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YLVIS

Norway duo Nico & Vinz hit US top 20

Norwegian pop duo Nico & Vinz have become the third Norwegian act to make the Billboard Top 20 in the US after their song 'Am I Wrong' jumped into to 18th place this week.

Published: 15 May 2014 08:41 CEST
Norway duo Nico & Vinz hit US top 20
Nico Sereba (left) and Vincent Dery (right). Photo: Official website
The two are following in the footsteps of the comedy duo Ylvis, whose 'What does the Fox say?' peaked at sixth place last year. 
 
A-ha, the legendary Norwegian synth pop band remain the only Norwegian band to score a Billboard Number One hit with 'Take on Me' in 1985. 
 
The duo, Nico Sereba and Vincent Dery, launched under the name 'Envy' in 2010, but renamed their act as Nico & Vinz after signing with Warner Brothers in the US in January. 
 
Their music draws on their respective Ivorian and Ghanaian backgrounds, with the two comparing their 'sound' to  Paul Simon's Graceland and The Police on their website.
ghanaian

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MUSIC

GALLERY: Ten great songs about Norway

How many artists have serenaded Norway in song? Richard Orange scours YouTube and Spotify to find ten great tracks, one of which is little more than an angry stream of obscenities.

Published: 30 June 2014 09:40 CEST
GALLERY: Ten great songs about Norway
Norway popster Maya Vik from the video Oslo Knows. Photo: Screen grab/YouTube
Bruce Springsteen's longtime guitarist Steve Van Zandt, or 'Little Steven', is so captivated by Norway's music scene that he set up a record label just to sign up Norwegian bands.   So far he's signed up four, the most famous being the all-girl punk outfit Cocktail Slippers. 
 
"Who knows why but Scandinavia is the rock ’n’ roll capital of the modern world," he maintains. 
 
This month saw Oslo pop duo Nico & Vinz reach number four on the US charts, the second year in a row a Norwegian act has hit the Billboard top ten.  Last year, Ylvis's YouTube smash The Fox peaked at number six. 
 
But how has Norway gone down among international rock acts. Not always so well, judging by Half Man Half Biscuit's sweary diatribe, Stavanger Töestub (with its confusing Swedish accent), or by Velvet Underground founder John Cale's song about escaping the country, or indeed by Of Montreal's description of sleepless summer nights.
 
Norwegian bands, on the other hand, tend to dismiss Oslo as a small-town backwater.  Somehow, though, it all adds up to some pretty good music. 

LOOK AND LISTEN: Ten Great Songs about Norway. 

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