Kristin Asbjørnsen

Kristin Asbjørnsen is a singer and composer. The last years Kristin’s song has been causing euphoria among reviewers and audiences.

Featured on a number of album releases, as well as a series of tours and festival performances in Europe, Kristin has focused mainly on work with her two permanent musical ensembles Dadafon and Krøyt, where her own compositions play a core role. She has won several National Music Awards.

September 25th saw the Norwegian release of Kristin Asbjørnsen’s long-awaited solo-album on Emarcy/Universal, based on Kristin’s interpretations of African-American Spirituals. The album was met with outstanding reviews!

Known for her very personal approach to songwriting, Kristin’s roots lies in both the singer/songwriter tradition and the groove-based world music. Her trademark sound is rich with contrasts and dynamics, with strong melancholy and a feisty devilish energy.

Kristin is a master of smooth and personal distortion as well as bright and complicated singing techniques, and West-African griot-singers are among her many sources of inspiration.

The last year Kristin has made her international debut as a film score composer for the movie «Factotum», based on a novel by Charles Bukowski. This is a Norwegian/American production by Bent Hamer/Jim Stark.

«Kristin is a phenomen as a singer!» (Helsingin Saunomat, Finland).

Download biography in word-format.

A Spiritual Songbook 25. September saw the Norwegian release of Kristin's Music Awards Nominated solo album «Wayfaring Stranger �” a spirituals songbook» . Music based on African-American spirituals. Kristin has made new interpretations of spirituals with Jarle Bernhoft (guitars, vocals), Jostein Ansnes (guitars, lap steel, vocals) and with Anders Engen (percussion, piano). The album is produced by Anders Engen. Releases in Europe: Spring and FAll 2007. (More...)

Press release Spirituals (word) Presseskriv Spirituals (word) Presscuts Wayfaring stranger - a spiritual songbook

Film music: Factotum Kristin has composed the award winning score for the movie Factotum, a US/Norwegian co-production (Bent Hamer/Jim Stark) based on the novel by Charles Bukowski. Actors: Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei, Lili Taylor. The film has had a lot of international praise and was selected for the Cannes Film Festival 2005. Factotum is currently released in USA.

Download Factotum Release in english (word-format) or in norwegian (word-format).

Dadafon Dadafon The last years Dadafon has been the main vehicle for Kristin’s song-writing. The music can be described as passionate love songs, where strong melodies and the powerful and danceable rhythms play a central part. In 2005 Dadafon released their fifth album «Lost Love Chords» on Emarcy/Universal, once again met with excellent reviews. The album includes the two main songs from the movie Factotum. «Lost Love Chords» is currently released in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Holland, Austria and Canada. Dadafon has won the Norwegian music award Alarm and has been nominated for the «Spellemannsprisen» (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy). In addition to performing at a number of European festivals, Dadafon has toured Norway extensively, causing a lot of great acclaim.

Krøyt Kristin’s trio Krøyt, with Øyvind Brandtsegg (vibraphone/sampling) and Thomas T. Dahl (guitar) has also established themselves as one of Norway's hottest live-acts with their improvised, avantgarde, vibrant and mutated rock. Krøyt has released 4 critically acclaimed albums. The band won the «Spellemannsprisen» in 2000 for their album «Low» and won the National Composition Award for their song «Silent». Krøyt has collaborated with the Swedish «Fleshquartet» and the brilliant Norwegian stringquartet «Vertavo» to name a few. Krøyt has performed at a great number of international festivals. In 2005 the band collaborated with the Swedish cello player Svante Henryson, performing in Norway and England.

Other projects During a 10 year period, Kristin was singing in the vocal experimentation-oriented vocal quartet, Kvitretten. Kvitretten became almost like a Norwegian institution for contemporary, experimental way of singing; with a main focus on improvisation. Kvitretten received the «Spellemannspris» nomination for the album «Voices» in 1996 and has released two more albums to excellent reviews. Kvitretten toured extensively in the Nordic countries and Germany.

Kristin has also worked with the internationally acclaimed pianists Tord Gustavsen and Ketil Bjørnstad, as well as the Malian singer Rokia Traore. Show less