Silje Nergaard showcase
I was at Mileu this evening with Joan, watching Norwegian jazz singer Silje Nergaard perform several songs from her two albums. She’s big in Europe but little known in Asia. This was the band’s first time in the region, in fact. Her voice is amazingly sweet (think Stacey Kent and Frente’s lead singer) and her music varies from straight jazz to pensive bittersweet to funky-cool.
We were also treated to a newly written and yet-unrecorded song which was very upbeat, and for her deserved encore she gave us a rendition of a Norwegian lullaby which was haunting and beautiful.
Silje’s band members are also highly talented. Her keyboardist/pianist Tord Gustavsen is worthy of mention as he straddled piano and keyboard with either hand and played like he was breathing in life from the music. I don’t know else to describe it, but maybe I can mimic it to some of you one of these days.
After the show, we stayed on for a couple more drinks. As we were leaving, we noticed that the band was in one of the rooms near the stage. Since I had already bought her latest CD, At First Light, I decided to get it autographed.
I met the pianist who was hanging around outside the room, and couldn’t resist complimenting him. Heh. I also got his autograph. Then Silje noticed me and Joan and after we spoke briefly, she autographed our CD sleeves and CDs! Hooray. We met her and her band on the way out, and she recognised us and shook our hands. What a nice lady!
Oh yes the pianist was quite a dish. He plays well but I didn’t like the way he played – too much emoting! If my mum were there, she would’ve said,”Elbows down!” heehee.
Hey, if you visit his website, you will see that he’s actually working on a PhD in musicology, back in Norway. And his thesis is entitled, ‘The Dialectical Erotism of Improvisation’. Oooh.
One of my favourite piece from Silje Nergaard is the song titled, The Waltz. I listen to this piece almost everyday …… simply lovely!