KEiiNO is going to search the world for indigenous music

It got late for the three band members when they were celebrating Norway’s best placement in Eurovision Song Contest since 2013 – and that their “Spirit in the sky” was the contribution that clearly got the most public votes.

Alexandra Rotan reveals that she went to bed at seven, after celebrating with, amongst other things, an improvised concert at Eurovclub, the arrangements official nightclub.

• Have you been to bed? Asks Fred Buljo, who is the one who arrives last at the interview the next day.  
• Now the trip home to Norway is waiting – and Buljo tells that the first thing he is going to do when he gets home, is to fry himself a Grandiosa.

MGP Junior first

First, KEiiNO is performing at MGP Junior the upcoming Saturday. Then there will be a new single within a month.

• And there will be some larger performances, tells Tom Hugo Hermansen, who is secretive about these because they are not yet official.
• And it is our goal to record an album with other indigenous artists. We are trying to find a solution for financing this, he says.
• We are going to visit countries with indigenous people and record songs in these indigenous languages, Fred Buljo elaborates.

Concept album

KEiiNO is still going to be a solo band when they release songs.

• But its very cool to gather these songs on a good, old fashioned album, and get a continuity. Call it a concept album, if you please. It’s something we want to do, says Tom Hugo.

The thought behind this is that 2019 is FN’s year for indigenous languages. The album is not necessarily coming during this year, but the work definitely starts this year.

• We are going to New Zealand, Australia, and the Amazones, says Fred Buljo.

From Australia, there has already been a lot of inquiries from people who want to be in on the album. 

• We are very popular there, says Alexandra Rotan.

Inuitt-DNA

During the Eurovision-competition, the bandmembers took a DNA-test from the ancestry company which sponsored the arrangement. It was revealed that both Alexandra Rotan and Tom Hugo are distant relatives to Elisabeth “Bettan” Andreassen, who took the same test because she is a previous Eurovision-winner, with Bobbysocks in 1985.

For joiker and Sami Fred Buljo’s it was known that his DNA amongst others, can be traced to Inuits. 

• So perhaps we should make something in Greenland or Alaska. That’s natural, says Tom Hugo.
• And Canada, Buljo adds.

Accessible pop music

 We want the songs to still be KEiiNO-songs and accessible pop music. We are adding spice with something unique. Until now we have spiced up with joik. Now we are going to bring in other expressions and languages. It could be a lot of fun. Something will probably function really well, and something other perhaps too special interesting, says Tom Hugo.

• We clearly want to keep the joik traditional. We also have to have respect for the other musical expressions, even though we mix it with modern expressions, Fred Buljo adds.

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