Festivals in Norway

All year round, and especially in the summer months, there is a myriad of music festivals in Norway, covering both popular genres such as jazz, blues and contemporary music, as well as niche genres showcasing more experimental music. The festival scene in Norway holds a high standard and can easily measure up against festivals in Europe.

A festival of festivals

Some of the most talked about festivals in Oslo are The Øya festival, by:Larm and OverOslo. The Øya festival emphasises indie, hip-hop and electronic music. By:Larm in the city centre attracts a huge crowd in early March and OverOslo gives a fantastic view over the capital from the Grefsenkollen plateau. Slottsfjellfestivalen in Tønsberg, Pstereo in Trondheim and the Bukta festival in Tromsø are just some of other music festivals of a high calibre.

Norway is in many ways a country of extremes, so it’s perhaps not a coincidence that some of the genres that have thrived here for decades are black metal and jazz (or even black jazz …). Black metal can be experienced in Norway during the Inferno festival, held every Easter in Oslo. Jazz festivals can be found in places such as Molde, Kongsberg, Haugesund, Oslo and Lillehammer.

And speaking of extremes, every year in Voss you can enjoy Ekstremsportveko, the largest extreme sport festival of its kind, which usually holds a few memorable concerts as well. Norway is not a country for glamorous film festivals with loads of stars and red carpets, but there are a few very unique ones for the cinephiles. The international film festival in Tromsø in January has a very special atmosphere, while the Film fra Sør (Films from the South) festival in Oslo shows new and exciting titles from Asia, Africa and South America.

Food, and especially local food, is more and more important to Norwegians, and in the last few years a number of new food festivals have popped up across the country. It’s perhaps unfair to mention only one, but the Rakfisk festival in Fagernes (Rakfisk is rine-cured fish – trout, sometimes char – that has been salted and left to ferment in brine for two to three months) is an event you should not miss if you are in the area.

And last, but not least, we should also mention that there is a variety of theatre and literature festivals as well, for the highbrows among us.