The War Song

For a long time, we’ve been interested in the cover song's function as an analogous musical transgression and transposition; a renewal and re-evaluation of earlier codes; a simultaneous looking forward and listening backward. 

This project begins with Culture Club's radio hit The War Song from their 1984 album Waking Up with the House on Fire. We were preoccupied with its upbeat tempo, banal lyrics, and uncomplicated populist message. It is a pop song that gets under your skin. 

Every year, Oslo hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and we first visited Oslo soon after Barack Obama accepted his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. It is at this event that The Norwegian Radio Orchestra plays for the prizewinner and audience. The War Song initially reflected upon the city of Oslo as context and stage — positioning music and lyrics at the center of social/political critique, and considering the contradictions and the "difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace" (from Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech, Oslo 2009). This version, performed in front of an audience at the Norwegian Opera House has become an entirely new song, referencing the original, but with a darker and somber tone.