Erik Bye: Støv og stjerner

MIC’s Listen to Norway series continues with Erik Bye’s Støv og stjerner.

21.01.2005 | By: Tomas Lauvland Pettersen

’Støv og stjerner’ (dust and stars) is a lasting legacy left by one of Norwegian cultural life’s giants; Erik Bye. The legendary writer, TV-show host, vocalist and sailor passed away in October 2004 leaving a nation in mourning. A physical giant in appearance but intimate in nature, Erik Bye was and is a national treasure in Norway. The frailty of man and the grandiosity of being is a governing theme for much of Bye’s writing, including the lyrics for ‘Støv og stjerner’. This duality is also evident in the arrangements that are both quiet and understated but also grand and powerful. The album, Bye’s last, was recorded in his own living room with sparse but effective and aesthetic accompaniment from fiddler Annbjørg Lien, flutist Hans Fredrik Jacobsen and pianist/composer Henning Sommerro. Bye’s words are warm, lyrical, down-to-earth and highly metaphorical with references to a long life lived as a vagabond, sailor, journalist, writer and artist.

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