I'm a drummer, artist, and percussion teacher living on a peninsula in the Fjord of Oslo, Norway.

I started to play drums when I was 12. I had the drum kit in an apartment in a suburb of Stockholm. After a dramatic period in my young teens, the drums became my refuge when struggling with Anorexia Nervosa. 

I'm a restless soul and always wish to learn more. I've played hard rock, pop, blues, big band, Balkan-inspired music, orchestra music, modern chamber music, and improvised music in different contexts. In 1990 I moved to Norway to study classical percussion, pedagogy, and chamber music at the Music Conservatory in Oslo, now the Norwegian Academy of Music. After my studies, I worked mainly as a "moving" percussionist in different dance projects. In addition, I worked as a graphic artist and painter and took a Master's degree in Music Therapy. When I finished my research, the results led me to found Mindful Drumming. Around 2011 I began playing the kit again after a long break. I played with different bands and participated in master classes in Europe and the USA. I also began studying the Middle East's traditional hand drums and composition techniques.

My ultimate goal when I play is to reach a state of freedom. The music I compose is more soundscapes than songs. The starting point is a feeling, a visual, or a predetermined groove that I twist and turn until I hear a melody.

I'm a mix, a fusion of different cultures and techniques. Drums are often seen as powerful, masculine instruments and expressions. After many years of trying to "play like the guys," I understood that I needed to play as who I am, light, dynamic, and sensitive. My influences are musicians whose playing defines by lightness and new-thinking, bold artists and dancers.

As I see it working as a musician is to be on an eternal journey. It fascinates me. Every challenge takes me one step deeper. How I play and the music I compose is the diary of that journey. I love to be on stage but not to be in the limelight. 

When I play, I can say all that burns inside. It's simple without words. The scene is the arena where I feel it is ok to be myself, which is the only thing I've ever wished for.

If you would like to learn more about me, my approach to drumming, day design, anorexia, thoughts on teaching, and more, I recommend listening to this conversation with @Mark McGuinness on The 21st Century Creative podcast here. Or, visit my channel on YouTube to see me play.

Photograph provided by Målfrid Sand

A SHORT SELECTION OF WHAT I’VE DONE

• Ma-rgam, a performance with Dve duo (with Pauline Reibell) at Teater Slava, Stockholm, October 2021.

• SOLO at STALLET, Stockholm. October 2019.

• SOLITUDE. Solo performance at Scenehuset September 2018.

• LYSFEST. Percussion solo in the Labyrinth. Frognerparken September 2018.

• Absolute Wall (Kompani Nomad). Riksscenen - The Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance, Folkemusikkveka, Ål.

• 5 meditationer (koreografi: Steffi Lund). Oslo University Hospital.

• Livsrytmer (koregrafi: Indra Lorentzen). The Arts Festival of North Norway, Henie Onstad Artcenter, Akershus county.

• Balgiduvvon Balgat (koreografi: Indra Lorentzen). The Norwegian National Opera, Oslo.

• I have teaching experience for over two decades, teaching private students and teaching at Kulturskolan and Kulturama, Stockholm, Kulturskolen, Nesodden, and The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo (where I currently teach), etc.

• I teach a drumline of only nurses and have been teaching workshops at the International fame drum festival, Tamburi Mundi, for the last two years!