Gåte ( en, riddle) is a band from

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

, Norway playing

Norwegian folk music Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

bred with

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

. Their style has been referred to as

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

folk-rock. The band was put together by Sveinung Sundli (violin, keyboards) in 2000 and originally consisted of his little sister

Gunnhild Sundli Gunnhild Eide Sundli (born 2 July 1985) is a Norwegian musical artist. She was born and raised in Orkdal, Norway and now resides in Trondheim. Career Sundli started to " kvede" (a traditional Norwegian singing tradition) as a nine-year-old, and ...

(vocals), Gjermund Landrø (bass, backing vocals), Martin Langlie (drums) and Magnus Robot Børmark (guitar, keyboards). Langlie was replaced by

Kenneth Kapstad Kenneth Kapstad (born 20 April 1979) is a Norwegian musician from Trondheim, known as the drummer of the band Gåte (2004–2005) and God Seed (2012–2015) and from collaborations within the bands Motorpsycho, Animal Alpha, Goat the Head and Mo ...

in 2004.

History

The band released their first EP ("Gåte") in 2000, and rapidly gained popularity. A second EP, also self-titled, was released in 2002. Their first album, "Jygri", released the same year proved to be their commercial breakthrough both in Norway and abroad, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany. They also gained a lot of media attention, particularly the distinctive voice of

caught the interest of music journalists, who immediately started to speculate on her departure in order to establish a solo career. After the release of another EP, "Statt Opp (Maggeduliadei)" in 2003 and their second album, "Iselilja" in 2004, the band did indeed announce that they were taking a break. In their press release, issued September 6, one of the reasons cited was that Gunnhild wanted to devote time to other pursuits. Nevertheless, their record company

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

Norway issued a live album ("Liva") in 2006 which had been recorded at the

Rockefeller Music Hall Rockefeller Music Hall, ordinarily referred to simply as Rockefeller, is a concert venue located in Torggata, downtown Oslo, Norway. The building, known as "Torggata Bad" ("Market Street Bath"), used to house a public bathing facility. To this day ...

the previous year, and with bonus material from their concert at the

Roskilde festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

in 2003. Gåte made a comeback in 2017 with the EP "Attersyn", followed by the album "Svevn" in 2018. During the first part of their career they toured extensively and played almost every popular music festival in Norway, as well as the major international festival

in Denmark. The band reunited for one concert in 2009, but then decided to follow this up with a mini-tour of Norway consisting of five concerts in 2010. The fifth concert was held at the roof of the

Oslo Opera House The Oslo Opera House ( no, Operahuset) is the home of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway. The building is situated in the Bjørvika neighbourhood of central Oslo, at the head of the Oslofjord. It is ...

, and the band stated that this would be their final farewell. In 2018, they started touring Norway again.

Song origins

Many of Gåte's songs are rearranged versions of traditional Norwegian folk tunes, such as "Sjå Attende" (the title translates to "Look Back"), and "Knut Liten og Sylvelin" ("Little-Knut and Sylvelin"). Another main source of Gåte songs are poems by the Norwegian poet Astrid Krog Halse with added music by Sveinung Sundli, such as "Følgje" ("Company") and "Stengd Dør" ("Closed Door"). Some of their songs were written in

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

Landsmål Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

and performed in a broad

Trøndersk __NOTOC__ Trøndersk (), also known as ''trøndermål'', ''trøndsk'' and ''trønder'', is a Norwegian dialect, or rather a group of several sub-dialects. As is the case with all Norwegian dialects, it has no standardised orthography, and its u ...

dialect. On "Svevn", several songs have lyrics by veteran folk musician Knut Buen who also wrote the lyrics to "Kjærleik" on "Iselilja".

Members

Gunnhild Sundli

Gunnhild born 1985, is the band's lead vocalist and joined the band in 1999. She was born and grew up in

Orkdal Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

, and currently resides in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. She began to sing when she was 9 years old, and has since been singing in both classical and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

music. She studied singing at

Heimdal Heimdal is a borough in the city of Trondheim in the municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It covers the western and southwestern parts of the municipality. The village area that is also called Heimdal is located in the southe ...

high school ("Heimdal videregående skole").

Sveinung Sundli

Sveinung was born 1979, and is Gunnhild's older brother. He began learning to play the fiddle at an early age, and studied music in high school. Sveinung first persuaded Gunnhild to start singing in front of an audience, and he was the one who put Gåte together. He was taught to play keyboards/synth by Thomas Henriksen. In Gåte he plays keyboards/synths, the acoustic fiddle and electric Zeta-fiddle. He has written some of the melodies in Gåte: a "

pols The pols and springar are Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of No ...

" called "Storås" and "Ola I", and he has set to music some of Astrid Krog Halse's poems: "Fredlysning", "Du som er ung" and "Sjåaren". He recently formed a band which has "Råte" (meaning "rot") as its working title. In 2003, he got the idea for a big music festival in Norway, which became a reality in 2004 as

Storåsfestivalen Storåsfestivalen is a three-day (First year only two-day) annual music festival. It's held in the village of Storås in the municipality of Orkland, in Trøndelag county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic co ...

Gjermund Landrø

Gjermund was born 1980. His main role in Gåte’s music is as bassist, but he has also contributed backing vocals.

Magnus Børmark

Magnus was born 1982. From

. Learned to play guitar and piano from his older brother. He has played in popular rock bands, such as

Torch A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end, which is ignited and used as a light source. Torches have been used throughout history, and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggling entertainment. In ...

, before joining Gåte in December 2000. He plays a

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

, Robotcaster and Les Robot, the last two being made by Frank Stavem. He now plays guitar in the band 22.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

*
Gåte on Europopmusic.eu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaate 1999 establishments in Norway 2005 disestablishments in Norway 2010 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups reestablished in 2017 Norwegian folk rock groups Norwegian rock music groups Norwegian progressive rock groups Norwegian folk metal musical groups Musical groups from Trøndelag Spellemannprisen winners Warner Music Group artists