Collection: HENNING SOMMERRO composer

Henning Sommerro moves rapidly, criss-crossing his musical stage. The space in which he moves has expanded. “All the world’s a stage” – and he wants to be the choreographer himself. His lodestar is an open space. In an open space the unforeseeable takes place; things mature, and grow. New elements are created, old ones are modified, and earlier contours are erased. With a respectful greeting we are drawn on by the promise of something bigger; the title UJAMAA sounds playful, slightly mystical. It is Swahili, and it means coming together in brotherhood.

Sommerro’s medium is music. On several occasions I have heard him refer to the words “liberating energy”, often accompanied by eager gesticulations, which in fact allow me to grasp intuitively what he is really getting at. Perhaps it was this sort of liberating energy that lay behind the gestation of the song Vårsøg (“Breath of Spring”) in a matter of minutes in 1971, when all Sommerro had to work on were those powerful lyrics by his near-neighbour Hans Hyldbakk. With the words No skin det sol (“Now the sun is shining”) this song touched the hearts of a whole nation. Played by the band of the same name, it figured strongly in many best-seller lists, and has found a place in dozens of songbooks, on vinyl records and on CDs both at home and abroad. In South Korea and other countries it has been heard as a signature tune. All in all, it has won a place in our national heritage of song.