As A-ha prepare for their final concerts, the Oslo band are investing in a new generation of Norwegian musicians, giving away millions of kroner as part of a talent grant. Acts including Casiokids and Hanne Hukkelberg have been competing to win opening spots on A-ha's farewell tour.
The A-ha talent grant is like the Mercury prize or Arts Council funding, except that, er, it's financed, administered and partly judged by the people who made Take On Me. The trio have invested €500,000 (£413,000) of their own money to create four awards, allocated to Norway's east, west, north and south, respectively. A-ha chose eight finalists from about 50 candidates, and these finalists will compete at events across the country.
Two of these finals have already taken place (via Drowned in Sound), with another scheduled for tonight. On 18 June, jazz-metal act Shining defeated singer-songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg, while chanteuse Susanne Sundfør ripped the circuitry out of Pink Robots on 30 June. This evening, folk acts Moddi and Adjagas face off in Trondheim, and another duel takes place on 14 July in Bergen. In each case, the winners will be chosen by popular vote – and receive 1m kroner in prize money.
How much is 1m kroner? It's about £100,000. In other words, A-ha are giving each of four bands a grant worth twice that of literature's most famous award, the Man Booker prize. It is, as far as we can tell, one of the biggest arts prizes in the world.
"We have had a fantastic career with lots of people supporting us, and this is a way for us to give something back," explained A-ha's Magne Furuholmen.