Moddi

Pål Moddi Knutsen (born 18 February 1987 in Senja) is a Norwegian musician. His music has been described as a blend of folk music and pop, although he refers to himself as a singer and storyteller. Moddi is also widely recognised as a political and social activist.

Moddi is famous for his interpretations and translations of other artists, such as Vashti Bunyan, Pussy Riot and the Norwegian poet Helge Stanges.

Pål Knutsen was born 18 February 1987 and grew up on the island Senja in Northern Norway. He debuted 5 years old on the local radio station Draugen, singing a traditional sea shanty. During his early youth, the young Knutsen played classical piano, the cornet in the school's marching band, bass guitar in various rock bands and performed as a rapper.

At 18, he adopted the old family name Moddi and started writing his own songs under that name. After finishing school, the 20 years old Moddi decided try a year off and "travel, play concerts and have fun until I had spent all my money".

Moddi is part of the community around the culture centre Kråkeslottet in Senja, where he is booking the annual Kråkeslottfestivalen. He is currently writing a master's thesis at Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo.

Career beginnings

Moddi's debut release, Random Skywriting EP, was recorded in the bedroom studio of a friend and distributed in only 20 home-made copies. NRK Urørt, a Norwegian emerging artists radio show, picked up the EP and put it in heavy rotation on Norwegian radio channel P3. The following year, Moddi did some of his first concerts on festivals like by:Larm and Øyafestivalen, where he received good reviews from among others online magazine Pitchfork.

Floriography

Moddi recorded his debut album Floriography with producer Valgeir Sigurðsson in Iceland. Upon release, it immediately hit the Norwegian album top 10. Q magazine described the album as "irrevocably heart-warming and beautifully constructed piece of melancholic folk-pop". Later that year, Moddi received the A-ha Grant of €120000 and toured as support for Angus and Julia Stone.

Set the House on Fire

3 January 2013 Moddi presented the single House By The Sea. The album Set the House on Fire was released worldwide on 8 March, accompanied by a social media contest to win the release concert, which was eventually held in the mining village of Banská Štiavnica in Slovakia. Set the House on Fire was nominated for two Norwegian Spellemannprisen.

Kæm va du?

The same year, Moddi recorded another album, released only half a year after the previous one. Kæm va du? (meaning "Who were you?") differs from previous albums in being sung entirely in Norwegian, and with lyrics borrowed from the North Norwegian poets Arvid Hanssen, Helge Stangnes and Ola Bremnes. On the album was also the single Togsang, a reinterpretation of British folk singer Vashti Bunyans popular Train Song. Bunyan later commented that Moddi's was her favourite cover version of any of her songs. Kæm va du? won the Spellemannprisen award for "Folk Album of the Year".

Unsongs

In 2016, Moddi released his fourth studio album, Unsongs, consisting of 12 banned songs from 12 different countries. The lead single from the album, Eli Geva, is a song about the Israeli officer who refused to lead his forces into battle in 1982. The song, originally performed by Norwegian singer Birgitte Grimstad, had not been sung for more than three decades.

In 2010 Moddi refused nomination for the €100 000 Statoil grant on environmental grounds, commenting that "I don't want Statoil for a friend. Who on earth accepts a friendship just because you get a million for it?". Moddi has participated on several albums, protests and rallies against the entrance of oil companies into Northern Norway and the Arctic.

In 2014 Moddi announced that he would be cancelling his scheduled concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the grounds that he would not be taken to support the Israeli expansion of settlements in the West Bank. He did not officially endorse any organised appeal, stating that "the debate is already way too black and white".

Later the same year, Moddi organised The Train Tour through Europe in collaboration with InterRail, a three-week tour entirely on rails. The tour went through France, Germany and the Czech Republic.

In 2015 Moddi contributed to the album "Fabler om en åpen kirke" in support of the liberal forces within the Norwegian Church. He participated with the song "Vær hilset, fru Bjerkås!", a tribute to Ingrid Bjerkås, the first female priest in service in Norway.

On his 17 November 2016 concert in Kirkenes, Moddi refrained from performing the song Punk Prayer by Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot, after the Russian Consulate General to Norway, Sergej Sjatunovskij-Byurno, warned that performing the song could mean up to six years in prison for the musicians of Arkhangelsk Chamber Orchesta who were backing Moddi on the tour.[1]

Studio albums

Extended plays

Live albums

Singles

Other appearances

Other releases

• 2010 – Hjertestups withTogsang (Tyrili)
• 2010 – Samleplate for oljefritt Lofoten, Vesterålen og Senja with the song Krokstav-emne
• 2011 – Vi tenner våre lykter with the song Nordnorsk julesalme
• 2012 – Norge, mitt Norge..? with the songs Det stig av hav eit oljeland and Deilig er Norden
• 2015 – Fabler om en åpen folkekirke with the song Vær hilset, fru Bjerkås!