Aage Samuelsen was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 evangelist

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

, singer and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He was the son of factory worker and railway man Karl Hjalmar Samuelsen, and Anna Samuelsen. Aage was married to Elisabeth Olsen ("Lisa"), and together they had seven children.

Aage learned to play the guitar when he was 15 years old. At 18 he toured with several dance orchestras and jazz bands.

He joined the Pentecostal

Pentecostalism

Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...

 church Tabernaklet ("The Tabernacle

Tabernacle (disambiguation)

The Tabernacle most commonly refers to the Jewish Tabernacle , which was a movable tent and worship facility used by the Israelites for the worship of Yahweh as recorded in the Book of Exodus...

") in Skien

Skien

' is a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Skien. Skien is also the administrative centre of Telemark county....

 in 1944. Samuelsen soon became a central figure in the congregation, but was very controversial because of his belief in faith healing

Faith healing

Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...

. Aage's style of preaching was very informal, personal, direct and humorous.

Samuelsen left the evangelist church in 1957 after a dispute with the elders' council. He started his own charismatic movement

Charismatic movement

The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...

 called Maran Ata which soon became well known because of Samuelsen's popularity and style and the congregation's frequent use of speaking in tongues

Glossolalia

Glossolalia or speaking in tongues is the fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice. The significance of glossolalia has varied with time and place, with some considering it a part of a sacred language...

. He was a public figure in the Norwegian press and radio, outspoken, charismatic and controversial.

He recorded about 30-40 singles, 15 78-records and 17 LP-records. His albums sold well, and his religious recordings even entered the Norwegian official charts.

In his autobiography named "Herrens glade trubadur" ("The lord's merry troubadour") he wrote of his life as an artist, preacher and also about his long-term alcohol abuse.

Discography

• Herrens Glade Jubelgut
• Aage Samuelsens Beste
• Det Er Vekkelsesluft Over Landet
• Vi Møter Åge På Møte