Festival staff highlights - today: director Per Idar Almås
Per Idar Almås will be hosting his first Førde Festival in 2019. Here he is interviewed during the opening concert. Photo: Knut Utler
When Per Idar Almås took over as director of Førdefestivalen in 2018, he took over the baton from the one who had been the longest serving director of any festival in Norway, and - he took over a festival he had not experienced up close. 2019 was thus the first festival he programmed and the first he was present at. In addition, he and his wife were expecting twins in early August. The latter also put an extra edge on one of the concert experiences Per Idar highlights.
- I have picked out three festival memories, but I haven't been to one. Førdefestivalen so long, so many memories are taken from the 2019 festival and one from what was supposed to be the festival week in 2020. From the 2019 festival I could draw many memories, because as the new festival director, the impressions that year were in a queue. Among other things, I wondered if my wife's twin birth started during the gala concert on Saturday night! It didn't, but it added an extra edge to the experience, he says.
Karl Seglem with band: Simply because it was the first club concert in Førde during the 2019 festival and the fact that I had waited so long for the festival to start. There was a band in great shape, it was beautiful visually and a lot of people enjoying themselves on Larris Scene. A great start to the festival.
Seckou Keita: The story behind this concert made the experience very strong for those of us who were present. For the 2019 festival, we had booked Solo Cissokho to play a duo concert. Solo passed away this spring, leaving a huge void in the large musical family. We wanted to honor him at the festival he was supposed to play at, and were lucky when his nephew, Seckou Keita, was very keen to honor his uncle by playing in Førde . Seckou Keita is considered one of the most exciting and innovative kora players in the world. At the concert, he also brought his son, Ibou, and Solo's nephew with him on stage. So it was a wonderful tribute to a great musician, by a great musician, in the Festsalen this Friday.
Ibou Cissokho and Solo Diarra. Photo: Birger Hagevold Johansen
Solo and Ibou: The last highlight I want to highlight is from what was supposed to be the festival week in 2020. Like so many others, we had to cancel this year's festival, but we wanted to do something to mark the fact that it should have been a festival. We brought in the duo Solo and Ibou (the latter is the son of Solo Cissoko, who I just mentioned). They were supposed to do six pop-pop concerts around Førde over the course of two days. The first concert was outside Førde central hospital. For me, it had been almost four months since I had heard the sound of live music at this point, and in the blink of an eye, both the rain and the wind disappeared for me. What a treat it had been to go to a concert!