Moddi

Biography

Pål Moddi Lue (previously Pål Moddi Knutsen) (born 18 February 1987 in Senja), known by the artist name Moddi, is a Norwegian musician, author and activist, whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice.

Background

Pål Lue grew up on the island of Senja in Northern Norway. As a child, he showed a particular concern for the environment, an interest which would come to shape his musical direction in the years to come. During high school, Lue was leading the local chapter of the environmentalist group Nature and Youth. "My first songs were an attempt to give a voice to the voiceless nature", he later explained about his motivation to create music.

Musical career

The first release under the name of Moddi was recorded in 2007 and distributed in 20 home-made copies. Later followed the debut album Floriography×Floriography1 January 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Rubbles6:062Magpie Eggs5:263Ardennes4:184A Sense of Grey4:405Smoke5:136Poetry6:427Stuck in the Waltz5:1387!7:259Krokstav-emne3:10, recorded with producer Valgeir Sigurðsson in Iceland and containing songs from Lue's period in Nature and Youth. Q magazine described the album as "irrevocably heart-warming and beautifully constructed piece of melancholic folk-pop". On his second album, Moddi presented the single "House By The Sea", his best known composition to date.
The same year saw the release of Kæm va du? ("Who were you?"), with lyrics borrowed from the Northern Norwegian poets such as Arvid Hanssen, Helge Stangnes and Ola Bremnes. The album also included the single "Togsang", a reinterpretation of Vashti Bunyans 60s cult hit "Train Song×Train Song11 April 2014 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Train Song3:01". Bunyan later commented that Moddi's was her favourite cover version of any of her songs. Kæm va du? won the Spellemannprisen award for "Folk Album of the Year".
In 2016, Moddi released his fourth studio album, "Unsongs×Unsongs16 September 2016 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1June Fourth 1989: From the Shattered Pieces of a Stone It Begins3:402A Matter of Habit5:173Punk Prayer4:384Open Letter3:055Army Dreamers3:466Our Worker4:137Parrot, Goat & Rooster3:438The Shaman and the Thief6:049Eli Geva2:4710Strange Fruit2:3111Where Is My Vietnam4:5812Oh My Father, I Am Joseph3:57", consisting of Moddi's reinterpretations and translations of banned and censored songs from 12 different countries. Among the artists included on the album were Pussy Riot (Russia), Izhar Ashdot (Israel), Mari Boine (Norway/Sápmi), Liu Xiaobo (China) and Kate Bush (UK). Following the release, Moddi published the book "Forbudte sanger" (Forbidden songs) where he described a number of attempts to hold back the songs on the album, among others by Russian and Lebanese authorities, and by the British public broadcaster BBC.
In 2019, Moddi released his fifth studio album "Like in 1968×Like in 196813 September 2019 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Beneath The Cobblestones2Like In 19683Little By Little4Kriegspiel5New Dawn612.77It’s Back8A Rabbit In The Headlights9You Can Always Give Up", inspired by the events that occurred in 1968.

Activism

Moddi is known for bringing his strong political commitment into his music. In January 2010 Moddi refused nomination for the €100 000 Statoil grant on environmental grounds, commenting that a nomination would not be compatible with his environmental engagement. In 2014 Moddi announced that he would be cancelling his scheduled concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the grounds that he would not be taken to support the Israeli expansion of settlements in the West Bank. He did not officially endorse any organised appeal, stating that "the debate is already way too black and white".
When Moddi released his version of the Pussy Riot song Punk Prayer in 2016, he did so by recording a music video on the doorstep of the King Oscar II Chapel, marking the Northern border between Norway and Russia. On his concert in Kirkenes the same year, Moddi was pressured into dropping the same song after indirect pressure from Russian diplomats.

Education

Pål Moddi Lue has a master's degree from the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo. In his master thesis "Visions through the smelting furnace", he studied the Norwegian smelting plant Finnfjord in their course towards a carbon-neutral ferrosilicon production process.

Other releases

2010 – Hjertestups withTogsang (Tyrili)
2010 – Samleplate for oljefritt Lofoten, Vesterålen og Senja with the song Krokstav-emne
2011 – Vi tenner våre lykter with the song Nordnorsk julesalme
2012 – Norge, mitt Norge..? with the songs Det stig av hav eit oljeland and Deilig er Norden
2015 – Fabler om en åpen folkekirke with the song Vær hilset, fru Bjerkås!