Moddi

Pål Lue grew up on the island of Senja in Northern Norway. As a child, he showed a particular concern for the environment, an interest which would come to shape his musical direction in the years to come. During high school, Lue was leading the local chapter of the environmentalist group Nature and Youth. "My first songs were an attempt to give a voice to the voiceless nature", he later explained about his motivation to create music.

The first release under the name of Moddi was recorded in 2007 and distributed in 20 home-made copies. Later followed the debut album Floriography, recorded with producer Valgeir Sigurðsson in Iceland and containing songs from Lue's period in Nature and Youth. Q magazine described the album as "irrevocably heart-warming and beautifully constructed piece of melancholic folk-pop".{{cite web|url = https://www.facebook.com/QMagazine/posts/160681757326794|title = Q Magazine|date = 18 April 2011|accessdate = 16 February 2015|website = Facebook|publisher = |last = |first = }} On his second album, Moddi presented the single House By The Sea, his best known composition to date.{{cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/artist/65ltPnFGbTfv1sFjVOZBMM|title=Moddi|website=open.spotify.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-06}}

The same year saw the release of Kæm va du? ("Who were you?"), with lyrics borrowed from the Northern Norwegian poets such as Arvid Hanssen, Helge Stangnes and Ola Bremnes.{{cite web|url = http://www.moddi.no/#!about/c10fk|title = Moddi home page bio|date = 5 July 2014|accessdate = 5 July 2014|website = www.moddi.no|publisher = |last = |first = }}

The album also included the single "Togsang", a reinterpretation of Vashti Bunyans 60s cult hit "Train Song". Bunyan later commented that Moddi's was her favourite cover version of any of her songs.{{cite web|url=http://adressa.alda.no/bestillpluss?1&aviskode=ADR&artRefId=10280048&targetUrl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.adressa.no%252F%253Fservice%253DpaywallRedirect%2526articleUrl%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.adressa.no%252Fpluss%252Farticle10280048.ece|title=Vashti elsker Moddi|last=|first=|date=10 July 2014|website=Adresseavisa|publisher=|accessdate=15 February 2015}} Kæm va du? won the Spellemannprisen award for "Folk Album of the Year".{{cite web|url = http://www.spellemann.no/index.php?option=com_winner&Itemid=29&year=2011|title = Spellemannsprisen web site|date = 15 January 2014|accessdate = 5 July 2014|website = Spellemannsprisen 2014|publisher = |last = |first = |url-status=dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130921142350/http://www.spellemann.no/index.php?option=com_winner&Itemid=29&year=2011|archivedate = 21 September 2013}}

In 2016, Moddi released his fourth studio album, "Unsongs", consisting of Moddi's reinterpretations and translations of banned and censored songs from 12 different countries. Among the artists included on the album were Pussy Riot (Russia), Izhar Ashdot (Israel), Mari Boine (Norway/Sápmi), Liu Xiaobo (China) and Kate Bush (UK). Following the release, Moddi published the book "Forbudte sanger" (Forbidden songs) where he described a number of attempts to hold back the songs on the album, among others by Russian and Lebanese authorities, and by the British public broadcaster BBC.{{Cite book|title=Forbudte sanger ti historier - fem kontinenter|author=Moddi|date=2017|publisher=Aschehoug|isbn=978-8203296857}}

In 2019, Moddi released his fifth studio album "Like in 1968", inspired by the events that occurred in 1968.{{cite news|title=Like in 1968 Musikknyheter Review |url=https://www.musikknyheter.no/anmeldelser/19967/Moddi.html|website=Musikknyheter |accessdate=17 March 2020}}

Moddi is known for bringing his strong political commitment into his music. In January 2010 Moddi refused nomination for the €100 000 Statoil grant on environmental grounds, commenting that a nomination would not be compatible with his environmental engagement.{{cite web|url=http://www.nrk.no/ytring/millionens-forbannelse-1.10911064|title=Millionens forbannelse|last=|first=|date=14 February 2013|website=NRK Ytring|publisher=|accessdate=16 February 2015}} In 2014 Moddi announced that he would be cancelling his scheduled concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the grounds that he would not be taken to support the Israeli expansion of settlements in the West Bank.{{cn|date=November 2023}} He did not officially endorse any organised appeal, stating that "the debate is already way too black and white".{{cite web |url = http://marmennil.wordpress.com/|title = I am cancelling my concert in Tel Aviv|accessdate = 8 January 2014}}

When Moddi released his version of the Pussy Riot song Punk Prayer in 2016, he did so by recording a music video on the doorstep of the King Oscar II Chapel, marking the Northern border between Norway and Russia.{{cite web|url=https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/society/2016/04/moddi-plays-pussy-riots-punk-prayer-church-steps-close-russian-border|title=Moddi plays Pussy Riot's Punk Prayer on church steps close to Russian border|website=The Independent Barents Observer|language=en|access-date=2019-02-06}} On his concert in Kirkenes the same year, Moddi was pressured into dropping the same song after indirect pressure from Russian diplomats.{{cite web|url=https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/civil-society-and-media/2016/11/playing-punk-prayer-norway-could-mean-years-prison|title=Playing Punk Prayer in Norway could mean years in prison|website=The Independent Barents Observer|language=en|access-date=2019-02-06}}

Pål Moddi Lue has a master's degree from the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo. In his master thesis "Visions through the smelting furnace", he studied the Norwegian smelting plant Finnfjord in their course towards a carbon-neutral ferrosilicon production process.{{cite web|url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/57476/SUM4091-Master-Thesis.pdf?sequence=1|title=Visions through the Smelting Furnace – The Story of a Norwegian Smelting Plant towards Carbon-Neutral Ferrosilicon Production|last=Knutsen|first=Pål Moddi|date=22 October 2018|website=University of Oslo}}

• 2010 – Hjertestups withTogsang (Tyrili)
• 2010 – Samleplate for oljefritt Lofoten, Vesterålen og Senja with the song Krokstav-emne
• 2011 – Vi tenner våre lykter with the song Nordnorsk julesalme
• 2012 – Norge, mitt Norge..? with the songs Det stig av hav eit oljeland and Deilig er Norden
• 2015 – Fabler om en åpen folkekirke with the song Vær hilset, fru Bjerkås!

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|moddi.no}}

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Category:1987 births

Category:Living people

Category:Musicians from Senja

Category:Norwegian-language singers

Category:Propeller Recordings artists

Category:21st-century Norwegian folk musicians