|
|
| 21 October 2005 |
|
| Interview with Tom Wang (Radio News 98 - Taipei) |
| Source : News98 |
Transcription by Exila for Lene.it
*Translation in chinese*
Every tuesday we do love concerts!
*Translation in chinese*
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome to.. Lene Marlin!
L. Hello
Lene, Lene, thank you for coming at the show.
L. It's very nice to be here!
I was just telling everybody you are the first person from Norway i have ever met and now we have a first norwegian friend.
So we know you are from Norway. And now you're in Taiwan.
L. Yes.
Good, good, how was your trip so far?
L. It's been nice, it's been really great, i have to say i'm really.. You know, just good things and just nice people, i say it has been really really great.
Absolutly.
*Translation in chinese*
And you came all the way from Norway to Taiwan, right?
L. I did, a long trip.
It's you to trip, how many hours?
L. Well i think it takes around 21 hours.
21 hours! I can be on the moon and you are in Taiwan!
L. Yes, i am.
We really appreciate that.
L. Well, i love to be here.
Good. So if you don't mind tell us from Norway because i'm fascinated with that country.
L. Norway is.. well it's not a very big country, we have like 4.5 milions people.
4.5 milion people.
L. Yes and ah.. it's a great country and people should go visit it it's very nice! (laughs)
Absolutly. I studied your background. Correct me if i'm wrong but you are born in a town very near artic circle, called Trasmo.
L. Tromsų.
Tromsų?
L. Yeah.
Ahhh!! It's very near artic cirle.
L. Yes, and cold, yes it's--
Very cold?
L. Yes, it's a very nice city in Norway back 67 thousand people and norway is.. it takes well to get from the top to south.. it's a very.. like when leave now it's another city called oslo, the capital, and takes 2 hours flight between Tromsų and Oslo and those 2 cities are very different from each other.
*Translation in chinese*
Tromsų. What's the temperature in Tromsų?
L. Well, what to say. Well, we have several times warm climate, you know 25° on the warmest days then the winter.. ah.. -25.
-25?!
L. I'd say, yeah.
So the temperature in taipei today is nothing for you!
L. Nothing for me.
It's nothing! It's like--
L. It's summer for me!
It's summer! Yeah! It's hot for you!
*Translation in chinese*
So the temperautre here is too hot for you, that makes your visit even more special and this time wierd.
L. It's great, thank you.
*Translation in chinese*
So about your music. Everybody here got to know you. My first Lene Marlin song is naturally "sitting down here" and there's a story with that song.
L. Well the sitting down here, ah, i mean the first album it feels forever good for me, i'm 25 now
but that was the first album, i thought that the first album would sell 30 thousand copies in Norway and now looking back and it's just amazing to see how many people listen to my music, it's strange.
30 thousand?
L. Yeah.
And it end up selling 3 millions!
L. Not that much but more than 30 thousand i can say.
*Translation in chinese*
> From the first album you had a long career, it's for this that everybody got
to know you. It's strange for me, i didn't discover your songs, actually my ex girlfriend discovered your songs.. the day when she broke up with me. We were having this dinner and she said "i wanna break up with you" i said "why?" she said "i don't wanna talk about it but i'm giving you a cd".
L. No!
Yes! Yes! So she gave me a cd, i look at the cd it says "Lene Marlin".
L. It says "unforgivable sinner"!
Yeah, exactly! And "Lene Marlin, who is this girl?" she said "i don't wanna talk about it, go back and listen to this song called sitting down here. That's how bad she feels a relationship, you know, she feels she was sitting down there but hey i can't see her.
L. That's not good!
That's not good, so that's like i discovered Lene Marlin. But today if i go back and i could say her "hey i interviewed Lene Marlin today", maybe she'll consider turning back with me!
Lene laughs
*Translation in chinese*
So we got to know you from playing my game then, ah 4 years later you had your second album, why waited so long?
