Vinskvetten (previously known as Salhus Vinskvetten) is a Norwegian music and comedy troupe.

History

The group was formed in 1975 as part of a local comedy revue (Nornarevyen (Salhus Revy og Teater)), and has ever since been based in

Salhus Salhus may refer to: Places *Salhus, Vestland, a village in Bergen municipality, Vestland county, Norway *Salhus Church, a church in Bergen municipality, Vestland county, Norway *Salhus, Nordland, a village in Brønnøy municipality, Nordland count ...

, north of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The group's name is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of another well known band from the same area,

Salhuskvintetten Salhuskvintetten OLKABILAMO was a band from Salhus, Åsane in Bergen, Norway formed in 1950 by Monrad Holm Johnsen. History Monrad Holm Johnsen came from Sandviken to Salhus in 1930 and became active in both sports and in the local man's choir. ...

. They first gained national fame in 1983, when they made the TV program ''Livet i Rothålå'' (Life in ''Rothålå''), a mockumentary about the fictional town of Rothålå. This production would stay with both the band and its fans for the remainder of their career, and the band often use the town and its inhabitants as basis for their songs. In the late 1980s the band began recording their material, and their first two albums, released in 1988 and 1991, both went gold in Norway. They would go on to record seven albums, the last one in 2005. In 2008, the group announced their farewell tour, which played to sold-out crowds in Bergen during fall 2008 and winter 2009. The show was released on a DVD soon after, along with over two hours of bonus material from 1981 to 2007. The group subsequently retired. Vinskvetten sings in a typical Northern

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

dialect referred to as "stril", which is local slang for a person from the outskirts of Bergen and their dialect, and they also use many "old"

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

words and expressions in their lyrics.

Members

The line-up went through many changes during the '70s and '80s, until a final roster was selected in 1986. Final members (1986 - 2009): *Bjørn Jensen alias "Bertel" –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(founding member), *Jarle Farestveit alias "Hallstein" –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

and vocals (founding member), *Gunnar Låstad alias "Ruball" –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and vocals, *Arild Totland alias "Belbert" –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and vocals, *Øyvind Østerbø alias "Øyvind" – guitar and vocals, *Gunnar Polden – light and sound technician. Former members (until 1986): * Steinar Toft * Finn Langeland * Knut Langeland * Stein Langeland * Bjørn Ivar Rusten * Kjell Østerbø * Roald Tellevik

Discography

Albums

*1988: "Platå" - Sold 25,000 (

Gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in Norway) *1991: "På Helså Laus" - Sold 25,212 copies (Gold record in Norway) *1994: "På Nye Eventy" - Sold 15,353 copies *1997: "Rånnyen og Kveitebollen" - Sold 32,402 copies (Gold record in Norway) *2000: "Dei Beste" (Greatest hits) - Sold 19,800 copies *2002: "Du Sa Det Va Forbi-bi-bi..." - Sold 12,162 copies *2005: "Stapp Mett" - Sold 7,000 copies

Singles

* 1984: Data-Dagros (single) * 1990: Ein Heit Ekkel Sommarhitt (single) * 2004: Daiane (single)

DVDs

* 2006: Stapp-Mett (DVD) * 2009: No Kjem Dei Tre Siste (DVD)

External links

Vinskvettens official page (In Norwegian)Ballade.no article
{{Authority control Norwegian musical groups