Violeta Violeta is a series of studio albums by Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 group Kaizers Orchestra

Kaizers Orchestra

Kaizers Orchestra is a Norwegian alternative rock group formed on January 1, 2000. The two leading members, vocalist Janove Ottesen and guitarist Geir Zahl, had known each other for years, and first played together in a band called Blod, Snått & Juling in 1989.Kaizers Orchestra are notable for...

, comprising their sixth, seventh, and eighth studio albums. The album trilogy

Trilogy

A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...

 is being released throughout 2011 and 2012.

Vol. I was released on January 31, 2011, going straight to #1 in VG-lista

VG-lista

VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...

, the official Norwegian Albums Chart in its first week of release. Vol. II was released November 11, 2011, and Vol. III is expected November 2012.

Background

In 2007, Kaizers Orchestra's co-founder and primary songwriter Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen is a Norwegian musician, born at Bryne, Rogaland, Norway. He specializes in vocals, guitar and barrels, and is a leading member of the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra.-History:...

 hit a major creative boon, and composed two to three songs every day for ten days. Using this extensive backlog of material as a basis, Ottesen conceptualized a trilogy of albums based around the same theme. Retreating to the studio in the basement of his home with an oil barrel, Ottesen recorded a "bare-bones" demo of songs intended for the trilogy. Basic information was provided regarding Kaizers Orchestra next studio album in 2009, citing a 2011 release. Later, the band announced the Studio Tour, a four-concert tour of Norway whose proceedings would go to finance the new album. Concert attendees were given a mail-in letter for a limited edition version of the first album in the series. The albums' title and format, owing to Ottesen's extensive songwriting sessions in 2009, was revealed on February 10, 2010; the day of the first show of the Studio Tour. During an interview with NRK, it was stated that each album would have 10 songs, breaking the standard they had set of 12 per album. When asked if there would be more songs on the limited edition of the albums, they denied it, sticking with 10 per album for the trilogy.

Recording

Recording sessions for the first of three albums began on February 28, 2010, in Duper Studios in Bergen. Jørgen Træen, Yngve Sætre, as well as Ottesen acted as producers. On March 11, Ottesen revealed that 12 songs had been recorded in 12 days, completing the first album in the trilogy. The recording of additional instrumentations such as strings and orchestra was scheduled for a later date. On June 7, 2010, their official site confirmed the completion of Vol. I, as well as the release of the first single in August, and the second single in early January 2011 (though this was changed to October, 2010). According to an interview with VG Nett following the release of their first single, they explained that the first two albums of the trilogy had already been recorded, as the first album only took a fortnight. Participating guest musicians include the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and a 14 year old girl (Lykke Sofie Myrås, the sister of Janove's wife). In an interview with Aftenbladet it was revealed that they would be recording the third installment of the trilogy in December 2011, before the tour supporting Volume II.

Promotion

The first single from the first volume of the trilogy, "Philemon Arthur & the Dung", was released digitally on August 24, 2010. In October, the single was moved to the "A-list" of Norwegian radio station NRK P3

NRK P3

NRK P3 is one of three nation-wide analogue radio channels operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established as NRK's third radio channel in 1993, and focuses on youth culture: principally music, together with humour, entertainment, and health education.Over the years NRK P3...

, the highest priority playlist on the station, providing the song with more frequent airplay and exposure. To promote the release of the second single, "Hjerteknuser", Kaizers Orchestra released the official notes

Musical notation

Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...

 and lyrics to the song for free download, allowing unsigned musicians to record their own version of the song. The winner, Moi, was announced on Norwegian radio on October 27, 2010, who is scheduled to have her cover of "Hjerteknuser" released on Kaizers Orchestra's proprietary record label, and the opportunity to tour with them in 2011; during the same broadcast, Kaizers Orchestra's own version of the song received its world premiere. The second and third place winners of the competition were also given permission to release their separate versions. The music video for Kaizers Orchestra's "Hjerteknuser" stars famous Norwegian actress Ane Dahl Torp

Ane Dahl Torp

Ane Dahl Torp is a Norwegian actress. Her first film appearance was in The Woman of My Life . She has received an Amanda award for her roles both as Trude Eriksen in Svarte penger, hvite løgner , and as Nina Skåtøy in the film Gymnaslærer Pedersen .Torp was named a "Shooting Star" at the Berlin...

 portraying Beatrice, one of the characters from the lyrical "universe" of Violeta Violeta.

For their third single, "En for orgelet, en for meg", they collaborated with guest rappers from Germany (Prinz Pi) Sweden (Timbuktu

Timbuktu (artist)

Jason Michael Robinson Diakité , known under the stage name Timbuktu, is a Swedish rapper and reggae artist. Earlier in the mid-1990s, he started as part of rap Excel before going solo as Timbuktu.-Biography:...

), and The Netherlands (Blaxtar) to create versions of the song to be released in those countries. The album version of the song is made available for digital download upon pre-ordering the first album. To further promote the album, Ottesen and Øyvind Storesund, the group's bassist, embarked on a tour of small venues in Europe, performing as an acoustic double act. In the ten remaining days leading up to the album's release, the band uploaded videos starring Helge Risa, the pump organist, recorded during the preproduction period for the supporting tour. Guitarist Geir Zahl

Geir Zahl

Geir Zahl is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra. The band was founded by Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen who had both played together in some other bands, namely Blod, snått & juling and gnom...

 also uploaded a documentary about the making of the album to YouTube.

