Toner fra grenseland / Music from the borderland

The north-eastern part of Northern Norway is home to one of the most distinct borders in the world. Across the border from Pasvik and Grense Jakobselv, something completely different and foreign - culturally, linguistically, religiously, ideologically and politically - begins. For a long time, Sør-Varanger was the only part of Western Europe that bordered directly on what was the Soviet Union and is now Russia.

After the Russian assault on Ukraine, this borderland has become even more important to understand.

Sør-Varanger Suite by author Kjartan Fløgstad is a lyrical work that reflects the wealth, the friendship between people, the contradictions, misunderstandings and tensions that characterize life in this borderland. In the songs, we hear the voices of people who experience the border situation on an individual level.

Trygve Seim has composed music to the suite, and is performing it alongside Nynorsk Brass Quintet and singer Tora Augestad