Vilde's Artist Management

Foto: Tarjei Ekenes Krogh

Dagbladet, Magasinet, by Hege Duckert, October 27, 2003

Some bring their advisors when they are giving interviews, but it is the first
time that I've met a wise man made of cloth. Vilde places him carefully in
the sofa between us. She wants me to shake his hand, and I do. Puck's hand
is small and dry. - My father got him when he was a little boy, and wrote
about him in a short story. Later they made a screen version of it. Not many
puppets have gotten both a book and a movie. Or what do you think? At
least, he taught my father many things.

The book, says Vilde, will be totally honest. - I do not sweep anything under
the carpet. My publisher said: You must dare to write about what is difficult.
And you must be in the situations. I discovered that I almost didn't
remember anything from my childhood. There was total darkness. So, one
night about one year ago, I decided to enter that darkness. I started to look
up people who used to be close to us, friends and neighbours. It was a
heavy process.

- What did you find? - That I have avoided many difficulties. I was often left
alone when I was little. My mother was out on tour and my father was busy
writing. After I went through this process, I feel that the lyrics I am singing
have gotten a new depth.

- What does your mother say? - What is strange is that she has no problems
whatsoever with the book. I thought she might feel sad. But I think that she
felt that the book is written with love.

Finishing the book started a chain of creativity in Vilde Bjerke. - I founded a
company, I established a band and I produced a performance where I am
singing and reciting my father. The result was published last week on a CD
named "Faun". Vilde's partner, Rune Udal, has put music to Bjerke's poems.
Together with musicians Jo Eskild and Svein Overland, they have produced
the show currently on tour. Last Friday there was a release party at 'Blom',
one of André Bjerke's favourite waterholes. There, Vilde gathered "friends of
the Bjerke family through many years" - a gallery of celebrities from Mentz
Schulerud, Anne-Cath Vestly, Liv Ullmann and Julie Ege to Lars Joakim from
"Big Brother". And Puck, of course. It's probably my imagination, but it feels
as if Puck is staring at me. The puppet's eyes are dark. Not easy to tell
what's going on in a brain of cloth. But what was it actually that André Bjerke
learned from his puppet? Vilde leans towards the table. - Puck taught him to
distinguish between what is important and what is not. If, for example, André
didn't have any luck with the ladies, Puck would say: "Don't worry. The
ladies don't know what is important."