Rave reviews for music festival ‘by:Larm’

Thousands of music lovers and media folks descended on Oslo during the past few days for the annual by:Larm music festival, which features new and promising Norwegian bands on a wide variety of stages. All told, around 600 musicians played on 30 stages around the capital, with recording company agents and reviewers in the audience along with eager fans. Some were “discovered,” others simply had fun and one, Ingrid Olava, ended up with a prize of NOK 800,000 funded by Statoil, to help further her career outside of Norway. Magne Furuholmen of rock bank a-ha, who led the jury for the Statoil stipend, said that Ingrid Olava had exhibited clear artistic development during the past year and had proven herself has a “solid” performer with an element of unpredictability. Among those nominated for the prize were DonkeyBoy, Jaga Jazzist and Katzenjammer. The by-Larm festival featured around 400 concerts during three days this year. It started in Trondheim in 1998 and attracts around 2,000 artists every year.