1. Could you tell me a bit about line up of CB? Our readers are people with industrial/ dark ambient background (mostly), so they don't know much about your metal past�

Corona Borealis consist of two people. Kristian Nordeide and Ronny Hovland. In addition to this I have used some guest musicians who are all friends of mine from Norway and Russia.

2. From your interviews for other publications I understood that you are a professional musician. Am I right? In my country young musicians don't get paid much... what about Norway? Is there any demand for folk musicians?

There isn't a great demand for folk music. You have to work like hell to get enough jobs to make a living out of it. Most of the time is spent in the telephone or in front of a computer, trying to book gigs, events and so on.

3. Do you think that folk music is popular in your country? Or Norway like most European states invaded by American mass culture? Do you think (and feel as a folk musician) that your government does enough for protecting it's culture or something could be done better?

The Norwegian government does very little to protect Norwegian culture. However we have many interest organizations who work within their spesialized fields. In my opinion nothing should be done to protect a cultural expression. If it's too fragile to stand strong on in its own, it deserves to die.

4. What do you think about the debut album of CB now? I know it took quite a time to record and release it. Have you achieved by the final result - CD - as much as you expected?

It's been a while since I listened to my own CD... I'm pleased with the result, allthough I would have done things differently today.

5. What do you think about reaction of listeners on the debut CD? Do you get much feedback? Hammerheart is well-known label among metal fans but it's rather unknown inside folk/medieval/ethnic musical scene, so do you have enough attention from non-metal publications and fans?

Releasing this CD on the Hammerheart label was quite out of place... It would have reached a larger audience if it was distributed by a label who know the target group better than this metal label... There has been little attention from outside the metal scene. But it was interesting to try this approach anyway. When they see the cover, many people think it's a metal CD. This was not my intention, it just turned out that way.

6. And do you notice any difference in impressions from metal/ non-metal listeners?

Of course. The metal scene use a much more crude vocabulary when describing the music, while non-metal reviews contain a more critical approach based on concrete knowledge of the material.

7. Your music is hard to call 100% authentic folk/ medieval. Have you planned to achieve that kind of mix of modern sound and ancient melodies from the very beginning or this pseudo-authentic sound just the way things came out?

I decided to turn my back on historical authenticity. But I would say the CD is quite authentic anyway, because what you hear is the pure unspoiled sound of real accoustic instruments. The only editing we did was to add delay. On most of the recordings we used two very sensitive cond. mics for each instrument (sometimes up to four), in order to capture the pure, living sound of the wood.

8. CORONA BOREALIS is one-time project or you plan to continue to release albums under this name? Could you tell me about your other side-projects and their concepts?

Hammerheart had to make heavy cuts, and Corona Borealis was one of the bands they could not afford to keep. I have plans for the concept, yes, but things take time. I have the next CD ready in my mind... But I haven't found an interesting label with the right attitude yet. Other side projects... Well I work as a musician in a medieval restaurant in Bergen, called Olde Hansa. That's very rewarding and good fun. Apart from that I play bagpipes at events, weddings, parties etc. I have no other bands at the moment. I gave up my former main project, the band Fabelsvansene, due to lousy musicians and too much resistance.

9. Is there any news about your cooperation with HAGALAZ RUNEDANCE? And could you tell me a bit about this project?

Andrea Haugen contacted me just after Corona Borealis was released, and asked me to join her on some tours etc. We recorded her new CD, "Frigga's Web" in Sept./Oct. 2001. It will be released in April I think...

10. Why do we need "traditional" music that doesn't sound like the real traditional music? Do you consider CB a "serious" project, an Art, or it belongs to popular music and serves for purpose of pure entertainment?

To me Corona Borealis is more like a private dream. I didn't think about a potential audience when I recorded it. I just had a good time in studio, and Hammerheart was kind enough to release the result.

11. In the list of guest musicians I have found quite a number of people with Russian last names. They are Russians or it's just a coincidence?

