The powerful performance by Karpe Diem doing "Tusen Tegninger" in Oslo last month -with Kork & Traces- that put another big lump in my throat that day

Karpe Diem m/ Kork - "Tusen Tegninger" (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011), Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011. http://youtu.be/boQPp2pen60

Karpe Diem performs "Tusen Tegninger" (A Thousand Drawings) with Kork, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Kringkastingsorkestret, and the Traces Gospel Choir doing chorus). National Day of Remembrance for Attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

The couple shown in the audience at the end of the video above are Crown Prince Haakon and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Her step-brother, Trond Berntsen, an off-duty police officer working security at the AUF youth summer camp on Utøya, which his own son was attending, was the second of the 69 murder victims of Anders Behring Breivik on the island.

Though I try my best to be as organized as possible when I'm writing here or thinking about what I'll be posting here in the near-future, with often a couple of dozen ideas in some degree of completion in cold storage as a Draft, just waiting for a photo or bit of serendipity to strike to make it seem extra delicious, the problem is that being a one-man band here as I am, with no staff or 'significant other' to peer over my shoulder occasionally to remind me of things I need to mention or say from time-to-time, sometimes, unfortunately, ideas slip thru the cracks.

Good ideas that leave me quite exasperated and mad at myself later when they come flooding back to me.

Today, or rather Tuesday night, about the time I saw the Marlins lose to the Mets in extra innings- 12:45-ish, and Matt Dominguez's first Major League at-bat, which was a HBP, hit-by-pitch- I received an email from a wonderfully talented and thoughtful friend overseas.

She wrote that she'd finally been able to spend some time catching-up on the latest adventures here at the blog over the weekend, after getting back from a trip home in Sweden to see her family, and not really doing anything online for a week.

Yes, a real vacation!

Even though it's getting colder there already.

Anyway, she sorta chided me for not having yet posted something here on the blog that I had mentioned in a previous email to her and some mutual friends who also live in England.

Something that I had seen and which had absolutely floored me, as it had her, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

It was a performance that was, in a word, fantastiske, plus, it put a real lump in my throat on a day when I already had several.

In my own view, it was perhaps one of the five MOST AMAZING things I'd seen or heard all year, which makes my neglecting to post it here all the more embarrassing and upsetting for me.

As soon as I saw two simple words she'd written in the subject header, I swallowed hard, because she was right, I had meant to post it two weeks ago and time was, like summer, running out.

The two words? Karpe Diem.

Not the Latin phrase, per se, rather, the Norwegian hip-hop duo of Chirag Patel and Magdi Abdelmaguid, that, prior to watching the Memorial Service LIVE via NRK's website, I'd only had a vague-to-general knowledge of, having read some things about them before and seen a few of their vids on YouTube.

(That's saying somethingm since I hate hip-hop, at least as it's practiced here in the States.)

I guess it won't come as a surprise to those of you of a more sleuthful persuasion that I'm specifically referring to their masterful performance in Oslo at the Spektrum, as part of the National Day of Remembrance for 22/7, the Minneseremoni, where they were, by far, the youngest of the many talented performers that Sunday afternoon, morning Miami time.

(I've already written several posts about the myriad performances that day.)

And being much younger, of course, they were even more conscious of and the national trauma of so many young people -55- being among the 77 murdered that day in July, which made them an inspired-if-not perfect choice for reasons that you'll see.

After you watch their amazing August 21st performance, watch this video from the original single release, which overtly shows the religious aspects of this song about faith and tolerance, as the two of them, a Muslim and Hindu, are shown in various houses of worship throughout Norway.

It's really quite original and moving!

Maybe even genius!

Karpe Diem - Tusen Tegninger (Official music video, from their album, "Aldri solgt en Løgn") Directed by Kavar Singh.

http://youtu.be/GIRWyUmT36Q

Er både svart og hvit

Er både glad og trist

Han så på passet mitt og kastet et blikk og traff meg

For jeg var fuglen på bakken, og han var tvunget til å ville kappe vingene av meg før jeg fikk sunget

Sunget ut om profeten og om gud

Alle disse temaene som ellers er tabu

Du, tror du må si du ber i smug

Når du veit at mange av dine ville sett på deg som sjuk

For det er sjukt at du må si at gud setter oss fri

Jeg utsetter og si at du ser på muslim

Til jeg allerede har gjort et inntrykk

Vente til vi blir litt kjent, og Magdi ekke sinnsyk

Du ekke redd fordi det er ukjent

Du har rett fordi du tror du kjenner meg og jeg er ustemt

Falsk, du må stemme meg fint

For at jeg er hyggelig, Selv om, men det ekke fordi jeg er muslim

Er både hvit og svart

Er både rik og blakk

Hun sa hun aldri hadde møtt en kar som ikke drakk

Og spurte meg om gud dømte meg svart hvitt

For til og med muslimene hun kjente drakk litt men

Brorskapet ekke lenger mellom de som tror på det samme

Har en bror som er hindu, og det handler om å godta

At andre har en mor som, og kanskje en far som

Lærte dem noe annet som

Livet som at himmelen er et mål og livet kanskje er casting

Har ikke masse svin på skogene, jeg har masse marsvin

Og et marsvin er hodepine og aspirin og hvis det får oss til å gjøre gode ting, så hva synes du om at

dama tror på gud og sånt

aner du hvor mange som har spurt meg det du spurte om

Lurte på, hvorfor jeg ikke tar de valga de tar

Du kanke gi gud, så bare gi faen

As of today, September 7th, there are exactly 14 days left to watch the entire Memorial program -or individual selections- at the NRK website: http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/777779/

It will be removed on September 22nd.

Don't waste the opportunity to see something very special, which I watched LIVE when it aired via the NRK website.

Karpe Diem's official YouTube Channel is

http://www.youtube.com/user/djensomhetermarius

Official website: http://www.karpediem.no/

Official website for Kork, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra - Kringkastingsorkestret

http://www.kork.no/side/english/

For more information on the Traces Gospel Choir, based in Oslo, please see http://www.tracesgospel.com/