Overdrive and Ismistik all contributed exclusive tracks, together with up-and-coming stars like Aedena Cycle, Electric-C, B-Code, Information and Dynamic Bits. The album showed the variety in the Tromsø scene, ranging from relaxed ambient via poppy dance to hard edged techno/trance. The album name refers to the airport code of the

Tromsø Airport Tromsø Airport ( no, Tromsø lufthavn; ) is an international airport located at Langnes in the city of Tromsø in Tromsø Municipality, Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Situated on the western shore of the island of Tromsøya, it features a ...

, which is ''TOS''.

List of artists

* Mental Overdrive * Bjørn Torske * Rune Lindbæk *

* Kolar Goi * Aedena Cycle * Alanïa * Drum Island * Those Norwegians * Alog * The Clean Shaven Grins

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tromso Techno Scene Music in Tromsø Norwegian electronic music

History

The TOS.CD

List of artists

See also

References