Joakim Jan Aril "Jack" Berntsen (14 October 1940 – 5 October 2010) was a

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 the ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

. He was born in

Kjøpsvik or is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern shore of the Tysfjorden, north of the small village of Storå, Norway, Storå. The island of Hulløya lies off the coast of Kjøpsvik. The ...

Tysfjord Tysfjord ( smj, Divtasvuodna) is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1869 until its dissolution in 2020. The municipality was part of the traditional district of Ofoten. The administrative centre of th ...

. He grew up in

Hamarøy Hamarøy ( smj, Hábmer) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is t ...

, and resided in

Svolvær Svolvær () is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, along the Vestfjorden. The town has a population (2018) of 4,720 which gives the ...

from 1968. Berntsen founded the Svolvær folk song club ''Lovisa'' in 1968, and the

music festival ''Troilltampen'' in 1973. Among his best known songs is the

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

"Kor e hammaren, Edvard" from 1974, with text by Jahn Arill Skogholt, on the

population decline A population decline (also sometimes called underpopulation, depopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size. Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth's total human population ...

of Northern Norway. His first album was ''Det e håp i hænganes snøre'' from 1978. The album contained sixteen songs, some of which had political texts. The album ''Ongan i Lofoten'' from 1982 contained songs for children, and was a cooperation with the Cirani orchestra. His album ''I ly av Lofotveggen'' from 1984 contained self-written material, and also songs based on

Petter Dass Petter Pettersen Dass (c. 1647 – 17 August 1707) was a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry. Biography He was born at Northern Herøy (Dønna), Nordland, No ...

' poems "En smuk Aftensang" and "Den nordlandske torsk". In 1986 he issued an album with texts for children, ''Lilla Bolla Bølla og andre boller''. He published the single "Bussjåfør"/"Svolværgeita" in 1986. Among his other songs are "Moltebærvisa" and "Badestrandsballade for korpulente". He published several songbooks. ''Det e lys lenger frem'' was issued in 1976, and ''Sol bakom skyan'' was published in 1979. In 1981 he published ''Ongan i Lofoten'', in 1986 came the songbook ''Lille Bolla Bølla'', and his book ''Sanga i søkk og kav'' was published in 1995. He was awarded the prize ''Sølvharpa'' in 1975 by ''

Dag og Tid Dag, or variant forms, may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''DAG'' (American TV series), 2000–2001 * ''Dag'' (Norwegian TV series), 2010–2015 * ''DAG'' (newspaper), a former free Dutch newspaper * DAG (band), an American funk band * D ...

'', the county

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

's cultural prize in 1981, the Elias Blix Prize in 1982, and the Prøysen Prize in 1985. A statue of Berntsen is placed in Svolvær. In 2000, a cultural prize, ''Jack Berntsens kulturpris'', was established by the municipality

Vågan Vågan ( sme, Vuogát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svolvær. Some of the villages in Vågan include Digermulen, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berntsen, Jack 1940 births 2010 deaths People from Narvik People from Hamarøy People from Vågan Norwegian philologists Norwegian singer-songwriters Norwegian folk singers Norwegian male singers