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The project started out as an article, but Breen soon noticed
that the female artists she interviewed, didn't know much
about the history of Norwegian women in the music business.
It was a story she was driven to tell, and she ended up
with 300 pages covering 50 years of Norwegian rock and pop
history, told by the female participators in a very male
industry.
Why Anneli was chosen to write the foreword? Breen explains;
- Anneli Drecker is a fascinating artist in many ways, especially
due to her role as a pioneer in the electronica field in
Norway and in Europe, but also because she has shown us
in a brilliant way how a woman can combine being an artist
and being a mother of small children. She has made many
brave choices, like posing with her bare and very pregnant
belly on the cover of the magazine Beat, by combining her
career as a musician with roles in movies and on the stage,
and by participating in something as hyper commercial as
Idol, something she completed with her credibility intact.
Breen has collected interesting quotes from various newspapers
and music magazines published during the years, and has
also interviewed many of the artists mentioned in the book.
Breen's book shows the norwegian pop and rock history from
a different perspective than we're used to in rock journalism
in general. Case in point, pregnancy. In one chapter several
artists share their stories about how they had to hide their
pregnancy, and even how their careers failed because of
it. Anneli Drecker's performance with Music Chanel is mentioned
briefly, as her appearance on stage while pregnant did cause
some reaction among the audience.
Anneli has been an artist for 20 years now, and she is
of course one of several central musicians in the book.
In addition to the preface written by Anneli, Breen has
also included a mini biography over two pages about Ms Drecker
in the chapter about "Electronic ladies".
The book is both an important historical document, but
it's also a very entertaining read. If you thought you knew
everything about the pop and rock scene, think again. The
book tells interesting and funny stories from "behind
the scenes", told by women.
Anneli is mentioned frequently throughout the text, although
there is little here that is news for the hardcore fan.
Anneli's preface is very personal and amusing to read, but
it is only three pages long, so you should be interested
in the Norwegian music business in general to get your money's
worth if you are comtemplating purchasing this book. Unfortunately,
there are currently no plans for an English edition of this
book.
Buy
the book at Bokkilden
Kjøp
boka hos Bokkilden
Text: Thomas Olsen & Jan Helge Hordnes
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