Friday 10 December 1999

NORDRING - INDEX & GENERAL INFORMATION

EDITIONS
THE NORDRING RADIO PRIZE - AN INTRODUCTION

'Nordring' was a radio festival held annually in the summer months for eleven years (1973-83). Each participating country submitted an entry with a length of some 45 minutes, with a maximum of six vocal or instrumental soloists. The goal of the festival was the promotion of quality light-entertainment music in an era when radio became increasingly synonymous with playing the music released by gramophone companies. In Nordring, hit parades and disco were a far-away world. Instead, there were lush orchestral sounds - and the undertones were firmly jazzy. The participants' lists of the various editions of the festivals are in some sense a 'Who is Who' of Northern European jazz music in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The prize winners at Nordring 1975, from left to right: Greetje Kauffeld (award for best vocalist, Netherlands), Sigurd Jansen (best arranger), and the winning Norwegian production team - Eva Schram and Terje Hoel

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • The Nordring Radio Prize was also variously referred to as the ‘Nordring International Popular Music Festival’; or the ‘Nordring Festival’.
  • The festival was held under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
  • The festival was initiated to promote creativity in radio light-entertainment music.
  • Prior to the first edition of the festival in 1973, there had already been Nordring programmes from 1964 onwards, involving programmes with vocal and instrumental soloists being exchanged between various broadcasters for radio performances.
  • For the festival, each participating broadcaster submits a programme with a length of approximately 30-45 minutes
  • Each entry has a maximum of six instrumental and/or vocal soloists
  • Prizes for overall winner ("Production Prize") / best solo vocalist / best solo instrumentalist / best arrangement
  • During the heyday of Nordring, more Nordring activities were organised than just the annual festival – additionally, there were Nordring Rendez-Vous / Nordring Roundabout programmes, which did not have a competition element, but were in fact exchange programmes between broadcasters. The last Nordring Rendez-Vous was held in 1987.
  • No new edition of the Nordring Radio Prize was organised after 1983. Nordring Rendez-Vous programmes continued to be held until 1987 - with more EBU countries participating as well as countries from Eastern Europe. As an example, one Nordring Rendez-Vous took place in Ljubljana (Yugoslavia) with the RTV Ljubljana Orchestra and its chief conductor Jože Privšek.
  • In 1989, a last attempt to revive Nordring was made with the organisation of Euroring. Held in Budapest with a local orchestra and a Hungarian maestro conducting all entries, this Euroring was a repeat of the Nordring Radio Prize formula - yet without the competition element. As it seems, Euroring apparently sealed the fate of Nordring, as no further activities seem to have been organised since.

OVERALL WINNERS' LIST

  • 3 wins: Netherlands (1977, 1980, 1981) / Ireland (1978, 1979, 1982)
  • 2 wins: Norway (1973, 1975) / United Kingdom (1974, 1983)
  • 1 win: Denmark (1976)
  • No wins for Belgium, West Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Canada

PARTICIPATING CONDUCTORS

No information about the conductors of the following entries: Belgium 1975, 1982 / Denmark 1976

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