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Published by the government of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Sky is the Limit for Norwegian Group

9 July 2008

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Harare — TALK about artists with talent laced with some courage and I am sure a number of big names will immediately pop into people's minds.

This time however, I will steer you towards classical music, a music genre, though not new but has generated enough heat and interest on the Zimbabwean scene. The Norwegian but Harare-based Trio Arctic, has definitely enchanted fans with their very own distinguished and classy feel type of music. After their premier concert in March at the Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA), the group seems to have adopted the old adage "the sky is the limit". Apart from entertaining regular guests at the Zimbabwe College of Music, it has held several concerts locally and had started to widen its horizon into the region. In reaching for the sky, the ensemble was currently touring Maputo, Mozambique, where it is expected to hold six concerts.

All the three musicians -- Eyvind Helseth (trumpet), Tone Søvik (saxophone) and Linda Helseth (trombone) -- are employed by the Culture School of Fredrikstad (Norway) and are currently seconded for a year at the Zimbabwe College of Music. In an interview, the trio expressed their enthusiasm in music, adding that they were eager to share it with as many people as possible. "There is not much music that could be written for this kind of a constellation (trumpet, saxophone and trombone). We are stealing whatever good music we can find, and we are also lucky to have some good composers writing music for us," said Eyvind Helseth. The trio specialises in classical and folk music combined with African traditional music. In Maputo, Umoja's Action team and the Norwegian renowned jazz saxophone player Hallvard Godal, would play alongside the trio.

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