A Conversation with Hanne Hukkelberg (continued)

PM: What kind of a place is Oslo, and is Norway, to be a musician in? Is Oslo a good town, and is Norway a good country to be a musician in?

HH: Yeah, I think so. It's at least very much better than it was 10 years ago. Norway is a fast growing country, I think. Yeah, I think now it's possible to live as a musician. At least I can live as a musician now. And I just hope that I can continue doing that. But it's not like--I've heard of countries that have much better arrangements for supporting artists.

PM: Like Canada? 

HH: Yeah, Canada. And France, I've heard something about, too.

So I think Norway has something to work on, but it's absolutely possible to live here being a musician.

PM: Tell me, Hanne, what kind of a home and an atmosphere did you grow up in, and how did it affect your later occupation? What was it like where you grew up? You said your parents were classical players, right?

HH: Yeah. And my parents are classical piano players, and they are educated at the same place as me, at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. When we were kids we were playing and singing in the church and at the senior homes. And we were playing every night. It was really something like now I can imagine people like laughing a bit at how we were singing and playing all the time. But we really did. And every evening my mother was singing and my sister was singing the second voice, and I was singing something else. And my brother was playing the glockenspiel. My father was playing the piano.

PM: Amazing.

HH: Yeah, it's a bit weird, but we actually did it.

PM: [laughs]

HH: And we are still doing it. When I visit my parents where they live now, they are still playing and singing all the time. They're really doing music all the time.

PM: Crazy about music, yeah.

HH: Yeah. And my brothers and sisters, they have got a lot of kids. And every time a new kid comes, they make a new song for every kid.

PM: Wow.

HH: My parents. They're composing a new song for every kid that comes.

[laughter]

HH: So they're really a musical family, I have to say, they're really mad about music.

PM: They must be very proud of you and your career.

HH: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, they're very proud.

PM: Are you what you'd call a spiritual person?

HH: Well, I think I have developed from a very spiritual person to a more down-to-earth type person. I have been through a number of spiritual pursuits, if you understand.

PM: Yes.

HH: But I'm coming down to a very good set of beliefs that is not containing anything special. I believe in just pure--I don't know--I would have had much more exciting things to say if you asked me 10 years ago.

[laughter]

HH: I was such a strange teenager. So if this was 10 years ago you would have totally strange answers from me. But now I have simply grown up, and I would see myself as a grownup responsible person, and I have the possibility to work with music every day, and it's not like a spiritual thing to me anymore. It's just discipline and it's hard work.

PM: Yeah. I think maybe as we get older we come, as you say, we come more down to earth and it's more integrated. It's not all in your heart or it's not all in your head, it's just a part of who you are and you're just doing your thing.

HH: Yeah. I'm just doing it, and that's it. Yeah, I don't know. [laughs]

PM: So are there many tour dates planned for the U.S.? Will you come and play a lot of dates here?

HH: Yeah, we'll come to the United States, and first of all, 10th of March we will come to New York. And then the 11th of March we will go to Brooklyn, and the 13th to the 16th or something we will be at South By Southwest.

PM: Now, will you play many shows at South By Southwest? Do you know?

HH: Yeah, I think at the Saturday we will play. I don't know where.

PM: Right.

HH: But I think we will play Saturday night somewhere. And I think we will play one more time, but I don't have the information where or when yet.

PM: Well, I will definitely try to see you somewhere in Austin at South By Southwest. But I also want to try and catch you at the Knitting Factory in New York on the 10th of March. And if I get to one of those shows I will come up and introduce myself, because I really love your music.

HH: Yeah. Great. You have to do that.

PM: Thank you for talking with me, Hanne. I appreciate you giving me your time today.

HH: Thank you, too.

PM: Yeah. I will let your manager and the record company know when the interview is up, and I'll send you a few songs of this band Crooked Still.

HH: Yeah, thank you. See you sometime.