News: What is happening in the world of Madrugada and on this page? I try to stay as updated as possible, and I will try to bring you the latest rumours and facts concerning Madrugada. Of course, you will also be able to read all the interesting stuff about what has been updated or changed on this very webpage.

November 27th 2005 - Live At Tralfamadore?
Lots of things have happened in the Madrugada world over the past few months, unfortunately I have not been able to stay on top of things and update this news page regularly. Hopefully everyone has checked out the discussion forum, a lot of people make sure to post all the necessary new information there, including reviews and setlists from nearly every show on the current European tour.

Undoubtedly the most exciting thing to happen lately is the news about a forthcoming Madrugada live CD. It is expected to be out in record stores by mid-December, and rumours are making the rounds regarding what it will contain. A recent promo single of the Ane Brun and Madrugada collaboration "Lift Me" included the snippet that the track would be performed live at Oslo Spektrum early next month, and would be available on the forthcoming live album. CDON.com recently put up a pre-order for the album, referring to it as being live from Oslo Spektrum, "Live, Oslo Spektrum 02.12.2005" and being released December 14th, but added that this is 'to be confirmed.'

But for a full performance to be played and then released on an official album by a major label only twelve days after the fact seems quite unrealistic. Some believe that it could contain a performance with the Bodø Sinfonietta, but not the forthcoming one at Oslo Spektrum, but rather the one in Bodø in August this year. That performance was professionally recorded, and the band were later quoted saying that they considered the material for official release. But at the same time, work on the next studio album "Ivory Town" is also remoured to include a collaboration with the Sinfonietta, how likely is it that they will release two albums with the Sinfonietta within such a short span of time?

The Norwegian record chain-store Platekompaniet have now put the album up for pre-order, with the same release date as CDON, December 14th. But they label it with the mysterious title "Live At Tralfamadore" - indicating that it will not contain the Oslo Spektrum performance. Tralafamadore 'is the fictional home planet of aliens from several novels by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. The planet's name is an anagram of "or fatal dream," a reoccuring concept in Vonnegut's novels.' The character Billy Pilgrim from Grit's "Come Back Billy Pilgrim" is also taken from a Kurt Vonnegut book, so it could be a red thread continuing with this live album.

The earliest rumours regarding a live album were that it would be a compilation taken from many different sources, and a title such as "Live At Tralfamadore" could lend credit to it being a compilation rather than one performance. Time will tell, what seems definite though is the December 14th release-date, and the fact that we will finally see a long-awaited official Madrugada live album release.

(Thanks to The Lodger and SivertFan for the latest info.)

Older News: Most of the older news pages are also being stored and are available from this page. These news pages are no longer updated, so some of the links might be outdated.