Twenty years have passed since Radio Nova’s music and culture festival saw daylight for the first time. This weekend the anniversary will be celebrated with parties, indie music concerts and an “underground house party atmosphere”.

2010-04-14 På norsk

– We’re aiming for a large festival this year. I’m really looking forward to Friday, even though I probably won’t breathe properly until it’s all over, says leader for Novafest, Anne Nordheim.

Since last October she has worked with a handful of organizers and around 50 volunteers from Radio Nova. They have booked headliners like the Bergen electropoppers Casiokids and the American indie folk band Mount Eerie, but according to Nordheim the program will also contain art and cultural events in addition to the concerts.
– Radio Nova has always widely covered both music and culture, so we also offer our audience a large program not related to music. We are arranging exhibitions, parties, dance groups and much more in the area around Blå.

Going for smaller artists

Previous festivals have been arranged at Chateau Neuf, and it is no secret that the lack of audience has been a large problem. Nordheim hopes that a more central placement of the festival will attract more people. –The first Novafest took place by the Akerselva riverbanks, by Myren Verksted, so in a way we are going back to our roots. The weekend of the festival is the real start of spring in Oslo, and what could be better than arranging Novafest in one of the most beautiful and central areas of Oslo?

When Novafest was launched in 1990 there was hardly any established festival in the Oslo area, and the tickets were sold out almost immediately. Throughout the years the festival has booked bands like Raga Rockers, Turbonegro, Motorpsycho and The White Stripes. Nordheim says that the festival this year has focused on booking less profiled bands, but a larger number of them.
–What we actually wanted was a festival with no headliners, but when you get the opportunity to book Casiokids, you can´t say no. Apart from that, most of the program consists of smaller groups and artists, says Nordheim.

Only for the indie kids?

But what can Novafest offer to people who would not consider themselves an Oslo indie kid?
Nordheim admits that the concert program is mainly put together for the people interested in indie and underground music, but she hopes that the art exhibitions, bazaars and parties will attract several different kinds of audience groups.
– In addition to the concert program we will also arrange parties that I think everyone with like, regardless of interests. Since parties will be held at Strykejernet, the atmosphere will be something like an underground house party. And that’s something everybody can dig, isn’t it?

Axel M.K Hærland • Ketil Blom • Translation by Ingrid F. Brubaker