Grethe Svensen // Catwalk // CD

A gramophone cabaret about the wretched, spoiled way of life during the last golden years of the twentieth century.

Influenced by an attraction towards German hits from the time before and after the last World War, Erik Hillestad of Kirkelig Kulturverksted made contact with Grethe Svensen and asked if she would take part in a little cabaret on CD. He had a particular feeling for some shady areas in her voice that would fit perfectly into this project. The aim: To be a contemporary comment on issues such as entertainment, money and vanity.

Grethe Svensen was positive. She liked the idea and the songs, and the recorded result  “Catwalk” is now available. Here Grethe’s voice passes on Hillestad’s own lyrics as well as free adaptations of “In den Kasernen”, “Davon geht die Welt nicht unter” and “Lili Marlene” a.o..

Grethe Svensen has discussed possible recording projects with KKV before. Many years ago, before Grethe’s recording debut, the company wanted her to do a CD in Norwegian, but at that time she wasn’t ready for anything but pop/soul in English. But 4 solo albums later she was ready to try a project in Norwegian.

To arrange the material musically, a band that could keep the songs’ original past and at the same time bring them into our own time, was required. The choice fell on Audun Erlien (bass balalaika, Mexican acoustic bass and el.bass), Anders Engen (coctail drum, cello and percussion), Eivind Aarseth (guitar), Bengt-Egil Hanssen (keyboards and accordion) and Lars Andreas Haug (tuba).

Track list:

1. I natt skal du glemme                                              4:00

2. Dine hender er like grå                                             5:10

3. Catwalk                                                                     4:00

4. La, la, la                                                                     3:50

5. Min stinne baby                                                        3:40

6. Jeg står i Chicago                                                    3:40

7. Han skjenker kaffe                                                    3:40

8. Lille trommemann                                                     6:30

9. Godt å se et mord iblant                                          4:15

10. Aldri går vår verden under                                     3:37

11. I natt som før                                                           3:15