Interviews
Det store hjertet
- Publication
- Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad
- Author
- Johnny Andreassen
- Date
- 12 September 1998
- Page
- 30
- Language
- Norwegian
- Access
- Free to read
Music page by Johnny Andreassen (formerly Fremtiden) with an interview on the sofa at the Hotel Savoy and a short review. Andreassen describes Leven as an artist who puts more soul and heart into it than anyone else he has met; Leven is slowly becoming prominent in Norway after frequent acoustic tours, and a Norwegian (Jan Saghaug) made his official website. At the last meeting the talk was of fairy tales for men and the ability to cry; at that time Leven announced an album about injustice towards women (“Injured Woman”). Now he says that, unfortunately, he has since hurt his partner again; something of what he wanted to say about women's fates is also in Night Lilies.
According to Leven, the album title goes back to large night lilies that grew in his youth along a disused railway line in a forbidden area and opened only late in the evening; at 16–17 he mostly brawled and drank. He forgot the flowers until he found them again late one evening on a remote Greek island – the scent hit him like a shock. He speaks of “memory chances” and warns that being open can destroy you (example Bill Clinton). On the whisky: Leven's Lament is still being produced but is hardly available, Harrods is said to be a safe source; in his youth one could choose between the paper mill, the coal mine and the whisky bottling plant, workers received eight bottles a week, and his home town had Europe's highest unemployment and the most suicides for three years. He no longer drinks whisky himself.
Announcement of the big Norwegian tour in October with Steafan Hannigan (Irish flutes, percussion) and Michael Cosgrave (keyboard, trumpet). The review calls Night Lilies a pearl with some of his most beautiful melodies and more experimental rock moods, “Celtic soul” with “perhaps the most beautiful male voice of our time”. A box quotes Leven's love of Gothic horror storytellers.
Summary in our own words; for the exact wording see the original.
Vi her i det døende Vesten har mistet forståelsen av hva som får oss til å gråte
Source
Johnny Andreassen · Drammens Tidende og Buskeruds Blad · 12 September 1998 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0