Veslemøy Narvesen
My name is Veslemøy Narvesen and I am a drummer and composer born and raised in Kristiansand. I currently live in Trondheim where I study jazz at NTNU with drums as my main instrument. Previously I have lived in Oslo and studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music while working as a freelance musician. I've had a great interest in music for as long as I can remember, but I didn't start playing drums until I was in my teens. The years since then have been spent getting to know how I can express myself through the instrument and what paths I want to take creatively. As a musician, I'm keen to think ahead and find the parts of me that can give a unique imprint to the music. I thrive in many different genres of music, such as free improvisation, pop, jazz and rock/punk. The main projects I play in are bands like Mall Girl (indie pop/rock), Kongle Trio (piano trio), Superflipp (jazz ensemble) and KALLE (electro/acoustic jazz quartet). As a freelancer, I have also toured with the folk singer Moddi, the punk band MoE and the folk rock band Kalandra. In recent years I have immersed myself particularly in jazz music and focusing on an improvisational approach in the music I make and perform with others. I spend a lot of time composing and want to strongly emphasise this part of me as an artist in the time to come. I have a huge creative urge and passion for music that I have a dream of passing on to others. The music I make is a result of my background and contains strong influences from classical music tradition, singer-songwriter, post-punk, beat music and minimalism. I want to express all these currents through my drum kit and drumming as far as possible, and continue to explore how I can do this throughout my life!

The dream I want to apply for a grant for is quite specific and is about being able to realise a recording. The ensemble to be recorded is my first project as a band leader and we work with music that I have created in recent years. This autumn and winter I've been working on putting together a brand new band project consisting of musicians based in Trondheim and Oslo. The project stems from a commissioned concert I received in connection with the Oslo Jazz Festival 2020, as part of USBL's jazz talent prize. The prize involves playing a concert at next year's festival. Through this, I have been given the opportunity to create a concert with a free framework and therefore use the opportunity to compose for some of my absolute favourite musicians! The musicians currently involved in the project are Maria Kannegaard (piano), Anja Lauvdal (synth, effects), Jakob Leirvik (vocals), Øystein Skjelstad Østensen (bass) and Helga Myhr (hardanger fiddle/vocals). The music has been written and will be rehearsed with a band in the spring and summer of 2021. I really want to document the work with a disc recording in Oslo either before or after the concert that takes place in August. To have the opportunity to make a recording of this project would be an insanely big dream come true!