L. The first album was a great success, yeah i didn't expect i just needed some time i needed to break cause i finished school while i recorded my first album so..then the day after i finished school i just went out and i travelled for months so when i was finished i was just tired and i needed to break.
Yeah, absolutly, i could imagine, you were 18 when you released your first album, you were 18 and first album was a hit and your life is just completly changed be younger as your expectation. Did you find it hard in the beginning?
L. I think that everything that is new in your life is a bit scary dunno what to expect so i guess you know i'm near sometimes to looking back on everything that i had because you know it's also very important that when your experience that you had sometimes to sit down and go through and yeah yeah that's quite cool but when you sit travelling and there were times when i visited 3 countries pro day and i get a bit confused.
You can lost reality and get lost with yourself.
L. Yeah.
So you decided to disappear for a while, it's a long while, it's 4 years.
L. Yeah.
To let you go i mean you decided to disappear for a while wanna stop you from, right?
L. I mean i think that i had to stop some times because when you feel that you don't have anything more to give,
times when you stop and rest because for me it's very important to have fans of what i'm doing
when you don't have fans anymore you should stop.
That's amazing.
L. Back to the project of music, yeah!
That's phantastic!
*Translation in chinese*
But how could you be so concious of this thing at such a young age, i mean most people.. you know how many 18 years old girls try to take a vantage, do more hits, more recordings...
L. I think... Well, when i first started writing music i hadn't this dream about, making an album you know for me that was thinking be in this business is really most wanted for some reasons, for me was all about music so i have been fan with that anymore it was easy for me to say "i have to spend sometime and it gets come down and i get my inspiration back cause when you lose contact with what originally your songs are about it's quite hard to find inspiration again.
That's so much hard for teenage girl right?
L. I'm older now!
*Translation in chinese*
L. I think whatever you do it doens't have to be music but anything you want to and you're fan of for me was so important to stop when i did.
You stopped and you disappeard 4 years. 4 years later you came back with "another day". another day. that's another stage of your life, not just another day. So when you came back with your second album what changed?
L. I think that the most important thing is that i was older and i have had sometime to think. And the first time around you don't know what to expect really, the second time was more than i expected of me and also i could relax more about because i had the knowledge then. So then you feel more secure of what you're doing.
I see. So actually you envolved as well?
L. I would say, yeah.
*Translation in chinese*
So you evolved, now we have your 3rd album.
L. Yess!
Ok. Lost in a moment: that's a beautiful title!
L. I know, i love it! (laughs)
*Translation in chinese*
More emotions. How did you came up with that?
L. Sometimes i feel lost in a moment you know, in good moments and bad moments but it's also you know taking from one of my lyrics and when i was older i said "oh that's the title".
You are a very instinctive writer and singer, you're not having any plans, you come up with the titles and lyrics you go with your instict.
L. Well i think that's the way for.. you know i didn't go to music school, it's just the way that i'm doing music and started writing and that's important for me.
You taught yourself guitar when you were 15. Never we seen any--
L. I never learn any way to play, i just needed.. cause i had mine and wasn't good to play wrong, you know, that's just the mess.
*Translation in chinese*
And i think i know why these chinese singers wanted to do a cover of your songs because i think there's something pure, something transparent, something so natural about your music. It's not just a copy of another style is your own originally lene marlin and again i guess it has something to do with the Norway because you know, your voice sounds different from everybody us!
L. (laughs)
*Translation in chinese*
Ok, so we have Lene Marlin at the show and she is very kind to visit our program she brings her 3rd album and it's called "lost in a moment" and of course this is a song we have been hearing a lot "still here". Still here, there's a story about this song too, right?
L. Yes there is, yeah.
"Still here" is originally a chinese song.
L. Yess.
Ah-ah, and so how happened, did they call you and say "hey--
L. Yes they were sure that if i would hear the song and maybe considering writing my version and i heard the song and said "yeah no problem" and just started writing it and it happened very quickly i heard the song and i started writing then we were into the studio recording the song and now it's here!
