Bjørn Berge

Bjørn Berge takes the Blues and Rock to the next level! He performs with and without band. You wouldn't notice the difference. The man is a band on his own. Maybe thats why 'they' call him the 'string-machine'. Even the drumming is taken care off in a 'sole-man-performance'. Just a kick of a heavy, worn out boot on a wooden box for basedrum for example. His fingers play like he sold his soul to ,.... (Fill it in yourself) His voice speaks for itself. Blues to the utmost ground! Official Website: Bjørn Berge ADDITIONAL DETAILS: Bjørn Berge, Norway's best selling blues artist, started to play guitar when he was 13 years old. After playing for some years, Bjørn discovered Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Leo Kottke and John Hammond. Bjørn Berge, as we know him today, was born. Yet, the term "blues" doesn't cover what Bjørn Berge is all about. We're taking raw, hellraising rock influenced by a wide variety of music styles. Bjørn Berge's got a voice like gravel and broken glass, and sings as if the devil himself is snapping at his heels. Years of touring with nothing much but junk food, cigarettes, rainy tarmac and ferry ports to look forward to between gigs have paid off; these days Berge is one of Norway's most respected and critically praised artists. Those who have seen this medicine man of music on stage know to rate him as one of our greatest guitarists. He growls and barks, sometimes snarling the lyrics rather than singing them, spitting out his blueblack groove accompanied by just his guitar and right foot. It's raw with dirt, sweat and hunger and at times almost menacingly in touch with the dark side. Even if Berge's background is blues, his spicy homebrew reflects equal measures hip-hop and badass-funk as it does traditional blues. Berge released his critically acclaimed Blue Mood/Warner Music debut "Blues Hit Me" in 1999. The album firmly established him as one of the most exciting contemporary artists, as well as impressing critics and audiences alike with the rare authority of his musical expression. "Bag Of Nails" goes straight for the listeners jugular, and is an even more immediate and explosive experience than its predecessor. Armed with only his guitar, Berge is a musical highway robber savvy enough to leave the mediocre by the wayside, and only take with him what can enrich his music and performance. Live Berge is merciless, leaving audiences, but reeling as he packs up his guitar and heads on to the next venue, the next gig, the next challenge. He plays as if he had fifty sets of arms and twenty pairs of legs, and with an insatiable musical curiosity and appetite which will never allow him to become jaded or stuck in a rut.Album available by Bjørn Berge: "Blues hit me", "Bag of nails" and "Stringmachine". Farmen have licensed Berge's releases on Warner Music for sale outside Norway. In August 2002 he released his first album for Farmen, called "Illustrated Man", for which he received fantastic reviews in the press in Norway and Denmark. With "Illustrated man" he won the Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen) for the best Norwegian blues album in 2002. Mad Fingers Ball: Bjørn Berge, Norway's best selling blues artist, started to play guitar when he was 13 years old. After playing for some years, Bjørn discovered Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Leo Kottke and John Hammond. Bjørn Berge, as we know him today, was born. Yet, the term "blues" doesn't cover what Bjørn Berge is all about. We're taking raw, hellraising rock influenced by a wide variety of music styles. Bjørn Berge's got a voice like gravel and broken glass, and sings as if the devil himself is snapping at his heels. Years of touring with nothing much but junk food, cigarettes, rainy tarmac and ferry ports to look forward to between gigs have paid off; these days Berge is one of Norway's most respected and critically praised artists. Those who have seen this medicine man of music on stage know to rate him as one of our greatest guitarists. He growls and barks, sometimes snarling the lyrics rather than singing them, spitting out his blueblack groove accompanied by just his guitar and right foot. It's raw with dirt, sweat and hunger and at times almost menacingly in touch with the dark side. Even if Berge's background is blues, his spicy homebrew reflects equal measures hip-hop and badass-funk as it does traditional blues. Berge released his critically acclaimed Blue Mood/Warner Music debut "Blues Hit Me" in 1999. The album firmly established him as one of the most exciting contemporary artists, as well as impressing critics and audiences alike with the rare authority of his musical expression. "Bag Of Nails" goes straight for the listeners jugular, and is an even more immediate and explosive experience than its predecessor. Armed with only his guitar, Berge is a musical highway robber savvy enough to leave the mediocre by the wayside, and only take with him what can enrich his music and performance. Live Berge is merciless, leaving audiences, but reeling as he packs up his guitar and heads on to the next venue, the next gig, the next challenge. He plays as if he had fifty sets of arms and twenty pairs of legs, and with an insatiable musical curiosity and appetite which will never allow him to become jaded or stuck in a rut.Album available by Bjørn Berge: "Blues hit me", "Bag of nails" and "Stringmachine". Mad Fingers Ball: On this new album, Bjørn Berges unique fingerstyle is shown to its fullest advantage, reinforced by his unusually harsh, deep voice. His cover of Deep Purple's "Hush" is worth the listen. All in all, the artist has released a total of 10 studio albums, two of which won a Norwegian Grammy (Stringmachine in 2001 and Illustrated Man in 2002). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.