Review in Tønsbergs Blad, Saturday July 11. 1998
| Translation by Dag Sirnes: Tjøme: Havna. Fjærholmen. Ormelet. Mention the places by name and the dancing foot twitches, even if it is old and tends to wrinkle at the ankle. See the teasing look in grandma's eyes, grandpa straightening his back and saying something like ''there were times, it's true...''. By: Inger Lise Børringbo Ormelet can mark its 75th anniversary as one of the summer's busiest crossroads for summer residents. A bouquet of flowers must be tied for that. That was the case with ''It happens so much on a summer night'', which premiered on Thursday evening. Stein Lunde's lyrics to the ''summer night'' are like a memory book with pictures from that time ''everything was anticipation and nothing was over'' as it is said in one of the songs. Like a film, densely packed with visual information, Silje Nergaard and Reidar Vinje Stensvold brought these songs to a packed and overheated hall. There are many good texts here! The heartache scheme is there all the time, but here there is so much refined song literature that it is a joy. ''Balladen om løytnant Glahn og Edvarda'' (The ballad about lieutenant Glahn and Edvarda) (*) is a piece of song/music art that the Hamarøy/Hamsun festival just has to know about. ''Vet du er en engel'' (Know you are an angel ) and ''Hyrdestund i campingvognen'' (Shepherd's time in the caravan) have something everyday tragic and tenderly adult about them, which really stands for six (on the dice)! ''Hvorfor ble du stor så fort'' (Why did you grow up so fast) should become a compulsory dad song on all birth preparation courses in this country. Reidar Vinje Stensvold can recite and perform a song text with rare good diction. Silje Nergaard was not quite as sharp, but she is not uneven in Argentinian tango. For ''Mesterskytteren'' (The master shooter ) at Ormelet, (Stensvold in chief uniform), gestalt the evening's Casanova, - from 'back then'. The tribute to Robert (should be pronounced Råbbert) Normann and Willie Andresen also had the distant admiration that can be incorporated vocally and musically. Because let's not forget, in big and beautiful words, the musicians Olaf ''Knerten'' Kamfjord (bass), Thomas Eriksen (piano) and Jon K. Roslund (drums). This is a cabaret, completely newly written and pure young as summer is currently on the summer island of all summer islands: Tjøme. Rougher with a jazz touch and more soft troubadour-like , this sonorous nostalgia about everything that happened on a summer night reached grandparents of all ages, as well as their children. There is something melancholic fifties about Ormelet's dance hall. With pictures of King Håkon on the wall and waltzes, tangos and other dances in memory and dancing feet, we should think that the cabaret can be played for far more than two evenings. This cabaret is a business card the hosts, Alf van der Hagen and Dorthe Endresen, can be proud of. The (Vestfold) festival too, of course. Else Pernille Weider (79), born Gyth-Dehli, (from) Føynland, and spouse Aage Weider from Namsos met each other at a summer dance on Fjærholmen. Havna was a well-known dance venue, and yesterday they dusted off old good memories at Ormelet. With their son Kaare Weider, as a companion. Flowers for everyone, and a blue-painted wooden chair for Stein Erik Lunde. It is the honorary award at Tjøme kunst- og kultursenter (Tjøme Art and Culture Centre), Ormelet. When will someone from the outside move in and give a few dozen of the same seating equipment to van der Hagen/Endresen who manage to serve a very small festival for themselves, - year after year? Mayor Tandberg, .... are you listening! ? Photo TANGO WITH KJETIL: When the tango was rolling at its best, Silje and Kjetil danced in a corner at the edge of the stage.... Photo: Øivind Skår (*) PS: Lieutenant Glahn and Edvarda are characters in the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun's novel Pan from 1894. |