My Funny Quarantine

I started playing the piano at the age of six, and in my teens, my dream was to study classical music and be a professional pianist. Somehow this didn´t happen, and I ended up studying medicine instead. I now work as a medical doctor in Kristiansand, Norway, but I never stopped playing and writing music I had been dreaming since the '90s about putting together my own trio and play my own compositions, but for many years nothing happened. Finally, in 2017, my very good friend and excellent bass player, Fredrik Sahlander (a Swede living in Norway) grew tired of listening to my rambling about a trio and me complaining that it would never come to life. Sahlander, known from i.a the bands «Sah!», «Dualistic» and «Johnsen, Sahlander and Moen», and an extraordinarily talented and accomplished musician, said that he had found a young, vastly talented drummer from Harstad in the northern parts of Norway, now a student at the University in Kristiansand, and that he, Tobias Øymo Solbakk, wanted to join Fredrik and me in a trio. Solbakk has later earned a reputation as a magnificent drummer in a wide variety of styles, and he has played the drums in the metal bands «Inhsahn» and «In Vain» as well as in «Kubby», «Dualistic» and «Vian». The three of us started to work together in Spring 2017, and Runar Nørsett Trio was born. Most of the songs on this album have been written during 2020. The songs have nothing specific to do with the pandemic, except the title track «My funny Quarantine», which I wrote in a strange mood, part afraid and disillusioned, and part optimistic and full of hope. I try to write music that appeals to both heart and brain, music that can make you both smile and cry, and music that spurs your imagination. I have something to tell you, but I don´t know exactly what it is. By listening to my music, maybe you understand it anyway? Runar Nørsett, February 2021.