Track listing

Lyrics for all songs are in the Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

. Lyrics and music by Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen is a Norwegian musician, born at Bryne, Rogaland, Norway. He specializes in vocals, guitar and barrels, and is a leading member of the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra.-History:...

.

1. "Philemon Arthur & the Dung" - 3:22
2. "Diamant til kull" (Diamond to Coal) - 4:45
3. "Femtakt filosofi" (Philosophy in 5/4 Time) - 3:43
4. "Din kjole lukter bensin, mor" (Your Dress Smells of Gasoline, Mother) - 3:16
5. "En for orgelet, en for meg" (One for the Organ, One for Me) - 3:05
6. "Tumor i ditt hjerte" (Tumor in Your Heart) - 4:24
7. "Hjerteknuser" (Heartbreaker) - 3:20
8. "Psycho under min hatt" (Psycho under My Hat) - 3:03
9. "Svarte katter & flosshatter" (Black Cats & Top Hats) - 5:12
10. "Sju bøtter tårer er nok, Beatrice" (Seven Buckets of Tears are Enough, Beatrice) - 5:11

Vol. II

Vol. II is scheduled for release on November 11, 2011 in Norway and January 13, 2012 internationally.

Promotion

On March 1, before the start of the European tour in support of Vol. I, the band announced that Vol. II will be performed, in its entirety, for the first time at the Øya Festival on August 11, 2011. The event is to be streamed online the day following the event. The first single from Vol. II, "Tusen dråper regn", was premiered on May 31, 2011 on the radio show P3Morgen. It was confirmed in radio interviews conducted around the release of the single that Geir Zahl would be performing lead vocals on two self-composed songs on the album. The second single of the album, "Drøm videre Violeta" was released September 23, 2011, and within a week of the release was a-listed on P1 and P3.

Beginning November 1st, the band asked their fans to get involved with the 11-day countdown to the release of the album, Live i Oslo Spektrum

Live i Oslo Spektrum

Live i Oslo Spektrum is a live album released on CD, DVD and Blu-ray featuring Norwegian alternative rock band Kaizers Orchestra. It features their concert at Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway on 9 April 2011, the official celebration of Kaizers Orchestra's tenth anniversary...

, and "Sonny," their stage musical. They encouraged their fans to upload pictures to their Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 page that showed the number of days until the release, and each day the band chose a different, fan-uploaded picture as their profile picture.

Track listing

Lyrics for all songs are in the Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

. All songs written by Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen is a Norwegian musician, born at Bryne, Rogaland, Norway. He specializes in vocals, guitar and barrels, and is a leading member of the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra.-History:...

 unless otherwise noted.

1. "I ett med verden" (At One with the World) (Ottesen/Geir Zahl
   Geir Zahl
   Geir Zahl is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra. The band was founded by Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen who had both played together in some other bands, namely Blod, snått & juling and gnom...
   
   ) - 5:44
2. "Støv og sand" (Dust and Sand) - 3:49
3. "Tusen dråper regn" (A Thousand Drops of Rain) - 3:47
4. "Drøm videre, Violeta" (Keep Dreaming, Violeta) - 3:27
5. "Far til datter" (Father to a Daughter) - 3:30
6. "Faen i båten" (Devil in the Boat) - 2:02
7. "Gresk komedie" (Greek Comedy) (Zahl) - 3:34
8. "Silver" - 4:12
9. "Domino" (Zahl) - 3:15
10. "Den romantiske tragedien" (The Romantic Tragedy) - 5:11

Guest musicians

• Haldi Rønning: Violin (v.I; 1, 2, 3, 7, 10), (v.II; 4)
• Mari Persen: Violin (v.I; 1, 2, 3, 7, 10), (v.II; 4)
• Karoline Vik Hegge: Viola (v.I; 1, 2, 3, 7, 10), (v.II; 4)
• Matias J. Monsen: Cello (v.I; 1, 2, 3, 7, 10), (v.II; 4)
• Lykke Sofie Myrås: Vocal (v.I; 5, 9)
• Anand Chetty: Cowbell (v.I; 4), Choir (v.I; 1)
• Øyvind Grung: Tuba (v.I; 3,9), Trombone (v.I; 3)
• Kjetil Møster: Sax (v.I; 8, 9), (v.II; 2)
• Iver Sandøy: Choir (v.I; 1), Marimba (v.I; 7), Percussion (v.II; 5, 8)
• Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Directed by Trond Korsgaard: (v.I; 6, 9), (v.II; 10)
• Jørgen Træen: MS20 (v.I; 7), Beerflute (v.I; 5), (v.II;2), Clapping (v.II; 5)
• Yngve L. Sætre: Piano “plingplong” (v.I; 7), Backing vocals (v.I; 6)
• Teresia Sætre Aarskog, Rebekka Sætre Aarskog, Jarle Solheim, Maria K. Solheim: Choir & Clapping (v.I; 1)
• Ove André Boland, Truls Sveri Lier, Joachim Pedersen, Tommy Ones Thorstensen: Snare Drum (v.II; 3)
• Kids from Bryne Ungdomsskule: Choir (v.II; 5)