"The Gospel of the Poet. Jesus's Life in a Norwegian poetry". (Poetenes
Evangelium. Jesu liv i norske dikt.)
Rem`s task was to analise the poems, select the ones which suited the
purpose and arrange them in chronological order. The events had to be
presented in the same order as they happened in the Gospel. Plus, suitable
comments had to be added from there. The work seems enormous to me.
And the idea itself is exciting.
To me, it was after I read this book that the Gospel disclosed its essence.
In a different way. And this book has been the starting point for a
lot of my current projects.
" - The idea of creating "Poetenes Evangelium"
came into being back into 1983. The first edition was in 1991. Eight
years is a long way for a book. But all this time there was much to
do and explore: evangelical narratives - from Bethlehem to Emmaus, following
the texts by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John... But I must make myself
clear at once: I regard the book from such an angle that it shouldn`t
become "religious verse". It`s a research in the first place and the
criteria for selecting poems were as follows:
- whether or not a factual or imaginary event in the Gospel is well-grounded;
- in a number of poems there`re characters (primary / secondary, authentic
/ imaginary) who act as narrators;
Also a poem had to be
- written between 1000 and 2000 years;
- captivating as if it had appeared at that time and was to resemble
a chronicle;
- just well-written..."
The first edition was in 1991. Later -1993 - the book was rearranged
and released in musical form. The album bearing the same
title came out together with two videos - Natten (Night) and
Salome.
"This book is a bridge between the
Gospel and modern Norwegian poetry. A return to the roots, with the
present stretching back to the fundamentals."
"The
Jewish king". A Christmas sketch. (Jødenes konge. Et Julespill.)"It was through deceit that Herod proclaimed himself the King but the Jews didn`t want him to be their ruler, awating the real King. And he was born in Bethlehem in the kin of David, late at night in the sheep`s manger, for there was no place for Maria and Josef in any human dwelling. Herod felt it.
"- Where is the child who is born to be king of the Jews?"
And for fear of losing his royal power he ordered for the new-born to be found and killed..."
"The Jewisn king" is a Christmas theatrical sketch about Maria, Josef and Jesus the child, and also the selfseeking king Herod. This sketch is fit both for professionals and amateurs (from 9 years of age).
There`re notes to the songs at the end of the book. The composer is Øvind Varkøy.
It`s quite a curious piece. It`s not difficult to perform provided you`ve got a musical instrument.
""It`s a special view of Jeshua".
"Heavenly
food and miracles". (Himmelsk! Mat & mirakler. Trond Moi, Knut
Bry & Håvard Rem.)
This is quite an interesting book both in terms of its contents and
design, written by Rem in the form of a diary while travelling in the
Middle East (Oslo - Tel Aviv - Jericho - Jerusalem - the Galilee region
- Tel Aviv - Oslo). This region is believed to be of interest not only
geographically. It`s here that multitudes of people and cultures come
into contact: the Israeli and Palestinians, the Moslems and Christians.
Trond Moi and Knut Bry joined him on the trip. This is the result of their
team work. All the three - the photographer, the writer and the cook -
made their contributions. The text with a shade of humour and framed by
terrific photos is easy to read and, besides, is useful from different
standpoints:
- you get to
know the Bible without the slightest effort;
- you get plenty of recipes (37 - to be more precise);
- you enjoy a series of high quality photos.
"Heavenly
Father. Bless our food and wine. Put your soul and inspiration into what
we eat and give us strength. Let this repast be with us eternally. By
this you give us to understand that we`re alive today and you`re here
with us. Amen." (T.M.)
Trond
Moi (28.12.1969) is quite a successful young man from the new
generation of specialist cooks. In 1995 he was recognised as Master of Norway
in culinary art. In 1996 and 1997 he won the Royal Cup. Representing Norway
at a culinary contest in Berlin in 1996, he was awarded the silver medal.
Now
he`s a co-owner of the restaurant and cafe BØLGEN & MOI at Henie
Onstad Kunstsenter in the vicinity of Oslo and at the Norwegian Oil Museum
in Stavanger but also Moi Moi in his hometown Kvinesdal. In 1997 his first cookery book Smak! was published and sold out rather soon. Trond is also known for a series of TV-shows on cooking.
""I believe in Jesus, freshly baked soft honey cake and water turning into wine." (T.M.)
Knut Bry (October. 1946) was born in Hallingdal. He`d tried a
lot of jobs until he became a photographer in the seventies. He worked in
advertising for a few American and European magazines and photographed in
nearly all parts of the world - from Russian steppes to the ice desert of
Antarctic, from the rocky Andes to the Middle East. In 1986 he became Photographer of the year in the US and in 1989 - Newcomer of the year in Norwegian photography. In 1994 he was awarded as Best photographer of Norway. He`s had a series of one-man shows both in Norway and abroad. He`s also designed photo albums and various books including Smak!. And this is far from being the full range of his works.
Welcome to his photo agency!
Håvard Rem - there is his biography, but - I think - you know all the site devoted to this person.
"The
man! The man`s biblical conception". (Mann! Bibelske mannsbilder. H.Rem
og Morten Krogvold.)Can one and the same man be a musician and a soldier, a priest and a king? Can a man who, having challenged the majority, has won a victory over history at one point find himself crying before his vassals?
The biblical David is a man of this kind. He`s also an example for the rest of the biblical characters.
In this book Håvard Rem tried to show the reader the generalized image of the Biblical man with the help of the texts from The First book of Moses. "Genesis" to The Revelation of John.
"The characters of Abraham, Jacob, Josef, Samson and David are treated in separate chapters. In the chapters "Man and woman", "Father", "Brother", "Son", "Wealthy man" and "Exile" we follow the development of the man - "in the first place these so-to-say archaeological excavations were carried out in the conscious and subconscious."
The quotation given below is taken from the foreword to the book where Rem wrote: "Not much has changed in the following generations of male and female characters.Today`s 20-year-olds have their grandparents` united families as an ideal and their divorcing parents as a model. Both today`s and biblical men are in constant movement, development, selfrealisation and selfdenial. With much risk that frightens us we try to combine patriarchal vitality with evangelical softness of the heart. The opposite combination also exists: cruel hearts in godless bodies..."
""You can read most of this book in Russian..."
The design of the book (photos) is made by a Norwegian photographer Morten Krogvold.
Morten
Krogvold (1950) was born in Oslo. As a photographer he`s taken part
in a number of collective exhibitions both in Norway and abroad. There`ve
also been his one-man shows. In 1996 in Oslo he received the award Kulturpris
for his contribution to the development of photography. The books published with his participation:
1993 - Det avgjørende øyeblikk.
1996 - 100 portretter fra slutten av de første 100 år.
2000 - Mann! Bibelske mannsbilder.
"Aril
Edvardsen". (Aril Edvardsen.)
The biography of famous
Norwegian preacher.
Firstly, in the fifties of XX cen., Aril Edvardsen played the rock-n-roll
and country music on a guitar. Then he dedicated his life to Jesus. Now
the priest-missionary is performing a hard job to tell about the Word
of God both the congeration in his residence of Sarons
Dal and the world. He visited many countries including Russia and Dagestan.
One of his last mission was the trip to Pakistan and Rwanda.
Håvard Rem
accompanied his and wrote this book.
The interesting detail: their fates are crossed during many years - the
father of Håvard knew Aril Edvardsen very well. Therefore it's possible
to find many documentary facts as well as a lot of private memories.