Per Bergersen
Encyclopedia
Røros
is a town and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Other villages include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen....
, Norway
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...
. He was killed by a friend in 1990, 29 years old, with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
. According to newsreports this happened at Bergersen's request, as he wanted help committing suicide. By this time, he had published a demotape, Redrum Psychosis, in 1985, and he also contributed a song, Duejakt, to a flexi single released by the anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
journal Gateavisa
Gateavisa
Gateavisa is a Norwegian newspaper-like magazine with roots in a liberal culture that rebelled against the authorities. It focuses on anarchism, the legalizing of drugs and gay rights. The first copy was out for sale in 1970. It now is published 2-4 times a year....
. After his death, the LP PB was released by Røros fritidsklubb. It was released in 1000 copies, which was quickly sold out. This LP has gained cult status in various milieux, and is sold used for more than $100. PB is mainly based on Redrum Psychosis and live recordings from Thomasgaarden, Røros, in 1990, the night before he was killed. The lyrics of his song Kyssing was used as the theme song of the Norwegian movie, Store gutter gråter ikke, the song there had the title Skyter meg på julaften which directly translated means "I'll shoot myself on Christmas Eve", which is the opening line of the song. Bergesen's version was not included on PB.
Per Bergersen wrote most of his songs in Norwegian, although he also had a couple in English, and much of his material was really dark and sad, probably because of his own depression and problems, having grown up with his mother until she died when he was fifteen. Some, however, also had a humorous and grotesque edge, whereas others were social commentaries. He is considered among many people as the greatest (undiscovered) Norwegian Song writer to ever have lived, and in 2010 the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a half hour long documentary on Bergersen. Most of his material would also classify as pretty strong comments towards society and social structures like the song Sachsenhausen which have a line that directly translated means something like; "They will fire up the ovens for you or me, they don't really care who they burn". Which must be seen in relation to that Per Bergersen probably felt as an outsider of society and not being neither able nor welcome to participate on his terms.
Per N. Bergersen Online have many of his songs in MP3 format for download which probably is not illegal since he never signed a record contract before his death, and in fact was almost unpublished before he was shot by one of his friends in a "kind of suicide" in 1990.