Sommerslagere

Kevin and I went to a great outdoor concert last night in Gjøvik. Two of the performers, Trond Nagell Dahl and Trond Lien, are pretty famous in Norway (and if I understood enough Norwegian to watch NRK TV, I might have seen their show, but since I have been on a steady TV diet of American DVD's since we got here, I hadn't heard of them before). The music was fantastic, a fun mix of 70's and 80's covers, Norwegian and Swedish hits and even a surprisingly good rendition of Bob Marley's "Could This Be Love." (This is actually the second time we have heard live reggae music since we moved here...last September, we went to a carnival where Ravi was performing and he did several reggae tunes too. It's kind of funny to hear reggae so far north, performed by such blonde people, but I must say I have been very impressed by the quality of all the live music I have heard here.) Anyway, at the concert last night, the singers bantered with each other between the songs and the audience roared with laughter. I really couldn't follow the jokes, because in order for me to understand Norwegian, the speaker must talk slowly and clearly and not use slang (and also use very small words). I felt very frustrated with myself, but at least I was able to appreciate one really funny moment of the concert. As the evening grew dusky, a bat started circling the stage, hunting for bugs. The female singer noticed the bat, and apparently the bat noticed her too, because it started swooping around her head. The singer was such a pro and she managed to keep singing as she tried to run away from the bat--even her surprised shrieks were right on pitch! One of the guitar players almost fell over from laughing so hard, and the whole audience was cracking up, especially when the bat flew right between her knees. It finally flew off into the night, much to the poor singer's relief. (When Kevin's dad was visiting, he asked us if there were bats in Norway. We said we didn't know, as we had never seen one. Now we can answer with confidence that yes, they do live here, and they seem to appreciate a good '80's medley!)