Gatas Parlament ( en, Parliament of the Street) 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 ...

group of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

artists. It currently consists of artists Elling Borgersrud and Jester. The group was the first to release a hiphop-recording in their native language, Norwegian. All current and former members have strong

left-leaning Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political views, and make their feelings on many things, including

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, a common motif in their lyrics. Elling Borgersrud has stood for national election as a minor political candidate for the

Red Electoral Alliance Red Electoral Alliance ( nb, Rød Valgallianse, nn, Raud Valallianse, RV) was an alliance of far-left groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary socialism ideals into the Norwegian parliament. The party dissolved itse ...

History

Gatas Parlament started out in 1993, taking the name Kveldens Høydepunkt (''Highlight of the Evening''). Don Martin did not take to the name, however, and thus it was dropped. Later, they attended a public speech by Carl I. Hagen, the chairman of the right-wing party

Fremskrittspartiet The Progress Party ( nb, Fremskrittspartiet; nn, Framstegspartiet; se, Ovddádusbellodat), commonly abbreviated as FrP, is a right-wing political party in Norway. The FrP has traditionally self-identified as classical-liberal and as a libertar ...

, where they threw eggs and rotten fruit at Hagen. This caused Hagen to comment that ''gatens parlament'' ruled the country, and the three rappers stuck with the name (the

riksmål (, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...

-wording of ''gaten'' was dropped for ''gata'', more fitting for their

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acqui ...

). The band caused controversy in Norway with their video "Antiamerikansk Dans" ( Anti-American Dance) together with the Swedish rap artist

Promoe Promoe (Mårten Edh, born Nils Mårten Ed; 28 April 1976) is a Swedish rapper, and member of Swedish hip hop group Looptroop Rockers, formed in Västerås, Sweden, 1992. He released his fourth album in 2009 entitled ''Kråksången'', and later the ...

and their website killhim.nu ("Kill him Now"), which claimed to collect money for a bounty on the head of

. The campaign caused the American embassy in Norway to react, and prompted a Secret Service and Norwegian Police investigation into the band. The website was subsequently shut down. The case was dropped after months of controversy in Norwegian and European media. During 2007 Gatas Parlament launched a collaboration with ''Hopalong Knut'', a

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band from

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 ...

which uses trønder dialect. When the two groups perform together, they call themselves ''Samvirkelaget'' ( en, the workers' cooperative). In 2011 founding member Aslak Borgersrud (brother of Elling Borgersrud) quit the band to pursue other interests and was replaced with Jester (Alex Molkom), who had been working as a producer and guest rapper for the band for years. Don Martin left the band in 2015 with some controversy after a period focusing on solo projects.

Solo projects of members

*Founding member Aslak Borgersrud (brother of Elling) quit the band to pursue other interests *Former Gatas Parlament's DJ Don Martin is a host of the radio program ''Goodshit Radio''. He released his own album in 2013 titled ''En gang Romsåsgutt alltid Romsåsgutt''.

Discography

Albums

*''Holdning Over Underholdning'' (2001) *''Bootlegs, B-sider & Bestiser'' (compilation) (2004) *'' Fred, Frihet & Alt Gratis'' (2004) *''Kidsa Har Alltid Rett'' (2008) *''Apocalypso'' (2008) *''Dette Forandrer Alt'' (2011) *''Hold Det Realt'' (2016)

EPs

*''Autobahn Til Union'' (1994) *''Slå Tilbake'' (1997) *''Counter Strike EP'' (2008)

Street records

*''Bottlegs, Bsider og Bestiser'' (2004) *''93 til Infinity'' (2007) *''Gateplata'' (2011)

Singles

*''Naturkraft'' (1997) *''Stem Gatas Parlament'' (1999) *''Nå om da'n'' (2001) *''Bombefly'' (2004) *''Anti-amerikansk dans'' (2004) *''Spis de rike'' (2004)

References

External links

Band homepage

Former band homepage

Goodshit Radio Show
hosted by band member Don Martin {{Authority control Norwegian hip hop groups Norwegian socialists Musical groups established in 1993 1993 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Oslo