For me, India is about music and food

BANGALORE: Unni Løvlid, a Norwegian musician raised in Hornindal, Sogn og Fjordane, creates soulful melody with the piano, fiddle, and Hardanger fiddle. Thanks to her mother Oline Ragnhild Løvlid, Unni took to folk music. It was Oline who taught Unni about the traditional music of Nordfjord. The master musician, who's visited India several times, shares her experiences with TOI.Excerpts:
Your impressions of Indian art and culture...
I like the discipline among dancers and musicians; they work really hard. I've seen performances by singer Sunanda Sharma and dancer Priyadarshini Govind. I've performed in Delhi, Bangalore and Bhopal, and have also met several artistes when I worked for Spic Macay projects. As artistes and also as human beings, they are fantastic people.
How popular are Indian art forms in Norway?
Norwegian artistes are open-minded; Norwegians like Indian classical styles like the Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music. But they don't know about Bollywood. Oslo is hosting a festival of Bollywood movies. Hope my people will like some of them.
What are your impressions of Indian music?
India has different traditional music forms, and I like most of them. For me, India is about music and food; its artistes and people are very generous. Indian audiences are open-minded. At every performance, I explain Norwegian traditions. My experience of India has been positive.
Since you often come to India, have you watched any of our movies?
I have a collection of some Hindi movie CDs and will be taking them home. I enjoy them as they are different from European ones. I like the dance sequences and sense of humour that are a part of Hindi movies. But I understand the films only in bits and parts, as dialogues are a mix of Hindi and English. Of course, I'm familiar with Shah Rukh Khan's name.