Kirsten Marie Bråten Berg (born 7 January 1950 in Arendal,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

) is 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 ...

traditional folk singer,

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary grea ...

and

government scholar Government scholar (Norwegian, ''statsstipendiat'') is a position awarded by the Parliament of Norway upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research and funded directly over the State budget of Nor ...

. She is currently living in Valle in the

Setesdal Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the ...

area of southern Norway. She trained as a silversmith at the Torleiv H. Bjørgums Vocational College (''Oslo Yrkesskole an Torleiv H. Bjørgums'') in Setesdal and then set up her own workshop there, in Nomeland. She began singing traditional Norwegian

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

in the 1970s and since the late 1970s has given concerts and made recordings, winnin
''Spellemannprisen''
awards (the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy award) in 1979 and 1988. She met the bass player

Arild Andersen Arild Andersen (born 27 October 1945) is a Norwegian jazz musician bassist, known as the most famous Norwegian bass player in the international jazz scene. Career Andersen was born at Strømmen, Norway. He started his musical career as jazz g ...

in 1990 and became a member of his group in 1992. Bråten Berg's interest in the Norwegian folksong tradition has led her to meet and learn from older Norwegian musicians and people or from recordings of their music-making. Alongside figures such fiddler Hallvard Bjørgum, she exemplifies those Norwegian folk musicians trying to carry their tradition into modern times. In 2005, she was made a Knight First Class of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in recognition of her work as a performer and ambassador of Norwegian culture. She has also collaborated with West African musicians on the CD ''From Senegal to Setesdal''.

Honors

*1988:

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizat ...

in the class Traditional music, for the album ''Min kvedarlund'' *1991: Gammlengprisen in the class Vocal music *1993: Spellemannprisen in the class Music for children, for the album ''Våre beste barnesanger 2'' *1997: Radka Toneff Memorial Award *2005: Knight First Class of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav

Select discography

*1979: ''Slinkombas'' *1980: ''Kirsten Bråten Berg'' *1982: ''Slinkombas og bas igjen'' *1984: ''SetesDalarna'' *1988: ''Min kvedarlund'' *1991: ''Joletid'' *1992: ''Sagn'' 1992 *1993: ''Suede et Norvège'' *1993: ''Arv'' *1993: ''Våre beste barnesanger 2'' *1993: ''Cohen på norsk'' *1996: ''Pilgrimen'' *1997: ''Frå Senegal til Setesdal'' **1997: ''From Senegal to Setesdal'' (

Six Degrees Records Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists. History In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the in ...

, San Francisco) *1999: ''Smak av himmel, spor av jord'' *2000: ''Runarstreng'' *2001: ''Syng du mi røyst'' *2005: ''Stemmenes skygge'' ( Heilo), with

Marilyn Mazur Marilyn Mazur (born January 18, 1955) is an American-born Danish percussionist. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in ...

and

Lena Willemark Lena Willemark (born 12 May 1960) is a Swedish traditional music fiddler, singer, and composer, who combines elements of folk and jazz. Born in Älvdalen, Dalarna, Willemark grew up with the region's folk music. In Stockholm in the 1970s, she al ...

*2007: ''Stev for dagen'', with Astri Rysstad and Kari Rolfsen *2010: ''Songen'' *2012: ''

Nordic Woman ''Nordic Woman'' is a compilation album that features traditional music forms performed by well known female artists in Nordic countries. Nordic Woman album was released worldwide in 2012. The album is the first release from WOMAN which is an alb ...

'' *2021: ''Kvitravn'', with

Wardruna Wardruna is a Norwegian music group formed in 2003 by Einar Selvik along with Gaahl and Lindy Fay Hella. They are dedicated to creating musical renditions of Norse cultural and esoteric traditions, and make significant use of Nordic historical ...

References

External links

Brief biography
at New Albion Records' website (includes portrait photograph).
Recordings
released by Grappa Music. {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Kirsten Braaten 1950 births Living people Norwegian women singers Norwegian folk singers Norwegian silversmiths Spellemannprisen winners Grappa Music artists Heilo Music artists Women metalsmiths People from Valle, Norway