They are friends of mine from St. Petersburg. We travel together around Europe in the summerseason, playing on the street and sleeping in forests etc. They are a bunch of wild pagans all of them. I am a member of their band, called Welladay, but I don't play regularly with them as we live so far apart.

12. How did you choose songs for your debut album? Your debut album is a conceptual one or it's just a bunch of songs without any real relation?

The CD consist of my favourite music at the time of recording. Those were the tunes I played then. It's as simple as that.

13. What do you think about neofolk? This genre is getting more and more attention from labels and fans...

I'm not really concerned with genres. All expressions have some unique aspects, and you can't allways compare them. For instance Hagalaz' Runedance and Corona Borealis. We are on the same label, and both are expressions within the neofolk genre, but the they are uncomparable anyway. However I am
very pleased to see that more and more people turn to the ancient musical roots to quench their aural thirst.

14. Neofolk bands as well as many bands that play traditional music pretty often labeled as right wing. In fact, "traditional" values do not suite philosophy and moral of contemporary society and CAN be introduced as "right-wing". What do you think about that relation of right-wing ideologies and rise of interest to ancient traditions/ neofolk music?

Both share the same focal point. But right wing ideologies are limiting, and I have to dismiss them because I have a free mind. I am well aware of these tendencies however, and they are very strongly present within the heavily traditional folkmusic scene here in Norway. If you bring something new on stage, you will have to fight against a lot of stupidity. For instance: Last summer I did a traditional norwegian folk melody on french bagpipes during a gig with different musicians. While playing I noticed that the woman responsible for the concert (her name was Myhren Groven I think) was holding her hands tightly over her ears. She just couldn't cope with the experience of hearing norwegian music on a french instrument.

15. I continue my previous question... in one of your interviews was told that you decided not to buy CD of Norwegian project Storm because the band had "nazi" reputation. I believe that we can't consider political "image" of music when we judge it... otherwise we'll end like Israel where amazing operas of Wagner are almost prohibited. Do you really believe that Art based on "extreme" ideologies have no right to exist?

Of course they have a right to exist! But the project you mentioned was very foul, (and it was of lousy quality). The Norwegian people suffered heavily during the German occupation, and when kids like the ones who did the Storm project come up with the idea of presenting Norwegian music within a pure,
unconcealed Nazi package, it must be dismissed as an expression of madness, and lack of pride in ones own people's noble history.

16. What do you think about today's Norwegian musical underground? We don't see as many talented newcomers as it used to be 5 or 6 years ago... it looks like the flood of Norwegian bands began to dry out.

Yes, probably the church-fire effect have come to dust... There are still some surprises to come, I can asure you. Just wait and see.

17. 21 century brought to us globalization. Borders, nations, traditions and even languages disappear... One global village, one global culture and one global life... at the same time we all can see the rise of interest to our past, history, ancient traditions and culture. Right now this interest is limited by underground culture, but modern underground culture is tomorrow's mass culture... you as a folk musician should feel this rise of interest. Do you? Do you think that this rebirth of ancient culture is natural process or it's just a temporary trend and it'll end soon?

I look differently upon this issue. To me there is an "eternal" pagan sound. We call it folk music. It's always been there and it will never wither, allthough it's constantly changing and evolving, addapting to it's age but still keeping the ancient elements intact within the new frame.

18. In the very end of this interview I'd like you to answer the following question. You are a folk musician. Generations of people played the same music before you and it's really hard to believe that you'd create something new in this extremely conservative genre� how do you see your own evolution (as well as evolution of CB) as a musician? To play folk music as close to original as it could be? To adapt it to our time? To�?

In my work as a performing artist I am most concerned about the rise of energy between the musician and the audience. Different tunes have different moods, messages, effects etc. I guess you could say it's a magical approach. I am constantly searching for ancient tunes that have survived through centuries because of their magic properties, their effect on musician and listener and so on. Some of these tunes can be used for certain purposes, and the interesting work lies in trying to express the ancient melody as
effectively as possible. Thus we could to move mountains...