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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.
Visit Bjørn
Berge's official website.
 You
can order Bjørn Berge releases (CD's and/or digital downloads)
here.
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