Ole A. Sørli

Ole A. Sørli (1946 – 4 August 2009) was a Norwegian musician and writer as well as a music industry manager and record producer.

Career

He first gained fame as a musician and leader of the band The Cool Cats (1961 to 1967) and worked throughout the rest of his life producing and managing western music.

In 1967 he was employed by Arne Bendiksen to launch the music cassette in Norway. From 1971 to 1977, he was general manager of the record label Polydor. In 1978 he started Sørli DB Records along with the brothers Paul and Helge Karlsen and produced records by Erik Bye, Cornelis Vreeswijk, and the record featuring The Smurfs in Norwegian. Two years later Sørli founded Notabene Records and produced, among other projects acts such as Knutsen & Ludvigsen, Linda Martin and Ole I'Dole.

In December 1980 he helped put together the "Norwegian Uff – Independent Producer Association of Phonograph Records", which later changed its name to "Fono".[1] He became the association's first chairman, and in addition to running their companies, he assumed several other offices in the industry, including one as a board member of Fono and the chairman of the Norwegian Grammy Committee.[1]

Sørli influenced record industry development through the 1980s and 1990s. His opinions and views on American music were highly regarded amongst his peers.

One of his greatest achievements was as the managing director of the musical Which Witch, for which he also co-wrote the book with Piers Haggard.[2] The music was written by Benedicte Adrian and Ingrid Bjørnov. The team behind the musical managed to get the show staged in London's West End i 1992, where it run for 76 performances, for a total audience of 37,000, before the show had to close in December).[3] Sørli also wrote essays on the history of witchcraft.[4]

Which Witch

Which Witch is a free adaptation opera/musical of an incident from the witch-hunter's handbook, the 15th century Malleus Maleficarum. Producer Sørli wrote the original manuscript, and was executive director of the project.

Synopsis

Criticism

Legacy

The London success led to a 1993 summer concert tour that was the biggest ever music event in Norway, setting box office records everywhere. Following summer concerts in 1994 of a Norwegian version, Which Witch has only been performed in semi-professional theatre and concert productions. In addition to this, a TV production of the West End final performance has been shown on Danish, Norwegian and Czech television (2002).[2]

Death

After half a year of illness Sørli died in 2009.

Production credits

Appears On

References

  1. 1 2 Borge, Knut, Ballade.no (20 June 2005). FONOs utvikling gjennom 25 år – i rykk og napp og hytt og vær (Norwegian)
  2. 1 2 whichwitch.no Which Witch history
  3. ↑ Larry Bringsjord, Chairman of Fono. www.ballade.no
  4. ↑ Ole A. Sørli: "Go to Block Berg!" www.ballade.no
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