"Innerst i sjelen" (Norwegian for "deep within my soul") is a famous

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 Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

song by Norwegian artist and troubadour

Ole Paus Ole Paus (born 9 February 1947; full name ''Ole Christian Paus'') is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, poet and author, who is widely regarded as the foremost troubadour of the contemporary Norwegian ballad tradition ( no, visebølgen). During th ...

, with music by Örjan Englund and Lars Børke. The song was released on the

Kirkelig Kulturverksted Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) is a Norwegian company and record label, founded in 1974 by Erik Hillestad. Among the musicians who have issued records on the label are Ketil Bjørnstad, Kari Bremnes, Erik Bye, Ole Paus, Sigvart Dagsland, Bjørn E ...

record label and was part of Paus' live performances, alongside his iconic song " Mitt lille land".

''Heksene''

"Innerst i sjelen" was used later on in the Norwegian opera ''Heksene'' in 2007. The opera was based on the similarly titled children's book ''Heksene'' by Roald Dahl (known in English as '' The Witches). The opera adaptation of the book was composed by

Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...

, Ole's son. The opera was commissioned by Gloppen Musikkfest for their 2008 programming and was first performed in May 2008 during Hardanger Musikkfest in Odda, with a later performance in August of the same year during Gloppen Musikkfest in Sandane. Johann Henrik Neergaard was director and Per Kristian Skalstad was conductor. Ole Paus was libretto in the opera and was the one to perform "Innerst i sjelen".

Sissel Kyrkjebø version

In 1994, Norwegian singer

Sissel Kyrkjebø Sissel Kyrkjebø (; born 24 June 1969), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano. Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and op ...

sang a cover version as first track on her album of the same name. Her album and classical interpretation of the famous song became very popular and would be part of many of her live performances. The album peaked at number 1 on

VG-lista VG-lista is a Norwegian record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide chart ...

in Norway, also reaching number 15 on Sverigetopplistan, the Swedish Albums Chart. The album was also popular in the United Kingdom and known by the English translation of its name: ''Deep Within My Soul''.

References

External links

Innerst i Sjelen sung by Sissel and Ole Paus
at a concert celebrating the 70 th birthday of

, hosted by

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{authority control Norwegian-language songs Songs about Norway Sissel Kyrkjebø songs Year of song missing