(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
It is a rather violent project Jan Eggum and the people behind the newly released Norwegian pop and rock lexicon has folded over: To present the definitive alphabetized catalog of Norwegian popular music from 1905 to the present, with emphasis on rock and pop, but also with room for revue, shows, some jazz and classical. Nevertheless, there is an inviting, clear-cut and fancy one-tie encyclopedia available, and the imagery plays an elevated role in that regard. It has probably taken ten years to make this, so the result is probably a welcome among many, especially record collectors.
Like a notebook
First and foremost, this is useful as a reference for Norwegian music. Each article contains references or links to other artists or people mentioned elsewhere in the book, and you should pretty much be able to find what you are looking for. But flipping through this work is also like flipping through a memory book, where you both get a glimpse of artists you once digged (and which you would rather not admit or talk too much about), and insight into artists or releases that are reason to become more acquainted with.
By the way, it is useful that every article is equipped with the artist's discography (albeit limited to albums), although it is really a matter of course in a context like this.
music Journalistic
This is not a book you really read so carefully, nor is it intended. It's an encyclopedia. Detailed knowledge can in many cases take over. How important is it, for example, to give birth dates to individual artists? And if you first fixate on details, there will probably be some more to avoid actual mistakes. But I think we should leave it to other nerds and collectors to look for them. For a more moderate record collector such as the undersigned, it is difficult to spot anything other than insignificant cosmetic errors.
This is the one-volume lexicon of music journalists, and you can clearly see the criteria for the selection of artists. The editors have chosen music that has gained a certain popularity over the hundred years that are the focus here. And, we can add: Who has received some media coverage during his career. There is often a connection there.
Finally: A problem is of course that many of the artists mentioned come with new releases, and new bands and individual artists pop up like toadstools. Many of the stories need to be rewritten. Will there be an updated and revised version in five or ten years?
