This weekend we are so proud to feature an interview with our very own Fish Pond star of Idol in his home country. Ola Weel Skram, from Sogndal, Norway, has been in our family for a year now, after I first heard his YouTube material, and contacted him; a great guy, he immediately agreed to be “in”, and now it’s great to see his voice and musical talents recognized all over the press in Norway; the below interview charts his early musical career, induction into the Fish Pond family, and his continuing journey on Idol.
Ola took some time out after his success with “I Will Wait” by Mumford and Sons this week on Idol to talk to us about his journey:
Everyone has “a special story” about musical roots. How did you originally develop a passion for music?
I`ve been singing since I was a little child. I come from a very musical family, and my mom and my sisters and me were performing together since I was maybe 2-3 years old. All my life has been about music, and I knew from an early age that I had a special talent that a lot of others in my primary school did not have. I kept on performing on shows, and when I was ten years old I started singing in a band. That was the start for me, and my developing as an artist. Since then I`ve had several shows and been performing a lot, growing as an artist and all the time practising to get a better voice. Now I`m here, and I see this as an opportunity to get new experiences and to develop a lot on the stage! I also hope to show off my voice to the Norwegian crowd as much as I can, so I hope I`ll get further in the competition. It`s a close race, so you never now. All I know is that I have to perform and deliver like hell, and thats what I intend to do!
What do you truly love to write about?
I like to write about certain life situation that people get into. I have written a lot of songs about love, lost love, depression, and of course more positively loaded songs.
Lyricist, composer, or both? Which comes easiest to you and why?
I am much more of a composer than a lyricist, because the melodies come naturally to me, while the lyrics take a lot more work and is much harder to be 100% satisfied with .
The first time I heard your voice was on a video with Ole Martin Volle singing ‘Raining in Baltimore’, a video posted originally in 2008. Can you tell us about that period of your singing career?
At the time when I was performing with Ole Martin, I was 17 years old, and just starting high school. We found our passion for music and life itself in a small dark rehearsing room where we played songs like ‘Raining in Baltimore’, a lot of songs by Damien Rice, Lifehouse and The Fray, as well as creating our own music. Sadly, we`ve been living in different cities the past few years, but we still remain great friends, and play a lot when we get together.
We’re so proud as a family to see you progressing through Idol and getting the recognition your voice deserves. Tell us about your “Road to Idol”.
My “Road to Idol” started when the producers of the show contacted me. They had heard of me, and really wanted me to give it a try. At first I was really skeptical, since it`s a reality show, but I decided to give it a try anyway, of course keeping in mind that it could be a really big break for me if I went through. The auditions went really well, and I went straight to the top 40. Last Wednesday I went through from the semifinals, becoming one of the top 10 finalist out of over 5,000 competitors. And now here I am!
As a Fish Pond family member, tell us what the family means to you.
It`s great to be a member of this family. It`s so inspiring to hear all these wonderful talented musicians from all over the world, and to know that I am considered as one of you guys is truly an honor! In this family we share our music all over the world, and today, using social networks, that’s one of the quickest, easiest, but also the best ways!
I`d just like to say thank you to all of you guys for your comments, I really appreciate it! And I wish all of the other hopeful musicians in the family the best of luck. Continue to work hard and believe in yourselves; it`s the only way!
We thank Ola for taking time in his busy schedule, and encourage you to support him as he continues his quest to be Norway’s Idol for 2013. You can also check out Ola’s profile here.
By David Mark Smith
Global Musicians Fish Pond
3rd March 2013
