Words and music by
Jon Bertelsen
NO EXCUSES
Well, there are actually... a lot!
I have a strong urge to write them here, but I'll spare you!
You'll see and hear for yourself anyway!
If you have any negative thoughts while lisening to my songs you have two choices: Never mind - or never mind; don't listen - or have forbearance!
On the other hand I don't have any quite valid excuses for myself to why I haven't made this homepage before - except that I didn't have enough pressure...
Now on the other hand - I have adapted a song by Janis Ian into both Swedish and
Norwegian and joined her "Better Times project" and I want to make the most of
whatever attention I can get from that.
Words in three different languages
Music in the one universal language: Guitar!
Born and raised in Norway, writing songs in - and adapting to - norwegian.
Resident in Sweden since 1992, adapting newspaper writings into songs.
Citizen of the world ;-) writing songs in english.
Norwegian songs
From the beginning, age 13 and forth, I wrote som great lyrics in English. I hope to be able to let you hear some of that in my coming blog. Then I started writing in my mothertongue, Norwegian, back in '88.
I produced a cassette tape in '92 which you now can listen to on Soundcloud.
And I made a CD by means of crowdfunding - at a point where at least not I had heard of it - in '98. That one will be coming soon to someplace you can listen - as soon as I've had it remastered.
Erik Damberg was with me on that first cassette and, after a long time with no contact, he's been my Studio Man for both Rainbow Child, Krönikum and Kora Dolora - and mastering the old stuff:
Swedish songs
I happened to meet a girl who pretty soon became the mother of my children. She lived in Stockholm so there I went - and stayed. One day not long before the first child was due, I read a column in the newspaper that I thought was much like a song - only just a tad to long. I shortened it a bit and put a melody and arrangement to it - and voila! a new project was born.
This was in the beginning of '93 and some twelve years later I separated. Then I initiated my current relationship with Nina Unge who is now the second half of the duo Krönikum. To this day there are 16 songs which have not been properly released yet, but they don't seem to wear out, so it'll come.
You may follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/Kronikum/
English songs
At one point I decided to try writing in English again just to see if I could do something that was a bit commercial. The moneymaking part did not go so well - so far - but there's quite a bundle of songs written just waiting for the right time ;-)
In 2016 though, again with a little pressure, I managed to make a CD with two songs. The deadline was the 2016 Pride Festival in Stockholm and the reason behind was my youngest child coming out as a boy.
You can read more at www.stolta.se or even buy the CD if you want!
You can even read an article - if you understand swedish ;-)
Kora Dolora
Back in '91 I met Marie Hellström in school and maybe fifteen years later she asked if I could play guitar on some of her songs - for a small gig. I brought my girlfriend with me - as an apron ;-) and that was the start of what became Kora Dolora.
February 2020 - just before the Corona Crisis hit the fan - we released an EP on Spotify and a bunch of other streaming services. One of the songs is one I wrote and released on the '92 cassette - and adapted into english early in my "commercial" era. So there we are - full circle! Enjoy at www.koradolora.se!
How polite of you to read all the way down here! Now go on and check the rest <3
