Ice Music Festival
Ice Music Festival Norway (initiated 2006 in Geilo, Norway) is a glacial instrument festival founded by Terje Isungset together with Pål Knutsson Medhus. Isungset had the idea behind the festival and remains the creative director. The festival is unique because everything, including the venue, instruments, and art, is made of ice and snow. The last three years, the festival has been located at Finse. For 2021, the festival will for the first time be arranged at Bergsjøstølen, Ål kommune. Around 30 volunteers and students work alongside ice carvers, designers, ice cutters, architects and artists for 10 days leading up to the festival to make adequate preparations.
== Background ==
The Ice Music Festival has been an annual event since 2006, showcasing music performed on instruments made from ice. Terje Isungset is the founder of the ice music as a phenomenon, and he has been travelling around the whole world with ice music concerts since 1999. Isungset had the idea of making a festival where everyone participating must create their art using only ice and snow. This requirement allowed for a pool of creativity among musicians, dancers, and other artists. In recent years, several students from the University of Bergen have been participating in the program as well. Isungset is in charge of the record label All Ice Records, and the festival cooperates with this label in producing ice music. AIR distributes their own music on all digital platforms, and are aiming to release at least one album per year, with one release at the first full moon of each year. The festival takes place in Ål, a small village close to Hardangervidda in Norway. Since 2006, the concert venue has been moved around several times, from Geilo to Finse - and now Ål. The stages are built from scratch every year, which is a major art project completed by the students from UiB.
== Profile ==
With the ice as the foundation for the festival, the program is entirely tailored around it. Nevertheless, every version of the festival is different. Every year, a new instrument of the year is made. Over the years, this has included the ice-kantele, ice-didgeridoo, ice-harp, ice-udu, ice-drum, ice-balafon, ice-hardanger fiddle, tub-ice, ice-leik, ice-bass, ice-ofon, ice-trumpet, ice-horn and ice-percussion. The festival focuses strongly on music, but the festival is also meant to highlight a focus on the climate crisis, as melting icecaps is one of the clearest signs of global warming. Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen is doing research on global warming, and the festival cooperates with scientists, who give lectures during the festival.
Many various musicians have participated in the festival over the years, including Arve Henriksen, Anders Jormin‚ Miss Tati, Eirik Glambek Bøe and Sara Marielle Gaup. Complete artist overview found below. The musicians cover many different genres, from folk music and jazz to pop and R&B, and they all have different origins. Their collaboration at the Ice Music Festival creates music like no other.
== Press coverage ==
Various press from Norway and the rest of the world have visited and documented the Ice Music Festival:
Norway
Bergens Tidende, Drammens Tidende, Verdens Gang, NRK, TV 2, Aftenposten, Ringerikes Blad, Bergensavisen, Hallingdølen, Radio Hallingdal‚ Hytta Vår. 
Europe
Deutsche Welle, Die Zeit, Südwest Presse, GEO, Jazzism, BBC, BBC Music Jazz, Financial Times, The Guardian, fRoots, Jazzwise
Others HBO,
== Artists ==
2017
Bergen Academy of Art and Design
Ivar Kolve: Ice-percussion and ice-marimba
Bjørn Tomren: Yodelling
Grzegorz Piotrowsk: Ice-saxophone
Steinar Raknes: Ice-bass
Snorre Bjerck: Ice-percussion
Minna Raskinen and Anita Lehtola- Tollin: Ice-kantele
Thomas T. Dahl: Ice-guitar
Fieh (Sofie Tollefsbøl, Ola Øverby, Andreas Rukan & Lyder Øvreås Røed): Vocals, ice-percussion, ice-bass and ice-trumpet
Maria Skranes: Vocals and ice-percussion
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2016
Martin Halla: Vocals
Ivar Kolve: Ice-percussion & ice-marimba
Kristin Voreland: Icedecoration
Snorre Bjerck: Ice-percussion
Jon Halvor Bjørnseth
Maria Skranes: Vocals & ice-percussion
Daniel Herskedal: TubIce (Ice Tuba)
Helge Andreas Norbakken: Ice-percussion
Trio Medieval: Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim, & Linn Andrea Fuglseth: Vocals
Arve Henriksen: Ice-trumpet & improvised vocals
Mamadou Diabate: Ice-percussion
Miss Tati: Vocals
Gawain Hewitt
Johannes Lundberg: Ice-bass
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2015
Sigurd Rotvik Tunestveit: Vocals
Margit Myhr: Langeleik, lyre & vocals
Steinar Mossige: Ice-percussion
Eilif Gundersen: Ice-horn
Sigurd Ytre-Arne: Electronics and sampling
Trio Medieval/ Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim, & Linn Andrea Fuglseth: Vocals
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
Arve Henriksen:Ice-trumpet & improvised vocals
Anders Jormin: Ice-bass
Helge Norbakken: Ice-drums
Jan Bang: Live sampling
Stein Arne Rimehaug: Ice-udu
Lena Nymark: Vocals
Therese Skauge: Dance
2014
Andreas Aasberg: Dance
Eilif Gundersen: Ice-horn
Eldbjørg Raknes: Vocals
Frode Eggen: Telling
Rob Waring: Iceofon
Svante Henryson: Ice-cello
Katarina Henryson: Vocals
Arve Henriksen: Ice-trumpet & improvised vocals
Anna Maria Friman: Vocals
Sidsel Walstad: Ice-harp
Lena Nymark: Vocals
Bill Covitz: Instrument-maker
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2013
Arve Henriksen: Ice-trumpet & improvised vocals
Hilmar Jensson: Ice-guitar and electronics
Lena Willemark: Vocals
Leo Svensson Sander: Ice-cello
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2012
2011
Aastad Bråten: Ice-langeleik (Norwegian folk music instrument)
Solfrid Nestegard Gjeldokk: Vocals
Bram Stadhouders: Ice-guitar and electronics
Fatma Sidan: Vocals
Mari Kvien Brunvoll: Vocals and ice-langeleik
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2010
Helene Bøksle: Vocals
Sidsel Walstad: Ice-harp
Lena Nymark: Vocals
Sofia Breimo and Johannes Blomquist: Performance
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2009
Sidsel Walstad: Ice-harp
Lena Nymark: Vocals
St. Hallvard-guttene: Boys Choir
Flukt: Art/dancing
Helene Bøksle: Vocals
Nils Økland: Ice-fiddle
Vinterdvale: Sami duet
Sara Marielle Gaup: Joik
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2008
Karin Park: Vocals
David Park
Karl Seglem: Ice-horn
Eilif Gundersen: Ice-horns
Peter Paelinck: Ice-didgeridoo
Peter Wasilewski
Eldgrim Springgard: Theater
Ann Beate Skavhaug: Visual arts
Iris Almås Tangeraas: Dance
Sara Marielle Gaup: Joik
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2007
Anneli Drecker: Vocals
Espen Jørgensen: Ice-guitars
Stefan Marb: Dance
Lars Inge Tverberg
Per Jørgensen: Ice-trumpet and vocals
Märtha Louise: Storytelling
Carlos Negreiros, Robertinho Silva, Lidia Pinheiro, Lasaro Insquierdo Gomes, Ceilo de Caravalho: Ice-percussion and dancing
Therese Skauge: Dancing
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion
2006
Unni Løvlid: Vocals
Sidsel Endresen: Vocals
Children from local school: Ice-percussion
Terje Isungset: Ice-percussion

== External links ==
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