And the world goes 'round, following its own orbit around the Sun, coming back every year to the same point, on the same day, just one year older. And so has been doing our little world, which goes 'round our Star, the Northern one, for 15 years today. If it's true that you don't measure a journey by its duration, its lenght, the starting point or the destination, but by what's happened in between, well in between there has been so much, almost everything: people, passion, any kind of experiences and emotions, friendship, meetings, love, journeys, but - that's life - sometimes even disagreements, disappointments, goodbyes and delusions.
Lene.it has been for 15 years a microcosm of genuine people who kept alive something beautiful, born for the love of the music of a young girl who softly filled our hearts with what they needed. These years have passed for all of us, even too fast. Lene is not that young girl anymore and, for better or worse, neither are we, dealing with our adult lifes that naturally replaced the ones we had as mainly students and dreamers; that may have taken our time, but not our passion. And so this place, once a crowded downtown condominium, may now resemble an abandoned farmhouse, always ready to welcome whoever wants to get back to the good old times and to all the memories, blowing away some dust here and there. That's how it goes in this hectic and lively internet world more and more devoured by social networks. Whatever lies ahead, nothing can ever wipe out the beauty of a journey we would not change anything of. Thoughts and memories crowd into our mind and they're so many that it's hard to focus on one before another one takes its place. For many of us that is a collection of faces and names which are more than just a list of members. They mean something wonderful, great, and unique that we will never forget. All this was possible thanks to Lene of course, but also thanks to all of Us who for a short or long period of time have been the beating heart of this fanclub.
In her last post on Instagram, Lene has paid a thankful homage to colleague Ole Paus, who died on December 12th in Drammen at the age of 76.
Descendant of a Norwegian elite family, throughout a life full of experiences and collaborations, he stood out as singer, songwriter, poet, and author, and published about fifty albums and ten books.
His and Lene's artistic paths crossed during season 2 of Hver Gang Vi Møtes, aired in 2013. Ole Paus was a passionate supporter of the use of the Norwegian language: in the show's third episode, dedicated to Lene, he sang Masken, an adaptation of Lene's Disguise into Norwegian which touched Lene very much. Lene, in turn, sang Ole Paus' Jeg reiser alene and Engler i sneen, (the latter in duet with Kurt Nilsen), in episode seven (dedicated to Ole) and eight, respectively.
Later that same year Lene recorded Ole Paus' Omfavnelsen for his triple album Avslutningen, which, according to Ole Paus, was going to be his last one.
Here are Lene's words:
Ole ❤️ Your ability to see other people was special.
Thank you for all the moments, thank you for the music 🙏🏻 You touched so many hearts, also mine ❤️
We send our condolences to his family, and our thanks to Ole Paus for touching our hearts too, and making us experience one of the most emotional moments in the career of our beloved Lene Marlin.
Lene Marlin hasn't stopped writing. In december 2021 Du har meg (You have me), a collaboration with singer and songwriter Trygve Skaug, was published. Lene had already recorded a cover of Skaug's Øynene til mora mi, for her mother's 65th birthday.
However, Lene did not record her voice in the song, in which Skaug sings with Jenny Zett. Du har meg is part of a collection of 12 songs, available on Spotify and Apple Music, produced by company PwC as a Christmas present and released as a innovative advent calendar.
De Neste ("The Next"), airing from March 7th on Norwegian television channel NRK1 (premiere on March 5th on NRK TV streaming service) is a new musical entertainment tv show with Ida Maria Sivertsen as host and music personalities Lene Marlin, Cato Sundberg from Donkeyboy, Ingebjørg Bratland, OnklP, Sondre Lerche and Magnus Grønneberg from CC Cowboys, whom we remember from season 2 of Hver Gang Vi Møtes together with Lene. There is indeed something in common between the two shows, that is singing the other celebrities' songs. This time though, the ones facing such challenge will be six young newcomers in the norwegian music industry: Hedda Mae, dePresno, Sebastian Zalo, Marja Mortensson, Endre Nordvik, and Ylva. In every episode, each one of them will be assigned a song by one of the artists, with the freedom to create their own version, without the authors getting to hear the result until the final performance during the show: the artists will discuss only the background of the song and what it means for them. The show was recorded last January and will last six episodes.
In this so uncertain - and to some extents horrible - year 2020, we feel even more joyful to share this news. Lene herself announced it with a message on Instagram and Facebook, together with a picture of a little hand:
A little girl who's changed our lives ❤️ she's been with us for a while, we wanted to wait before we shared the news. Our beautiful daughter, Ellie❤️ So happy. So grateful.
After she personally announced her pregnancy last June, Lene, who turned 40 last August, and actor Kåre Conradi became parents to Ellie.
We're so happy for them, and wish them nothing but the best for this new adventure.
Welcome little Ellie :)
En liten jente som har forandret våre liv ❤️ vi har holdt henne for oss selv en stund, det har vært fint 😊Skjønne, gode...Posted by Lene Marlin on Saturday 24 October 2020
Life begins at forty, they say, and for you who celebrated today expecting your first baby, there is a new life (literally) waiting for you. It's a very special birthday you will never forget, and we want to bring to you our dearest wishes. Happy birthday Lene Marlin! You're always in our hearts and on our minds!
Between Febrauary and March two related events took place: By:Songs (Feb. 25-28) and By:Larm (Feb. 28-Mar. 2). You might remember the latter from 2001, when Lene declined an intivation to the round table about her success. The former, which has by now reached its fifth edition, gathers authors, producers, and artists (both stars and newcomers) to promote professional collaborations.
Thanks to the unceasing activity from our Kathie and Knox, we are now able to share with you not only Lene's recent participation in By:Songs, but also the playlist of the songs that were written in that occasion.
We know Lene has been writing all this time - she was also recently spotted working in studio - and has already taken part in events like this in the past. In 2009, she was in the workshop organized by EMI on Dvergsøya island (remember S'pose?), and in 2010 she was with other artists at Song Farm on Saltö island in Sweden.
Ad here are four songs from this year's By:Songs, the last of which is sung by Lene herself!
Further research allowed to track down other eleven (!) collaborations in the Warner/Chappel catalogue; most of these songs were written together with Tobias Stenkjaer (already rumored in the past to have worked with Lene). The danish singer and songwriter tweeted in 2011 about a weekend of songwriting with Lene, though none of the titles appear among his records. Here's the full list:
