MASSIV interview with Morten
Morten Harket
A Star. Period.
What really happened between you and the VG journalist earlier this spring? You were quoted that you’d said to him: “No wonder you don’t have balls. It must feel strange. Not to have balls. How does it feel, really?”
- We wondered too. We had fun.
- How many balls do you have?
- I dare not to think of it.
- One of you guys always say in connection with a new a-ha album that there were “three strong personalities involved in the album.” What do you really mean?
- It’s an empty answer to an empty question.
- Do you, Magne and Paul call each other privately?
- Yes, we usually always call each other when we are sitting on the toilet. It’s so pleasant.
- How do you take care of your voice?
- I practice only when I’m going to perform with my father and relatives at the biblical meetings with aunt Magny and uncle Bernt in Kvarstein.
- The rumors about your vanity, how true are they?
- The rumors about my mortality are truer.
- Come on, Morten. Have you seen “Zoolander”?
- No.
- You’ve played the father of Alexander Rybak and the husband of Aylar in “Yohan Barnevandreren”, you still have acting ambitions?
- I still have no acting ambitions.
- But you played also in “Camilla og Tyven”? And had some offers from Hollywood, too. Tell us about it.
- My taking part in “Camilla og Tyven”, as well as in “Barnevandreren”, is not a result of acting ambitions. If I had them, I wouldn’t have declined to play with John Hurt and Helen Mirren.
- How was it working with Rybak and Aylar?
- I didn’t really worked with Aylar. I only acted with her, while Rybak watched it.
- How do they act with Aylar?
- If you need a manual to act, there will be no acting out of it.
- How clothing conscious were you in 80-s?
- I was rather identity conscious, and it is not quite the same thing.
- Were you your own stylist?
- Is it necessary at all to ask this question?
- How weird is it really when Morten Harket walks in the streets of Brazil.
- It can be recommended.
- Give us some more meat on the bone. We want to hear about screaming girls and bodyguards, the true story!
- The true story must be experienced, like any truth must be.
- Are you a pop or a rock star?
- I’m a star. Period.
- How difficult is it for the tour manager to deal with:
A.) Your spelt
- I sincerely hope my tour manager doesn’t meddle with spelt.
B.) Magne’s colon cleansing
- Magne has a great ability to be charmingly manipulative. If you have no experience with him, you’ll get colon cleansing or something else disgusting before you know how it’s called.
- Ha-ha. Has he ever fooled you?
- If Magne has fooled you, you will never find it out. So, in other words, I can not answer this.
C.) Has Paul any strange health thing he is concerned with?
- You have to ask Paul about it.
- Apropos Paul. Is it true that you burned all his clothes and dressed him from top to toe when you arrived in London together in 80-s?
- It is true that we crossed boundaries a bit clothing-wise at the early stage.
- Are you going to marry?
- Both Paul and Magne are married, so the train is gone.
- What about your partner Inez?
- I do not think it’s right to answer on her behalf.
- What does Jan Jacobsen do since you have only been sick 2-3 times in 25 years.
- Heals people.
- We have heard it. But what he does concretely. Explain it a bit!
- It won’t bring you any closer to understanding it.
- Have you read the book about Snåsamannen? Do you know him?
- No.
- Why did you lent your healer to Mira Craig?
- Jan doesn’t belong to me. I’m just lucky to know him.
- But it was you who brought them together?
- No, in this case, it was Lord who did it.
- How many girls in percentage have the ass far more exciting than the personality? And is Mira Craig’s so?
- Mira Craig’ ass clearly has a competitor in her personality.
- Ha-ha! we want to know more about it!
- Then you must stop asking to explain everything. This way you won’t find out anything.
- OK. What do you think when Chris Martin says you are the most handsome man in the world?
- I have no problems with it.
- Aren’t you a little bit glad?
- I’ve already said, I have no problems with it.
- What would life be without Take on Me success?
- Full of other successes that would have evoked the same questions.
- True enough. Does one become a little diva because of success? And in this case is one’s narcissism constant or is it fed by more attention?
- Who are you in this case? It is rather people who have not had success, but who believe they should have had it, may tend to become divas. I myself actually observe that people who achieved real success are humble with it.
- Do you google yourself?
- I don’t google anyone.
- What kind of books do you read?
- Mostly entertaining crime literature. Hazy landscapes I explore myself.
