Terje Isungset


Terje Isungset is a Norwegian drummer. From his background in jazz and traditional Scandinavian music, he has designed musical instruments from non-traditional materials, including ice.

Career

Isungset was raised in Geilo where he played traditional dance music with his father during his high school days. Moving to Bergen in 1984 led him to be a popular member of a number of Bergen groups, such as Ictus and Tordenskjolds soldater, Growl and Gruv, Saksbehandlerne and Night and Day, Salsa Pati, and Supply, in addition to periods within the Big Band Emanon from 1986, and his recording debut Amalgamation with Kenneth Sivertsen.
Isungset is, after more than two decades on the jazz scene, one of Europe's most accomplished and innovative percussionists. With more than 25 years experience in jazz and Scandinavian traditional music he raises these narrow forms of music far beyond their traditional boundaries, becoming more like a crossover between a sound artist and a shaman. When crafting his own instruments from Norwegian natural elements such as arctic birch, granite, slate, sheep bells and even ice, he is highly recommended to those sensible to the poetry and simplicity of sounds.
His work is highly acclaimed in the press, often described as innovative, visual, energetic, and different from any previously known concepts. His love for ice music was raised in 1999 when the commission of the winterfestival at Lillehammer asked him to compose and play in a frozen waterfall. He has invented the concept of icemusic, and also invented a way to perform icemusic indoor in ordinary concert halls, doing around 50 indoor ice concerts every year. CNN calls Isungset the first and only icemusician in the world.
Isungset has been commissioned to compose music for jazz festivals, dance performances, theatre, and film, with 41 commissioned concerts.
He has released ten solo albums and is now doing most of his work internationally. Solo concerts, with his band or in collaboration with other artists. In 2006 he had the idea of creating an icemusic festival and started the Ice Music Festival at Geilo, Norway organized by Pål Knutsson Medhus. He is also the founding manager of the record label All Ice Records.
His most recent project is the Glassmusic together with Arve Henriksen. They released an album named World of Glass in late 2014. The recordings were largely made in front of a live audience in Tallinn. All the instruments were made from glass by students from the Estonian Academy of Arts.
He is a member of the bandsGroupa, Utla and Isglem. He has ongoing duos with Per Jørgensen, Arve Henriksen, Sissel Vera Pettersen, Didier Petit, Therese Skauge, Jorma Tapio and Stian Westerhus.
For the 2017 Vossajazz festival, Isungset was commissioned to compose new music for a new band.
Isungset is also an associate professor at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen.

Honors

  • 1996: Vossajazzprisen
  • 2016:Financial Times named Isungset as one of the "First persons".
  • 2008: Edvardprisen in the Open class for the album ''Igloo''

    Projects

  • 2010: Organic expressions, project with three dancers from the Carte Blanche Dance Company
  • 2012: Isslottet, at the Oslo Opera and Ballet

    Discography

Solo albums

  • 1997: Reise
  • 2000: Floating Rhythms
  • 2002: Iceman Is , with Arve Henriksen
  • 2003: Middle of Mist
  • 2006: Igloo, nominated for Spellemannprisen in the class Jazz, with Sidsel Endresen
  • 2007: Two Moons, with Per Jørgensen
  • 2008: Ice Concerts
  • 2009: Hibernation
  • 2010: Winter Songs
  • 2014: World Of Glass, with Arve Henriksen
  • 2015: Meditations
  • 2015: Terje Isungset & Stian Westerhus, with Stian Westerhus
  • 2015: Isslottet
  • 2016: Oase Terje Isungset & Sissel Vera Pettersen
  • 2019: Sildrande Terje Isungset with Arve Henriksen, Mats Eilertsen, Nils Økland, Morten Qvenild, Sissel Vera Pettersen & others

    Collaborative works

;With Kenneth Sivertsen
;Within Karl Seglem's Sogn-A-Song
  • 1991: Sogn-A-Song
  • 1994: Rit
;Within Isglem
  • 1991: Rom
  • 1992: To Steg
  • 1996: Null G
  • 2003: Fire
  • 2016: "Femte"
;Within Orleysa, fest. Tore Brunborg
  • 1991: Orleysa
  • 1993: Svanshornet
;Within Utla
;Within Groupa
  • 1999: Lavalek
  • 2008: Frost
  • 2014: Silent Folk
  • 2016: "Kind of folk,vol1. Sweden.
;With others
  • 1995: Haugtussa, with poems by Arne Garborg
  • 1995: Det syng, with Lynni Treekrem
  • 1996: Prosa, with poems by Jon Fosse
  • 1996: Tya - frå Bor til Bytes, with Elin Rosseland, Karl Seglem and Reidar Skår
  • 1998: Spir, with Karl Seglem, Berit Opheim Versto, Morten Sæle and Audun Erlien
  • 1999: Bergtatt, with Grete Helgerød and Oslo Kammerkor
  • 2000: Daa, trio with Arve Henriksen and Karl Seglem
  • 2001: Shadows And Light, duo with Frode Gjerstad
  • 2004: New North, with Karl Seglem
  • 2005: Didier Petit - Terje Isungset, duo with Didier Petit live at Vossajazz 2003
  • 2006: Aihki, duo with Jorma Tapio
  • 2006: Sáivu, with Arve Henriksen and Torgeir Vassvik
  • 2006: On the Great Alkali Plains, with Espen Jørgensen
  • 2008: Agbalagba Daada, duo with Per Jørgensen
  • 2008: Laden With Rain, duo with Stian Westerhus
  • 2008: Sådagen, with Eilif Gundersen, Gunnlaug Lien Myhr and Tor Egil Kreken
  • 2011: City Stories, with Daniel Herskedal
  • 2011: Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia, with various artists