TuVeia:”We are inspired by local history and the most beautiful village of Norway!”
TuVeia is a rap group consisting of Roar Galaaen Bredalslien (28), Kristian Galaaen Bredalslien (28) and Bendik Johnsen (25) who live in Dalsbygda in inland Norway – “five fields south of Norwegian ski athlete Therese Johaug” as they say to describe where they are from. The group released their first song, “TuVeia” in 2013. This is how they describe themself in writing (this is originally written in a unique dialect way, but impossible to translate): “We like to compose and have our own poets’ association, and it was during a not very interesting class at school that we came up with the idea of making a song out of a poem we had written. That’s how it all started. We compose and sing in our own dialect, and mainly focus on humor in our songs”
“Bli med meg på gar’n“ (Translates “join my at the farm”) by Tuveia is a firework in farmers overalls. It might be safe to say this fun and surreal MGP song is what you get get when you throw a traditional fiddle, three “farmers” who write hip-hop and an EDM producer in the stove and turn it on. Be ready for autotuned cow sounds, harmonica and a unique Norwegian dialect. TuVeia wants to give the farmers a voice with this song, and to show the world what is going on at a farm in Dalsbygda.
Hello Roar, Kristian and Bendik, you released your first song “TuVeia” back in 2013 how did your music journey go from that point so far?
From 2013 things have gone quite slow. We got our own producer and even our own beer, but except from that this was more or less only a project for fun and we lived and worked on different places and had very limited time to work with our music, but in 2019-2020 things really started to happen. We got one of Norways biggest booking agent, we signed a contract with a professional music company, we got our own merch and teamed up with a local clothes store, and we had the summer, autumn etc all booked up and ready for festivals etc, but everything got canceled or postponed because of the Covid-situation.
Your music style could be described as a mixture of rap and hip-hop in a farm song produced as EDM music sung in your dialect so you are combining traditional and modern where did you got the inspiration for it?
We simply got the inspiration from our own experience and local history and the fact that we are born and raised in the most beautiful village of Norway, where everyone knows everyone.
What made you decide to take part at Melodi Grand Prix?
Because of this covid-situation it was not much happening in the music business so our producer and our agent suggested that this was a golden opportunity to keep our name and music alive.
Can you tell us what was the idea behind “Bli med meg på gar’n” and what does the song mean for you?
The idea behind this song is to put the importance of a farmer in perspective and the beauty of being born in a village driven by farmers.
Could you reveal us more about the performance which is going to take place this Saturday? Are you going to take us to the farm with it?
We don’t want to say to much about the performance this Saturday but we can promise some surprises, and we definitely gonna make sure to bring some girls back to the farm.
Your song is the only in this semi-final which will be performed in Norwegian language how does that make you feel? Given the fact that none of the song in Norwegian advanced through their semi-finals do you see it as disadvantage?
The fact that every song so far that made it trough the semifinal was in English just make us more confident and eager to be the first this year to bring a Norwegian song through.
This year’s Melodi Grand Prix will be held without the audience how will that affect your performance?
Last year Melodi Grand Prix marked 60 years from its first edition what is your favourite song which competed at the stage of MGP and tell us why did you choose it?
We are not old enough to have seen all of the 60 shows, haha. But from what we can remember will have to be Wig Wam.
Do you watch Eurovision regularly, if so would you like to share a memory which you have of it or a favourite song from the contest?
We have not been watching MGP every year, but we have seen many of the seasons! For us the most memorable performance have to be «in my dreams» by Wig Wam or «fairytale» by Alexander Rybak.
What are you doing when you are not creating the farm rap any hobbies?
Except from working with music we love to go hiking in the mountains, go fishing, hang out with friends, drink moonshine and do sport.
What are your plans after Melodi Grand Prix?
We guess out plan after MGP is the same as any other up and coming artist, hope the covid situation will soon enda, and then book ourselves to festivals all over the country (and maybe Sweden) and spread our music and love for the country life to the people.
Thank you so much for your time TuVeia. We wish you the best of luck at Melodi Grand Prix. Do you want to share something else or you maybe have a message for followers of escbubble?
We are grateful for this opportunity and all the supports and messages from outside Norway really warm a farmers hearth from Dalsbygda, Norway 😊
Give a listen to their entry “Bli med meg på gar’n” on Spotify or at Youtube below
If you are eager to listen to more songs by TuVeia you can find a Youtube playlist of their songs HERE!
If TuVeia is your favorite in the fifth semifinal which will take place this Saturday, make sure you cast your vote for them in our poll right here:
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Let us know your impressions of “Bli med meg på gar’n” by TuVeia in the comments below and at our social media links!
