Folkelig toppmøte

Lars Bryne reports in Laagendalsposten on the concert by Knut Buen and Jackie Leven on Thursday evening, 2 July 2009, in the backyard of Christians Kjeller at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. He calls them “two great musicians from different camps”; they had not shared a stage before.

Mixing the Hardanger fiddle with the folk singer Leven may sound a bit odd, but the meeting went quite well. Folk tunes fit nicely into a jazz-festival setting, whether rooted in Africa or in Jondalen. The audience, at any rate, was carried away, and Buen's philosophical humour spread across a backyard full of expectant listeners; Buen is as much a funny man as a fantastic musician.

The festival management was quick the next day to apologise that the two had not been given the right stage, since the music demanded something of its listeners. A crowd in festival mood easily brings chatter with it, which marked the second half of the concert somewhat. But, the verdict runs, it was great art all the same.