Spetakkel: Spetakkel
MIC’s Listen to Norway series continues with Spetakkel’s self-titled debut album.
The new millennium has seen a sky-rocketing of Norwegian rap-artists actually rapping in Norwegian, and more interestingly perhaps; in their own local dialect. This has become a new mark of authenticity and credibility. Thus the music scene has suddenly been invaded by a flora of particularities of the Norwegian language; something which is arguably enriching and certainly amusing: what used to be commercial suicide is now the norm; talk your home-talk! Spetakkel is The West-coast city of Bergen’s foremost contribution to this phenomenon, and they bring the linguistic particularities of Bergen into the rap-sphere, with a great deal of disarming irony. As is the dictum of the genre the ensemble has a pronounced agenda: they have a lot on their mind, but whereas the typical message often is of political or sociological kind, Spetakkel emphasize ease, i.e. a positive message, rooted –in their own words- in a light and positive conception of being. The collective was formed in 99 and their debut was the 2001-EP “Opp av Bekkalokket” Since then Spetakkel have been both internally reinforced and have ascended to the position as Bergen’s most influential rappers. The long-play debut ‘Spetakkel’ is undisputable evidence of their development and mastery of their genre. Distinguished by more elaborate melodies than the norm prescribes, a fresh, young but still tasteful production and the characteristics -as well as librating potential- of their childhood dialect, Spetakkel is a release that has made its mark like few do.
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