Serlina – “Puste Under Vann” (Breathe Under Water).

   Hiya people! 🙂 

   So, another Norwegian pop song this week, this time with quite a dance vibe to it. It comes from Serlina, about whom I don’t really  know a lot as this is the only song by her that I’ve heard and as soon as I heard it I liked it, but I never really dug deeper into her music. I don’t know for sure where in Norway she’s from and I’m not all that very good yet at this guess game in  the Norwegian edition haha so I won’t be guessing here, but she sings in nynorsk, and despite that I’ve managed to translate it for you with no significant problems along the way, although these lyrics aren’t really that complicated to begin with. 

    It is not easy to live
As if in a dance on roses
When everything we see seems better
I guess we all have felt it
Want to go away from clouds that shadow
Because I want out into the sun
But everything has taken a new turn
Now that you are gone I do not see anymore
The memories disappear, see them go far away
Can’t you see it?
There is something more
Can you hear me shout higher than the mountain?
Hold myself back, but my heart wants to say
I cannot find my way onto land
But can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water
Have never heard it was easy
To let go of memories
Because everything that I thought was genuine
Has completely changed
You said those words to me
And I gave you a look
Who has suddenly become small?
Now that you are gone I do notsee anymore
The memories disappear, see them go far away
Can’t you see it?
There is something more
Can you hear me shout higher thann the mountain
Hold myself back but my heart wants to say
I cannot find my way onto land
But can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under
Can’t breathe under water

Silja Sol – “Stemning” (Mood).

Hey people! 🙂

Today I’d like to share with you another song in nynorsk this month, this time from a young pop singer from Bergen called Silja Sol Dyngeland, or simply Silja Sol which is her stage name currently. Silja grew up in a musical family and thus was surrounded by music from the start and learned to play various instruments from an early age, and then as a teenager she also started writing her own lyrics. I read that when the singer AURORA was looking for members of her accompanying band, Silja was asked if she could suggest someone who could play the keyboard, and she offered that she could join in, which I think was quite a brave and self-confident decision given that, of all the instruments she’d learned to play, she didn’t know how to play the keyboard, though she did play the piano already. Apart from that, Silja also does backing vocals for AURORA.

Like I said, this song is in nynorsk, but, unfortunately, unlike with the last song in nynorsk that I shared on here, by Sigrid Moldestad, for this one I wasn’t really able to make a translation at all. I can’t seem to make sense of too many words in here and, as a result, I’m not sure I fully get it as a whole. But I just think this song is really nice even without understanding the entire lyrics.

Sigrid Moldestad – “Eg Vil Vere Her” (I Want To Be Here).

And for today, I’d like to share with you a Norwegian folk song. I’ve shared quite a lot of Norwegian music on this blog, even before I’ve started kinda sorta learning Norwegian this year, but I feel it’s mostly been pop, and not so much folk. Sigrid Moldestad is one of the most recogniseable and awarded contemporary folk artists in her home country as it seems, and she blends folk music with more modern influences. Aside from being a singer, she is also a violinist and aside from playing your typical violin, she also plays Hardanger/Harding fiddle, which is a national instrument of Norway. She originates from Breim (I still haven’t really wrapped my brain around the geography of Norway but I believe it’s somewhere in the west) and she sings in nynorsk. I chose to share with you a song from her 2017 album Vere Her (Being Here). Something in it kind of spoke to me when I first heard it and understood more or less what it’s about, even though this song is a song about motherhood and I am not a mother. In this song, Sigrid ponders what it will be like when her daughter reaches adulthood, and how she, as a mother, can still be withh her, despite her child will be out of the nest and it may not be possible for her mother to always be close in a physical way. It spoke to me because sometimes when I think about motherhood, and being a mother in general, it seems to me like it must be extremely hard for mothers to let their children go when the time comes, despite having cared for them, bonded and being very close to them for many years. I think if I were a mother, I would find it really difficult to move on, so despite I am not and most likely will never be, I believe I understand her perspective in a way.

I tried to translate these lyrics, and I (sort of) did, despite having a lot of doubts, because I don’t really feel very confident yet when it comes to nynorsk and had to look up loads of words. This is by no means a reliable or complete translation, some bits may be totally incorrect or look kind of weird, but I thought I’d share it anyway, to give you a glimpse of what it’s about, and to give myself a bit of a challenge. Maybe someone who has a better idea about nynorsk/Norwegian in general will see this and help me fix it and I’ll learn something new, or I’ll look back at it in a year or two and be able to fix it myself.

 

I want to be here

I want to be here for long

So I can see how it goes

I want to follow you

I want to hold your hand

So that you find your way, my dear child

But life is not like that

We never get to wholely see

How it goes

How it goes

So I’m saying this now

I want to be a wind

That blows on your cheek

And a feather you find

[think? ] what you will be like

when you get old

Will you need me then, when you’ll have grey hair

We are light at night

Where you are, there I am

When the new path comes [?], you will become a great-grandmother

But life is not like that

We never get to wholely see

How it goes

How it goes

So I’m saying this now

I want to be a wind

That blows on your cheek

And a feather you find

No days shall come back

Everything is here and now

We breathe life and [stare? Believe? ] in a little [hope?]

That everything isn’t sleep and then it’s over [???]

But that there are other promises

So you (hear???) me

When you need me

And I sing for you

Then I shall send down a feather

Then I will cherish you as before

Because maybe life is like that

That we always get to see

How it goes

How it goes

Because sometimes I go and see

A feather that I find

Get a kiss from a wind

That blows on my cheek

Because maybe life is like that

That we always get to see

How it goes

How it goes

Because sometimes I go and see

A feather that I find

Get a kiss from a wind

That blows on my cheek