Influences: MODDI

Norwegian songwriter with a penchant for hidden stories...

Music has the power to provoke, to comfort harsh, and sometimes uncomfortable, truths.

It's a power that has frequently led authorities to intervene, with numerous songs – and sometimes the work of entire artists – being banned around the globe.

Norwegian songwriter MODDI is drawn to these hidden stories, and his album 'Unsung' explores these banned songs.

"I went into this project as a listener rather than a musician,” he explains. “Everywhere I turned I would find music that was not only sharp and powerful, but also beautiful in one way or another. I think that is what scares the authorities.”

'Unsung' is out now, so Clash sat down with MODDI to discuss the influences running through his project.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – 'O'Malley's Bar'

Nick Cave was the first to open my eyes to the concept album as a, eh, concept. With his 'Murder Ballads' from 1996, I understood that an album could be something more than just a commercially viable format. I was only nine at the time though, so it took me a while to understand what the songs were really about, and I didn't quite understand why my grandpa got so angry when I listened to it. Still, it is one of the finest albums in my book (sic!) shelf.

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Malvina Reynolds – 'God Bless the Grass'

There's a sad tendency that while male singers get idolised, equally important female singers tend to disappear from history even though their contribution to our musical heritage is undeniable. Malvina Reynolds wrote some of the finest songs ever to be performed by Pete Seeger. 'God Bless The Grass' is one of them, and has also been a sort of theme song for the whole ‘Unsongs’ project. God bless the truth, the friend of the poor, and the wild grass growing at the poor man's door.

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Metin and Kemal Kahraman – 'Meymano Usar'

When digging for forbidden gold, I found some music that I don't think I'll ever be worthy of singing. Especially in the Kurdish culture, there were so many in-translatably beautiful songs. I know absolutely nothing about the Kahraman brothers, which dialect they are singing or if they are considered heroes or terrorists (or both) for what they do, but their music makes me want to know more about Kurdistan. I bet there are other hidden gems like this awaiting.

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Hans Zimmer – 'God Yu Tekkem Laef Blong Mi'

…but then came Hans Zimmer along and showed me that cultural appropriation can have a quite decent outcome at times, too. This song isn't banned, god forbid. It is a psalm, "Take my life and let it be", performed in Pidgin English by a Melanese choir and beautifully orchestrated my Hans Zimmer for the soundtrack of the film The Thin Red Line. Made me cry the first twenty times I listened to it.

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Richard Burgess – 'The Sea Never Cries'

Richard Burgess was in many ways the man who started the ‘Unsongs’ project with the song about Eli Geva. In 1982, Burgess was an unknown name to most Norwegians. To be fair, he still is. But he still writes some of the most thought-provoking songs I know on this wide earth, and never fails to bring in a little education in his songs, too. His sound might be a bit too folky for my taste, but his songwriting, like in ‘82, is just stellar.

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'Unsongs' is out now.

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