Olavsfest is proud to present Oda Felicia in Nidaros Cathedral on Thursday 1 August and Friday 2 August. She will perform one of Norwegian music's most painful and personal projects - live for the very first time.
Tickets in sale
Tickets thursday 1 august // Tickets friday 2 august
«The Huntington Chorea Project (2007-2025)» is Oda Felicia's life's work. An audiovisual art project written and composed over a period of 16 years, and still in development.This is modern pop in an uncompromising format, filled with variety and a richness of ideasAftenposten's critic wrote when the first act of the project was released, giving it a 6/6 rating.
Oda Felicia Bardal Sigstad Abdelmaguid (34) grew up in a family affected by the rare and brutal disease Huntington Chorea. The degenerative brain disease is highly hereditary, and children of carriers will have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene defect. There is no cure. Everyone who is affected dies.
The project is Oda Felcia's deeply personal processing of a life situation and a powerlessness that is hard for outsiders to grasp and understand.
Her Instagram profile along with her music and lyrics, are a powerful example of the creativity that can also be triggered by a situation so painful it's almost unbearable. We all know her husband Magdi Omar Ytreeide Abdelmaguid from the hugely popular rap duo Karpe, and he contributes towards the visual and conceptual part of the project.
«But this shotgun up on the attic
It pulls me right at it
‘Cause I know that I have this
And if I have it
It’s better I vanish
I’m not gonna fight it
The way that my dad did»
«Shotgun (2013)»
Et eget språk i kunsten
De to konsertene i Nidarosdomen blir aller første gang «The Huntington Chorea Project» framføres live.
- The disease has affected absolutely every aspect of my life, and because it was and is a very difficult topic to talk about, I developed my own language through art, explains Oda Felicia.
- There I was able to write, there I was able to compose and there I noted down every single picture and every single film that came into my head.
LES PORTRETTINTERVJU: -Sykdommen var en slags «Lord Voldemort» i vår familie
She started writing at the same time as her father was diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 2007.
- It took many years before the project took a concrete form, but in recent years I feel that the pieces have started to fall into place. Now I am ready to share, says Oda Felicia, who explains that the situation has awakened a number of strong emotions, often conflicting.
- This is not just one emotion. In that case, it would have been one song. Growing up with this is all-consuming, so whatever I created had to be just that. Musically, I let myself be inspired by everything I believe in. Whether it's Grieg, Frank Ocean or SAINt JHN doesn't matter, as long as I feel that the music comes from a place I can feel.
How do you live with a father who fades away? How do you live with the uncertainty whether you are a carrier of the disease and a potential burden for your loved ones? And not least - how do you cope with the fear that you might pass the disease on to your own children? These are questions that are treated without filter in songs that leave a lasting impression on the listener.
«I don’t have time to wait for cures, if I’m gonna be a mother
How can someone grow inside of me?
What life can I offer, I am weak
You’re expecting flowers – but before you plant the seed
Know that I am weed»
«Weed (2011) – rev.3»
"The Huntington Chorea Project" is deeply personal and important art. Olavsfest director Steinar Larsen is proud and grateful for the trust Oda Felicia has shown the festival.
- Our values and what we stand for as a festival have been important for the decision to perform it at Olavsfest. The inspections we have had in Nidaros Cathedral with Oda Felicia have been an exciting process, where she has shown great respect both for the cathedral's history and significance, says Larsen.
- These two evenings in the Nidaros Cathedral will probably be the most powerful project during this year's Olavsfest. The project's theme can naturally be linked directly to this year's Olavsfest theme POWER - the project puts into words the powerlessness we experience in the face of serious illness, but also how serious trauma can unleash hugely creative processes, he explains.
The concept and form of the two concerts are still a work in progress. But we can already reveal that Kristoffer Lo (who also produced Oda Felicia's first EP), Andrea Louise Horstad and violinist Harpreet Bansal will participate.
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