Originally Posted by
Baribrotzer
Very interesting thoughts.
A couple of you have mentioned Jaga Jazzist. This may be wrong, but I get the impression they're almost more a garage band than anything else - but a garage band Norwegian style. That is, they started out as a bunch of high-school kids making their own music, they stuck with it, and they went on from there. And like a garage band, they have few or no individual players of the first rank, but they're a great ensemble with a sound of their own. The difference between them and, say, the White Stripes, being that Lars Horntveth got organized training, got it early, learned nearly a dozen instruments, didn't have a lot of trouble finding a whole band of similar musicians, and went on to be an actual composer - whereas Jack White had to figure it all out by himself, by ear, stumbled upon the one gimmick of re-interpreting old blues through a punk-rock filter, and his whole career has hinged on that.
Also, you made a slight mention of Finland. Now that's a country with a similar, but slightly different approach - at about the same time Norway started supporting the arts in general, the Finns decided to become a powerhouse in classical music. It cost surprisingly little money, from what I understand. Just a matter of putting a bit into music education, encouraging the successes, and giving them opportunities for further training. But nowadays, half the time you hear of some upcoming classical composer, conductor, or soloist, they seem to have one of those unpronounceable Finnish handles.
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