"Se ilden lyse" (in English: "Fire in Your Heart") is a single by

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 ...

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 ...

, released as the official song of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. It was a huge hit, peaking at number-one for three weeks on the Norwegian singles chart. In English, it is also sung as a duet with Spanish tenor

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

. Both versions are written by

Jan Vincents Johannessen Jan Vincents Johannessen (born 25 May 1941) is a Norwegian physician, cancer researcher, hospital director, painter, text writer and composer. He was born in Kristiansand. He is known for his research on cancer, and has published books on diagnos ...

and composed/produced by Svein Gundersen. It features

Oslo Gospel Choir Oslo Gospel Choir is a Norwegian gospel music, gospel choir centred in Oslo, Norway conducted by Tore W. Aas. The choir started up in 1988 and has since then become one of the most successful in Europe with success both in Europe and America. They ...

and fiddle by

Annbjørg Lien Annbjørg Lien (born 15 October 1971) is a Norwegian musician, playing the hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle), violin, and nyckelharpa. Career She first came to national prominence in 1986. Shortly afterwards got a recording deal with the Heilo ...

. The songs were also included on Kyrkjebø's 1994 number-one album release, '' Innerst i sjelen'' (in English: ''Deep Within My Soul'').

Background

The duet between Sissel and

, ''Fire in Your Heart'', was recorded in a canteen in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...

before the opening of the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

. Because of the tight schedules of both Plácido Domingo and Sissel, they had only a few hours to record this English version of the Olympics anthem before the opening ceremony. When they recorded the song in the canteen, coffee cups and food could still be seen on the tables!

Chart performance

In Norway, "Se ilden lyse" reached number-one 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 ...

Top 20 and stayed on the list for nine weeks, with three weeks as number-one. In Denmark, it peaked at number 17. The international single-release, "Fire in Your Heart" peaked at number nine on

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national 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. M ...

in Sweden, with a total of six weeks within the chart. The duet-version with

peaked at number twenty in Switzerland and number 26 in Germany.Charts.nz
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Track listing

* CD maxi, Norway (1994) #"Se ilden lyse" – 4:22 #"Fire In Your Heart" – 4:22 * CD single, Germany (1994) #"Fire In Your Heart" (Duet with Plácido Domingo) – 4:22 #"The Gift of Love" – 4:07 #"Se ilden lyse" – 4:22 * CD single, Germany (1994) #"Fire In Your Heart" – 4:22 #"The Gift of Love" – 4:07 #"Se ilden lyse" – 4:22 * CD single mini, Japan (1994) #"Fire In Your Heart" – 4:21 #"Se ilden lyse" – 4:21 #" Here, There and Everywhere" – 2:38

Charts

Se ilden lyse

Weekly charts

Fire in Your Heart

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Fire in Your Heart (duet with Plácido Domingo)

Weekly charts

References

{{Plácido Domingo 1994 singles 1994 songs 1994 Winter Olympics Male–female vocal duets English-language Norwegian songs Norwegian songs Number-one singles in Norway Plácido Domingo songs Sissel Kyrkjebø songs Universal Records singles