The Swedes are poppy, the Danes are laid back â€' but Norwegian musicians embrace the darkness

Anyone who became hooked on Danish-Swedish crime series The Bridge knows its theme tune set a perfect mood for the gruesome, dark and grainy drama. Back in 2010, I described Hollow Talk by Danish act Choir of Young Believers as "a melancholic Arcade Fire doing the soundtrack to Wallander" (I used them as an example of a band that made beautiful music, but couldn't or wouldn't do self-promotion on social networking sites). Seems I was just wrong about which crime series the track would eventually land in.

For those who became fans of this dark, melancholic music, there's plenty more where that came from. All you have to do is go a bit further to the north-west. Where the Swedes have a pop sensibility that's been carried through the decades since Abba,and the Danes are more laid back, the Norwegians tend to produce music that isn't as accessible to outsiders on a first listen â€' though it doesn't stop them from topping the charts in their native country. And for the past few years Norwegian artists â€' especially the female ones â€' have produced music drenched in melancholia.

Take Susanne Sundfor, whose last album The Brothel spent 30 weeks in the Norwegian album charts (it sold 40,000 copies, which is a platinum album in Norway). If Cate Blanchett, as Galadriel, had...

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Adele collected 12 awards at last night's Billboard Music Awards including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 album for 21. Adele took home honors in the following categories:

Top Artist
Top Billboard 200 Album
Top Female Artist
Top Hot 100 Artist
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Top Digital Songs Artist
Top Radio Songs Artist
Top Digital Media Artist
Top Pop Artist
Top Pop Album
Top Streaming Song (Audio)
Top Alternative Song ("Rolling In The Deep")

Coldplay, Rihanna and Lil Wayne also score gongs, but are eclipsed by the '21' singer

The British singer was the big winner at this year's awards in Las Vegas winning top artist and album for 21.

Adele was named Songwriter of the Year at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards in London. Rolling In The Deep also won PRS for Music Most Performed Work.

Festival boss says singer would find headlining 'too daunting' though

Adele picks up two prizes at the prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting awards - but misses out on two more trophies.

Disco legend, Donna Summer, has died at the age of 63 and Adele wins two Ivor Novello awards plus the rest of the day's entertainment headlines.

Britain is celebrating Music is Great week with a DVD of iconic live moments. But why has the campaign ignored the melting pot that makes British music special?

Did you know this week is Music is Great week in Britain? You may think it's Music is Great week every week of the year, but this is part of the This is Great Britain campaign, celebrating everything that is British and, er, great.

As part of the Music is Great campaign, backed by the major labels, a DVD of "iconic live moments" by British artists has been released with all profits going to Save the Children, and the first clip â€' David Bowie performing Ziggy Stardust â€' reminded me of why I, as a child growing up in Stockholm, fell in love with British music in the first place. While Abba dominated my tape recorder as a child (I'm Swedish, after all), my older brother would be blasting Bowie through the wall into my bedroom. Pretty soon I was raiding my brother's collection of albums.

The reason I wanted to move to England was the music. That's what defined the country for me. Sure, I eventually got into numerous American artists, such as Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones and Stevie Wonder, but the Brits were something else altogether. They did things no one else dared. They were over the top. They were larger than life.

Freddie Mercury, Kate Bush and,...

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Siouxsie Sioux, Ed Sheeran and Gary Kemp also pick up gongs at the annual awards celebrating British songwriting