Norwegians love their heroes. The folklore is full of stories about the little guy who sets out on a quest and, armed only with wits and personality, shows up his mighty competitors and conquers the kingdom. These «little man» heroes are the essence of the Norwegian personality. They are the challengers of authority, the breakers of conventions, the David versus Goliath. They are the definition of success. Over the past weekend, Norway gained a new hero.

The finals of the highly prestigious Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Moscow, Russia last Saturday. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the contest, other than it is bigger than World Idol, Britain’s Got Talent and Scrapheap Challenge put together. The contest has been running for over 50 years and was viewed this year by an estimated 1 billion people. Even Andrew Lloyd-Webber competed and performed for the UK this year – and he didn’t even make the top three.

Norway’s contribution this year was the song «Fairytale», written and performed by 23-year old Alexander Rybak. The song was a fusion of traditional Norwegian folk music and modern pop, and Alexander even played the lead fiddle between phrases.

Alexander’s song has been a success story ever since it was first performed in the Norwegian preliminary rounds back in February. The simple story of the song, combined with Alexander’s great charisma and performance, sent him straight to the top of the national finals. The song got plenty of air time on radio, and every newspaper and magazine in the country joined forces to try and find this mysterious girl he was singing about. (When they finally tracked her down, it turned out she was now happily married). Alexander, who moved to Norway from Belarus with his parents during the Soviet regime,  became an icon overnight. Everyone named him the favorite for the international finals in Moscow.

Alexander did not disappoint. His performance, backed by the Norwegian folk dancing troupe Frikar and backup singers dressed up as hulder (beautiful magical temptresses from Norwegian folklore), turned the stage into a fairytale land. The group’s energy, dancing leaps, kicks and «hallingkast» (kicking hats off poles) and camera flirting completely outshone the competition.

As the points were given from each of the participating countries, it became clear that Alexander had not only conquered the hearts of Norwegians, but of all of Europe. Spain started off by giving Norway the top score of twelve points, and the double digits just kept on coming. «Fairytale» broke every Eurovision record there was. The grand total of 387 points was the highest score ever reached in the contest. The average score of 9,44 points from each country is the highest average on record. And the 169 point gap down to runner-up Iceland was the most superior victory to date.

After the competition, Alexander was of course interviewed by Norwegian TV. When asked why he think he won, his reply was simply “I won because I had a story to tell”. During the interview he also  made a joking comment to the camera, saying that if anyone wanted to meet and greet him on his return to Norway, he would be landing at Oslo Gardermoen Airport at 11pm the next night. Little did he know the implications of that comment…

Upon landing in Oslo, Alexander’s plane was received with an enormous spray from the water cannons of the airport firefighters – a token of honour usually reserved for retiring pilots on their last flight. And while he thought only 20-30 people would catch on to his joke, Alexander got the shock of his lifetime when a crowd of 5 000 people had rocked up to welcome their national hero! Tha fact that this was the 17 ^th of May did not help, as the crowd was already in party mode. Gobsmacked and touched to tears, the Eurovision winner had to be escorted out to a waiting limo by his bodyguards and taken to safety, pursued by cheering fans.

Not bad for a young man who only wrote a song about his ex-girlfriend…

Sometimes it pays to have the right name. When the exclusive French fashion label Hermes opened their first store in Oslo last week, they made sure to arrange a spectacular opening party. Exclusive invites were sent out to numerous Norwegian celebrities and VIP’s, including investor and multi-billionaire Svein Støle.

However, there was a mix-up with addresses and the invite ended up in the mailbox of 20-year old tow-truck driver Svein Støle instead. He was of course surprised, although he knew very well whom the invite was intended for. He accepted nonetheless, because in all fairness the invite landed in his mailbox…

So off to Oslo he went in his rusty old car. Rocking up at the VIP party, Svein presented his invitation and was let in with no questions asked. After drinking champagne and mingling with celebs in the exclusive shop for well over an hour, the party continued at the French embassy in Oslo. In an interview with his hometown newspaper Grimstad Adressetidende, Svein related the story:

“I was invited over to meet the French ambassador. I presented myself as Svein Støle, and the ambassador didn’t seem to react. As far as I know, nobody knew it was the wrong Svein Støle who showed up at their VIP party!”

Svein took the opportunity to visit family and friends while in Oslo, and viewed the party as “just a fun detour”. But there was one thing he wasn’t too impressed with:

“The food was awful! It had some cheesy stuff on it, and I didn’t care for it too much.”

But he does point out that billionaire Svein Støle missed out on a great party…

Updated 23 october 2008 – A Federal Republic
Updated 26 november 2008 – Final Chapter?
(see below)

When Tromsø was denied its bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, it seemed to open some old wounds between Northern and Southern Norway. One Northerner felt enough was enough and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Two weeks ago, Håkon Winther from Tromsø formed a new group on Facebook called “Republikken Hålogaland” (Republic of Hålogaland). The aim: Make Northern Norway a separate state! Hålogaland is a name used for the Northern regions of Norway since medieval times, so the title is quite fitting.

Although Norwegians have always considered themselves one nation, there has always been some (friendly) friction between the regions. Stereotypes are well established: The Northerners are rugged barbarians, the Western Norwegians are loudmouthed and rude and the people in the capital are ignorant snobs. It may sound harsh, but offense is rarely intended nor taken. It’s just good Norwegian self-irony.

However, Winther claims his Facebook campaign is no joke. He considers himself a “sick and tired Northerner” who has seen enough of his region’s enormous natural resources being taken and administered by Oslo, with little given back. He thinks the idea of a North Norwegian state is very possible, and he has even worked out a plan for national budget, central bank, foreign collaboration and trade, military power and where the capital would be (Tromsø, of course.)

There has also been massive support for this cause. Less than 10 days after the Facebook campaign launched, over 6000 people had joined the group. Not bad for a region of some 460 000 people in total! To further establish that they mean business, eleven group members including Winther himself came together in Tromsø last Tuesday to form the political party Hålogaland Partiet. On the same day appeared an article on Wikipedia about the new party. So far, the matter has received little media coverage – but things may pick up…

I really don’t see a new Yugoslavia or Norhtern Ireland happening here, but if this separation DID become a reality it could have some serious implications. For one, we would have to rename our website. And mylittlehålogaland.com just doesn’t have the same… catch. What do yo think?

Update 23/10/2008 – A Federal Republic: In an interview in today’s local newspaper Tromsø, the founders of the party Republikken Hålogaland has made it clear that they do not want a complete secession of Northern Norway. Instead, their aganda is a separation of Norway into a federal republic of five independently governed states. This is to give the different regions more freedom to handle their own resources and infrastructure. The official name of the political party after the formation became Hålogalandspartiet (The Hålogaland Party).

It should be mentioned that a complete separation from the rest of Norway would require either military action or a major change in the Constitution. The Norwegian Constitution firmly states in article 1 that “The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible and inalienable Realm.” So, since they still want to abolish the monarchy I guess they have a challenge either way…

Update 26/11/2008 – Final Chapter?: Shortly after the party was formed, founder Håkon Winther retired from the party. The reason for his early retirement was a wave of harassment on discussion forums, where Winther was compared to the Nazi traitors of WWII, as well as being named in context with a number of modern neo-Nazi activists. For the safety and peace of his family, Winther decided to pass the leadership of the Hålogaland Party on to other members.

The party, however, has stated that their agenda remains the same and they will continue to promote their campaign in preparation for the next Parliament election in 2009. So this is certainly not the last we will see of Hålogalandspartiet.