Eurocovers: Kurt Nilsen's Adieu and Hver gang vi møtes

I love the concept of the Norwegian show Hver gang vi møtes. Based on a Swedish format, a diverse group of popular musicians come together for a TV series broadcast across a number of weeks. Each episode is dedicated to one of the artists, and each week the other singers perform their own versions of that artist’s hits, often in their own, very different style.

Three weeks ago in Norway it was Anita Skorgan week. Considering the 54 year old singer has a somewhat limited back catalogue of actual hits, it was perhaps unsurprising that four out of the six other singers opted to take on one of her previous Eurovision entries.

Marion Ravn performed a somewhat underwhelming version of 'Casanova', which mainly built on the original’s disco influences and didn’t really add a huge amount to the song. Morten Abel took on 'Oliver' in his own dark style, the result being almost unrecognisable from the original. And Ole Paus sang a beautiful, stripped back version of Karoline Krüger's 'For vår jord' (co-written by Skorgan), which really gave me a new appreciation for the song.

The revelation of the week, however, was Kurt Nilsen, who took on the 1982 Norwegian entry 'Adieu'. It's not a song I'd ever really paid much attention to before, but Nilsen takes it in a completely different direction. He allows the sadness of the lyrics to truly shine through, and personally the raw emotion in the song cuts me like a knife.


Let me know which of the covers is your favourite.