{"id":20074,"date":"2023-05-07T11:55:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T11:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/?page_id=20074"},"modified":"2026-06-14T11:03:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T11:03:01","slug":"paal-flaata-norway","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/en\/dsb\/artists\/paal-flaata-norway\/","title":{"rendered":"Paal Flaata (Norway)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">Paal Flaata has appeared at Dark Season Blues before, but he was no stranger to Svalbard even before that. In the 1980s, he worked in Ny-\u00c5lesund, just as his father had done. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paal Flaata fronted the band Midnight Choir for ten years. The band released five studio albums, and their \u201cmasterpiece,\u201d *Amsterdam Stranded* (1998), earned them a Spellemann Award. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few years ago, Midnight Choir made a comeback, but Flaata has been recording albums and touring as a solo artist for 20 years\u2014always alongside producer and pianist G\u00f8ran Grini. He has released eight solo albums since 2002. Flaata is blessed with one of the most beautiful voices in the country, and he is a fabulous interpreter of others\u2019\u2014often sad\u2014songs. His latest album to date, \u201cNew Green Grass Will Grow\u201d (2022), consists of cover songs by Randy Newman, Jacques Brel, Daniel Norgren, and others.   <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has a more European sound, in contrast to the Americana-influenced style I\u2019ve had in the past. The album captures the intuitive connection G\u00f8ran and I share as musicians, having been on the road together for years,\u201d says Paal about the album. Joining him on Dark Season Blues are Frederik Mustad (organ) and J\u00f8rn Raknes (guitar).  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#e2e2e2;font-size:12px\"><strong>Dark Season Blues\u00a92023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"My Old Angel Midnight (Stay With Me)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kgSjRoibqaY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paal Flaata has appeared at Dark Season Blues before, but he was no stranger to Svalbard even before that. In the 1980s, he worked in Ny-\u00c5lesund, just as his father had done. Paal Flaata fronted the band Midnight Choir for ten years. The band released five studio albums, and their \u201cmasterpiece,\u201d *Amsterdam Stranded* (1998), earned &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Paal Flaata (Norway)\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/en\/dsb\/artists\/paal-flaata-norway\/#more-20074\" aria-label=\"Read more about Paal Flaata (Norway)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20077,"parent":9253,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20074","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Paal Flaata (Norway) | Dark Season Blues - SVALBARD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paal Flaata fronted the band Midnight Choir for ten years. The band released five studio albums, and their \u201cmasterpiece,\u201d *Amsterdam Stranded* (1998), earned them a Spellemann Award.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/en\/dsb\/artists\/paal-flaata-norway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paal Flaata (Norway)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paal Flaata fronted the band Midnight Choir for ten years. The band released five studio albums, and their \u201cmasterpiece,\u201d *Amsterdam Stranded* (1998), earned them a Spellemann Award.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/en\/dsb\/artists\/paal-flaata-norway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dark Season Blues | SVALBARD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DarkSeasonBlues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-14T11:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.svalbardblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/DSB_Illustrasjon_med_Paal2-1024x532.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/en\\\/dsb\\\/artists\\\/paal-flaata-norway\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/en\\\/dsb\\\/artists\\\/paal-flaata-norway\\\/\",\"name\":\"Paal Flaata (Norway) | Dark Season Blues - SVALBARD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/en\\\/dsb\\\/artists\\\/paal-flaata-norway\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/en\\\/dsb\\\/artists\\\/paal-flaata-norway\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.svalbardblues.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/Paal-Flaata-Dark-Season-BLues-Svalbard-1200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-07T11:55:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-14T11:03:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Paal Flaata fronted the band Midnight Choir for ten years. 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