Some may still think of Lon­gye­ar­by­en as a small, remo­te and dus­ty mining sett­le­ment at the cold end of the world, but the times when this was actual­ly the case have been histo­ry now for deca­des. Today, Lon­gye­ar­by­en is very much an ali­ve and cul­tu­ral­ly acti­ve place with an inter­na­tio­nal popu­la­ti­on and atmo­sphe­re.

The Store Nor­ske Manns­kor, here seen at the “Vor­spiel” of the Polar­jazz Fes­ti­val 2019, is one of Longyearbyen’s most popu­lar musi­cal acts.

The local cul­tu­re sce­ne is home to an impres­si­ve num­ber of choirs and other music groups. This is the fer­ti­le ground whe­re seve­ral music fes­ti­vals were born, some of which have made it into the calen­dars of inter­na­tio­nal fans. Next to the Dark Sea­son Blues Fes­ti­val, which hap­pens in ear­ly Octo­ber, the­re is the Polar­jazz Fes­ti­val going on under the mot­to “Cool Place Hot Music”. The ope­ner is the so-cal­led “Vor­spiel”, which hap­pen­ed Wed­nes­day (30.01.) evening in the Kul­tur­hu­set (cul­tu­re hall) in Lon­gye­ar­by­en. An impres­si­ve num­ber of local acts took the sce­ne, from young, fresh talents through the popu­lar Store Nor­ske Manns­kor to well-estab­lished artists like the local sin­ging bird Liv Mari Sch­ei who has a record cata­lo­gue of seve­ral CDs.

Liv Mari Sch­ei: well-known sin­ging bird in and from Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

Advan­ce ticket sales were behind execpt­a­ti­ons, but at least at the “Vor­spiel” the­re were about as many in the audi­ence as would have found space. Peo­p­le were sit­ting on stairs or whe­re­ver the­re was space.

Well-estab­lished artists from Nor­way will take Longyearbyen’s various sce­nes during the next days.