KEiiNO releases their first album
Its like a dream come true, says KEiiNO.
From nrk.no May 15th, 2020, by Kolbjørn Norvang, Music journalist, translated from Norwegian to English by Karina brandt
— We are more than proud. “OKTA” is a manifestation of the idea that joik and pop belong together and that indegineous music is able to reach a wide audience, says the group.
Watch the digital concert by clicking the picture below. It will open in a new window – scroll to the same area of the page and go around 8.30 minutes into the show, in the beginning there’s some technical issues, but be patient, its worth the wait.
Because of the situation in the entire world right now, a lot of artists have lost their fundamental income. During the concert it was possible to vipse or paypal a donation, while others had bought online tickets pre-concert.
New York, New York
It was a big moment for KEiiNO to be invited to New York by the management of FN’s permanent forum for indigenous people’s questions. There they talked about collaborating with more indigenous artists to make pop.
That they had good feedback and praise to be a part of rendering indigenous culture visible, didn’t make the moment any less.
That they had good feedback and praise to be a part of rendering indigenous culture visible, didn’t make the moment any less.
— It was really good for me to hear that we are on right track, especially with the thought that we want to treat other indigenous expressions with respect, says Buljo.
Pride
Working together across cultures isn’t always easy, but according to Fred Buljo, it wasn’t a challenge this time.
Everyone had a pride of own culture and everyone had felt on own body how the greater society through times has challenge the culture of indigenous people and language
— The work process had a chemistry I have never felt before and I think we have managed to catch that energy in the songs.
“OKTA”
KEiiNO has literally used the entire world to make the album, “OKTA”. It was recorded in Alta in North to Adelaide in the South, with help from Persons spread over 15 nations.
In addition to Fred Buljo’s joik, also artists from four other indigenous people contributed. Australian ARIA-winners Electric Fields, the Haka-band Te Hau Tawhiti, Native American-rapper Drezus and the throatsinger Charlotte Quamanic.
Listen to the album here:
Urbi thinks
The album in itself is well produced and to be honest, we had not expected anything else from KEiiNO. After all they ARE professionals.
Electronic pop has, sadly, in the eyes of this journalist, a tendency to become rather repetitive. If not the rhythm, then the sound. This said, KEiiNO actually manages to keep up the interest with variations of rhythms from song to song, even though the sound is a little too much of the same through the entire album.
Even though the sound can be a little repetitive, Tom Hugo, Alexandra Rotan and Fred Buljo such different voices that you get quite a few breaks in the sound. The four songs with guestartists also breaks up the album so well that it goes from being mediocre to good.
The favourites of the journalists: Roar Like a Lion and Black Leather.
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