At the Bardot Final, Saturday the 27th of February, the young singer and songwriter Nive Nielsen gave a performance on her own. With her calm, but intimate session she made a big impression on the audience. After her performance she had time for a short interview.
Nive Nielsen is from Nuuk, Greenland, and a rising star in the global alternative folkscene. She is based in Montreal, Canada, because she performs a lot in Canada and in the United States with her band The Deer Children. She is a fulltime-singer since summer 2009 and travels a lot with her band to perform songs from her debutalbum ‘Nive Sings’, which is released worldwide this year.
How is it to perform all alone and without your band?
‘I started on my own, so I feel comfortable with it. But it’s more fun to be with other people. It requires something else when you play on your own. It’s more challenging. It’s harder to hide mistakes. But it’s good practice. I am just a beginner and you get better of limits.’
What did you do before you became a fulltime musician?
‘I did a bachelor in political science and a master in visual anthropology. I also worked for t.v. and did some acting.’
What are your songs about? You said one song deals with suïcide
‘Yes, one song derived from suïcide, because of the many suïcides in Greenland. There are a lot of teenagers killing themselves. I encourage them in the song to be stronger. Suïcide is a problem that natives in the whole world have in common. Why do they do it? I think that private problems are not spoken out and there are too many problems. For example Eskimo’s tend to get less for jobs. It’s a cliché subject, but it doesn’t dissapear like that.’
What about your song “Coffeeboy”?
‘“Coffeeboy” is about a relationship. How really important things become normal and small things become bigger than they need to be. You’re taking for granted what you have together. I am also teasing my boyfriend in the song a little. Some people take it very serious, other laugh at it. I know people who think it’s about feminism, but it isn’t meant like that. I don’t have a big control on my songs, they come on their own. When they come I have to quickly record them. After that I have to relearn the song.’
www.myspace.com/nivenielsen
