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As the activities of Nedland Kultur have become known in wider circles, invitations from various institutions and organisations have come to stage events, create special concerts or to participate at festivals. Normally, Nedland Kultur will want to do more than just bring an artist to an event. The ambition is to make something unique, something that would otherwise not have happened.
BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA, INAUGURATION
On October 16th 2002, the grand opening of the new Library in Alexandria, Egypt, took place, with an audience of dignitaries and royalty from around the world. They were celebrating this UNESCO sponsored library, which is seen as a resurrection of the centre of wisdom and learning that Bibliotheca Alexandrina used to be in ancient times. Nedland Kultur had the honour of being responsible for the music programme for the opening ceremony of the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
BUDAPEST SAMI – ROM PROJECT
Budapest Ritmo Festival wanted to host a workshop where Hungarian Rom musicians would collaborate with Sami musicians. Being partners in a Norwegian – Hungarian project supported by the EEA/EU, they approached Nedland Kultur and asked them to be the Norwegian partner of the project. Nedland Kultur agreed to plan and organise a workshop, concerts and a conference session during the 2016 Budapest Ritmo Festival. A group of three Hungarian and two Norwegian musicians participated.
SACRA ART FESTIVAL
In 2014 Nedland Kultur was approached by Bentein Baardson and Håkon Berge at Kilden, the concert-, theatre- and opera house of Kristiansand, Norway, with an invitation to take part in the planning and programming of a “Sacra Art” Festival, featuring religious music from various countries and cultures. The main contribution from Nedland Kultur was a specially comissioned concert by Indian violin virtuoso and composer Dr. L. Subramaniam and his family: Sacred Ragas, curated and coordinated by Sigbjørn Nedland, in close collaboration with Dr. L. Subramaniam.
VIETNAM OI! STAVANGER
A chance meeting between Sigbjørn Nedland of Nedland Kultur and Chi Ton in 2009 led to a collaboration between the two to promote Vietnamese culture in Norway. Terje Vallestad at Cafe Sting joined the team, and the result was two festvials in Stavanger featuring music, films, art exhibitions, seminars and more.
CROWN PRINCE CONCERT
In April, 2004, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway was on an official visit to Tanzania. The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dar Es Salaam asked Nedland Kultur to provide a musical performance during the visit. Their original idea was to bring a Norwegian band to play a concert in Tanzania, that the Crown Prince would visit. Nedland Kultur, however, suggested that it would be better to create an event where Tanzanian and Norwegian musicians could create a musical program together, to be presented at one of the events where the Crown Prince would be present.
BOINE TO ZANZIBAR – TAARAB TO SAPMI
It had been a long time ambition for Nedland Kultur to bring Mari Boine Band to Zanzibar.
Having done several earlier collaboration projects with Mari Boine and her musicians, producer Sigbjørn Nedland was eager to introduce them to Zanzibari music, and not least to introduce Zanzibar to Mari Boines arctic music, which, strangely, seemed to relate very well to the music of this island in the Indian Ocean. So well that two Zanzibari musicians joined her for the concert, and were then invited to play with her in Norway.
BABYLON BY BUS
When Nordic Black Theatre decided they wanted to stage a play about Bob Marley, they asked Nedland Kultur’s Sigbjørn Nedland to write the play for them. The result was a musical theatre play that did not give a biographical and historical account of the life of Bob Marely, but that described Mareley’s presence in the world today. Sigbjørn Nedland’s own meeting with Bob Marley, and the long conversation they had in London in 1978, was the main inspiration in the writing process. Artists performing on stage, and on the CD of music from the play that was produced, came from Norway and Tanzania, and the play was staged in both countries.
MINISTERS’ CONCERT
In April 2008 the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of the Environment Erik Solheim came on an official visit to Tanzania. With the success of the concert organised during the visit to Tanzania of the Crown Prince of Norway in mind, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania asked Nedland Kultur to create another collaboration between Tanzanian and Norwegian performers, to stage a concert during the official visit of the Ministers
ASTRAL SYMPHONY
This project was initiated when the Norwegian radio channel NRK P2, of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, asked Sigbjørn Nedland to comission a work for the Radio Symphony Orchestra, to be featured as NRK P2’s “Årets verk” – “Composition of the Year” – for 1997. Nedland contacted Indian violin virtuoso and composer Dr. L. Subramaniam, suggesting a compositon for Symphony Orchestra and traditional folk instruments.
DAR ES SALAAM CHRISTMAS CHURCH CONCERT
In 2010 Nedland Kultur received a request from The Norwegian Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: “Would you like to bring an artist or a band from Norway to perform at our annual pre-Christmas party?” Many embassies have this tradition of inviting guests – Tanzanians from governmental or other organisations, diplomats from other countries, collaboration partners etc., to a party during December. Nedland Kultur’s reply to the request was: “No, we do not want to bring a Norwegian act to perform for you. But we would love to bring Norwegian singers and musicians who could collaborate with a Tanzanian gospel group to make a church concert of Christmas music. Why not let that be the Embassy’s pre-Christmas event this year?”
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