Old interview with Vibeke

by Franneke Sat May 31, 2008 3:43 am

Just found an old interview with Vibeke ( from 2002 I guess)
Enjoy!

Old interview with Vibeke Vibeke

Vibeke Stene
Country: Norway
Band: Tristania

- When did you start singing? What got you into music?

Vibeke: I've grown up in a home filled with music, so music has been all around me as long as I can remember. I can't imagine my life without music. I also think it's a very healthy and stimulating way of living your life, to listen to and to work with music.

- What was your first band?

Vibeke: My first band was Tristania.

- Your earliest influences? Do you have any favourite singers now?

Vibeke: Hard to find the right answer for that question.... but I think that my influences apart from listening to music that I like, have to be people I've been doing music together with. I've learned a lot from many different sources and put it together and made my own thing out of it. I'm very happy for that, since now I can do more than only sing opera, for example. The world is full of very good singers so it's hard to mention any favourites. When I listen to music I do not only listen to the singers but I listen to how the singers are able to create a mood that fits with the rest of the music. To create a mood is the most important thing you have to think about when you're a singer, I think. Tori Amos, Bjørk, David Bowie, Tom Waits, Diamanda Ghalas are only a few of many singers that I think are very good.

- Have you ever taken singing lessons? What is your musical background?

Vibeke: I've been taking singing lessons for nine years, all together. I started when I was 14 years old. As I told you in one of the other questions, music has always been a very important part of my life. All my studies, apart from two years, has been music. I've been doing a lot of different things apart from Tristania, like touring with a big-band, choir-stuff, school-concerts, jazz-ensembles, etc.

- What do you think makes a good singer?

Vibeke: I think I already answered this in the second answer. But I also have to mention that singing is more than just a noise coming out from a mouth and that you are lucky if you hit the right tune. To sing is to be able to use and take control of your whole body to make the right sound, and not only one kind of sound, to dare to use all your weird thoughts and be able to tell something while you are singing. It's art.

- What do you think is your strongest point as a singer?

Vibeke: That I'm critical to what I do and I'm never satisfied if I don't do the best that I can. Even then I'm seldom satisfied... This has also been my weakest point in times when my mind are focused on things that have nothing to do with music... So I've learned that if you're going to work with singing, you need a lot of self-confidence and you need to learn from mistakes that you do. The mistakes will always be there.

- What is (are) your favourite song(s) to sing/perform and why?

Vibeke: No favourite. But I love doing opera's... to sing and do drama at the same time... although I hate listening to opera-music myself.

- What are your interests and hobbies apart from music?

Vibeke: To read a good book, travelling, family, friends and bier. SKÅL!