- What are your main interests at leisure?
- I like to get out to the nature. But, as a rule, into the nature.
- Well said. Do you watch TV at all?
- Yes.
- What? Senkveld? Migrapolis? Hotel Cæsar? Pulse?
- I like good documentary programs. Unfortunately, there are almost no good talk-shows.
- How is it to see your daughter follow your footsteps. Are you sooner proud or frightened?
- She makes her own footsteps. She does not follow mine.
- What do you think of the fact that you’ll be 66 years old when your youngest daughter Carmen reaches 18?
- I feel only joy at the thought of her as the eighteen years old.
- How is to have children with three different women – does it mean a lot of arrangements?
- It means that you must roll up your sleeves at least three times.
- Have you got a new assistant after you started dating your assistant?
- It is difficult to find applicants now that they see what it may lead to.
- What are unused talents you feel you are currently burning with?
- Prime minister, trainer of a national team, ballet dancer, fireman, polygamist, terrorist, Tarzan, to name a few.
- Are there things you regret? Or anger is wasting energy in general?
- Anger is a true response that should be respected, but you should also take the opportunity it gives you to learn something.
- There has been much focus and a lot of fun of you because of your ability to speak, sometimes, a bit unclear. How do you see it?
- It’s called, maybe, vague. Besides, it gives me a feeling of happiness.
- On “Grosvold” you were asked how it felt to have finished a new solo album, which led to the following statement: “I’ve been so focused now on so many things, so long, that what you fight the most with, my biggest fight, is to be able to keep a distance, so you can manage to have a kind of overview of what you actually do. It’s been a long time since I understood, I understand things this way, that it is much more important to focus with a side look than with the focus itself. This is where you are in tune with all the things. So you see, nature around you behaves this way. It is only we who do not. Wild animals know that the moment they let go their side look, one can say, that, which is connected to the rest of their sense apparatus, then they can be killed every moment. They focus only on a split second, and then it is up again.” Then there was a lot laughter and excitement around this. When it happens, do you know yourself that you have expressed it a bit obscure, laughing a little at yourself? Or do you think that there are people who want to misunderstand you, because you, deserved or undeserved, has a reputation of hazy prince?
- More clear it can not be said. If you don’t understand it, so you must take care not to be killed!
- In general, do you speak before or after thinking? Or do you think when you’re speaking?
- Speech is directly connected with the cogitative activity.
- What is the most important in your life?
- Family, friends and enemies.
- Do you laugh at yourself when Kristian Valen parodies you?
- Absolutely!
- There have been books written about you, and thousands of articles in domestic and foreign press, are there still many things people do not know about you?
- Most.
- I came across a funny article where you were mentioned. “During the annual rock festival in Montreux in 80-s a celebrity journalist Lesley-AnnJones and INXS singer Michael Hutchence attacked Morten Harket in his hotel room. But the Norwegian was more interested in reading a book by the German philosopher Nietzche then going to the party. Several artists, including duo WHAM! and Hutchence went back to the hotel, gathered potted plants together from every corridor, got them into the elevator and brought them as a “Norwegian wood” in front of the door of Harket’s room. Later in the night the journalist and Hutchence attempted to hang the party brake Morten Harket upside down out of the window by holding his legs, but failed.”
- I can not remember, for Michael Hutchence was too drunk.
- Magne Furuholmen hangs out with Coldplay, while you hang out with East Timor’s President José Ramos-Horta – how come?
- Horta has been already shot. Chris Martin hasn’t. I feel safer next to Horta.
- Do you have, by the way, any plans to build a resort in East Timor with the president?
- East Timor is a fantastically beautiful land, with big variety in nature. I’d like to see that I could spend my free time there, but there are no plans for anything like that.
- Are you still committed to East Timor, do you have any other projects as well?
- My East Timor involvement was solely of the humanitarian nature. East Timor demand has changed, primarily in the positive direction. Today the use of energy resources in the future is one of their most important challenges. East Timor possesses great oil resources, and at the same time this country have to build the infrastructure from the bottom, and in this respect it has a fantastic opportunity to grow as the first world country in the future. But they are strongly controlled by the agendas of western countries that are involved in the support apparatus.
- Do you feel misunderstood? Are you happy?
- I feel misunderstood in a way that makes me perfectly happy.
Thank to Lina from CAS for the translation.