When they showed you the song, did you translate the original version?
L. No. No, i didn't wanna know what it was about, i don't wanna know. I don't wanna know. And that's the way, you know i never wanna say what my songs are about and that's the way i prefer listen to music as welL.
That's what we consider in chinese culture, you don't know what your songs are about and you just hear the music and you write the song and it so happened and the original version have something very similar. 2 versions actually each other about love and lost and they're both beautifuL.
L. Oh, thank you.
So, we have Lene Marlin on the show.
*Translation in chinese*
Now here it is "still here-Lene Marlin"
*Still here*
*What if*
*Translation in chinese*
Lene Marlin. She came all the way from Norway to Taiwan, this is your second visit, alright?
L. Yes it is.
How was last time you were here?
L. Ah, well, a very different becuase i have so more times here to visit and i have to say i didn't feel well cause i had "no i didn't get in Taiwan so that's all the trip for me."
Well it was phantastic!
L. It was very quick and that's the way when i travel you visit the country for 1 day or maximum 2 days and then you get off. But this time i'm here for lot more days.
And we appreciate that.
*Translation in chinese*
So, you like to traveL.
L. Well, i had a plan that i would finished school, finishing school and have a lot of travel and it sure happened but not the way i planed it, because now most of my travel is for work, so.. it's a different way of traveling.
But still you appeared in many many countries.
L. Yess, there are some countries, yes.
And let's talk about your home country first, we're all fascinated with Norway, everyone wanna go, i don' think now is a good time to go. It's cold.
L. Well, when i left Norway it was.. i think 3, 4 degrees but is like my hometown, Tromsų, in the summertime we have the midnight sun, so never gets dark, the sun all day.
24 hours?
L. 24 hours.
How you go sleep?
L. You don't! (laughs) Well, you have to get used of that. You just have to, just close the windows and create darkness yourself. Then, in the wintertime it's 1 hour of daylight. And we have northern lights. Northern lights are phantastic.
Such a special weather and climate which effect had on your writing?
L. Well, i think.. You know, i started to sing because i lived there, i moved from Tromsų when i was 18 and i lived in Oslo, but because i'm growed there i have to say how much that influenced my music, because i can't write a song anywhere, in a plane, in a car..
You were born there.
L. It's hard when you're growed up to start thinking how would it be if you didn't grow up there.
Ah-ah. But songs in a 24 hours daylight or.. let me put it that way, in a 24 hours night day, does it get on your moody, do we have a Lene dark?
L. Well, my songs are so happy! (laughs)
And that's why i'm so curious! How did you write those songs? Or it's just personality? You are a sunny person, or when you live in norway--
L. I'm a dark dark dark person! (laughs) No, i think the thing is that sometimes you just put yourself in every mood you want to, like when i'm writing a song, i can be in a room full of friends having dinner, we can start talking about something and then all in a sudden i get this idea and i'm really happy but then i run away for a while and write the song and sometimes it's a very sad lyric, not because i'm sad but just cause i can put myself in that situation and then i go back and turn with my friends.
So you have this ability of isolating yourself from the surrondings?
L. Well, i think all you do is focusing on what you're doing if you have an idea, everyone wanna start thiking of your past and your future and sometimes you put yourself in a situation and think about it... i think about it, and i write about it.
So you intelluactily put yourself in that situation, you don't need to be physically in that situation.
L. No, no. A lot of people says me "oh you must be so sad if you write this music".
But you're not.
L. No! Sometimes, but i'm not sad, it wouldn't be good.
No, you wouldn't be a good writer if you're trully sad.
*Translation in chinese*
So you've been writing that way since 99 to now, did you had a changed in these 6 years, you know your songs deep?
L. Well, it's hard for me to describe exactly what the difference is between the first album and the third album cause i don't think the way of writing songs has changed, i just think that the things that i've written about have changed because you know your life has changed and you write about that but.. no, i don't think.
And that's good cause it means you're always true to yourself.
L. Yes, i'm always true to myself.
You don't try to change technically? Because nobody likes change technically. People grow up you know, but you don't just say "i wanna go to hip hop, i wanna do rock".
L. I think for me every album.. I never really had plans when i started working on it, then you realise "oh! it's gonna be that" it's just the song, recording that.
So you're actually working on your album everyday when you get up, when you start breathing, when you go to bed, when you have drink.. that's part of your life.
L. You know in my trips i was taking along if i get an idea i write it down and then when i get back home to think.
That's what i wanna ask you when we came back after the commercial break.
*Translation in chinese*
*Leave my mind*
*You weren't there*
*Translation in chinese*
We are so happy saying Lene Marlin was at the show tonight, so the second which we just heard is from your second album it's called "you weren't there" you had to write a song for girls breaking up with boys on every of your albums you have sitting down there now you weren't there, this is important.
L. Very important, yes.
Thank you so much!
*Translation in chinese*
So you has 3 albums and still a long way to come. Have you ever thought about creating something of artistic in another form, like painting or even write a book?
L. I did try. I have 3 albums and travel a lot and if someone would have talked me about i would have just said "what are you talking about?" I think now music is such a big part of my life i don't know to draw or paint but i think writing songs is something i wanna continue doing.
How about writing in a book? Everything that you have on your note book, maybe written in a book.
L. I don't know if i would be able to fill pages you know i could have this phantastic idea and start writing and after 5 pages ask "err.. where do i go from here?" so i prefer when it's really short and it can be on one piece of paper.
Actually your songs are like that.
L. Yeah.
*Translation in chinese*
Talking about painting, you could try chinese painting while you are here.
L. This is interesting, i hope that my name was good, it's very difficult it's very fascinated.
You use to brush your name in english?
L. Well, that i've done many many times, i've also tried to write my name in chinese and that was interesting.
Where is it now?
L. I don't know where is it now.
Maybe it could be on ebay now! I'd try to bid for that!
Lene laughs
*Translation in chinese*
It's just hard for us to write chinese caligraphy and we have studied that from like 6 years on elementary school but you did write it beautiful at the press conference.
L. You know i did it! (laughes)
So you visit taiwan you wrote your name in chinese brush and what else? Of course did you do a performance and a performance on mtv.
L. Not many things, i had this press conference and photos for elle but i think the great thing is i only met nice people so it's so great to be here and you work from the morning to evening and it's all very exciting and it's a great time to be here.
You look fresh you look energetic you have a lot of fans and that's important.
L. That's important.
So, taiwan, Norway i don't think there are many difference from each other, are you used to everything here, temperatures, what about food, what about traffic?
L. There's a lot more people a lot more traffic, the food is different but we like to eat, i tried a lot of things but i'm very young i really like french fries.
Really?!
L. With pork, or beef.
Really?!
L. Yeah.
Do you have it in Norway?
L. Ah, not in the same way, you can get it but is not in the same way.
*Translation in chinese*
I cook very good you know, with rice, with pork, with beef, with whatever you want, next time in Taiwan i'll cook for you, definitly.
L. Good!
*Translation in chinese*
Lost in a moment. This song from your album is called how would it be.
L. Yess.
It's another poetic title, i like your titles, look at the title you know it's about a story, somehow you can find yourself in a Lene Marlin story.
L. That's good. You know, this is why i prefer don't tell anyone what my songs are about, i want everyone to make up their stories.
Exactly, when we listen to your songs we have your own songs because we have our personal feelings on them.
L. That's what i want, that's great.
That's great and thank you for coming up with this great album, you help a lot of girls breaking up with guys, a lot of guys including me realize and for that i'm forever in debit with you Lene Marlin, thank you so much for coming and i wish you a big success with the cd.
L. Thank you so much.
*Translation in chinese*
*How would it be*
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
