Basel 2025Eurovision🇳🇴 Norway

Two appointments made to lead Norway’s Eurovision 2025 participation

With Stig Karlsen stepping off the positions of head of delegation for Norway and head of the Melodi Grand Prix, NRK chose to split his missions, appointing Tarjei Strøm and Mads Tørklep as the duo to lead Norway’s efforts in Basel.

A single head of delegation, but two leaders for MGP

In 2015, Stig Karlsen became the head of delegation for Norway, taking over the role of head of the Melodi Grand Prix selection as well. After ten years in the position, he announced that he would step down on October 1st, to become the head of media and communications for Jannicke Mikkelsen, Norway’s first female astronaut.

With his departure, NRK had to find a replacement for both positions: “head of MGP” and head of delegation. They opted to split the positions again, although not by simply separating them over the “selection/delegation” line.

  • Mads Tørklep will be Head of delegation and MGP project manager
  • Tarjei Strøm will be MGP Music director

Mads Tørklep, new head of delegation and MGP project manager

Mads Tørklep has worked in journalism in entertainment for twenty years, having been a TV and executive producer for NRK since 2016. He’s worked on the Melodi Grand Prix before, with the TV but also the radio production of the show.

According to NRK, Tørklep will “work on the organisation of the song contest [MGP] and be the link [between NRK], the Eurovision Song Contest, and the EBU”. This means he has taken over most of Stig Karlsen’s missions, as head of delegation but also on the production aspect of the Melodi Grand Prix.

Tarjei Strøm, new MGP music director

Tarjei Strøm is a drummer and TV/radio host, who recently turned 46. He is a founding member of Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herren Band, but also played for Datarock, with whom he took part in Melodi Grand Prix in 2013. At the time, Datarock reached the final with “Underground” but did not go into the “Gold final” round to select the winner.

Tarjei also hosted review shows for Eurovision, and was part of the MGP 2014 jury.

His role as music director will be to find the artists and songs that will take part in the national selection. NRK trusts him to use his very strong network inside the Norwegian musical community to attract new artists to the Grand Prix.

I may look tough from the outside, but I look tougher than I am. I listen to all kinds of music. But I have a wide network of contacts which MGP has not been away from, with artists who may have felt a bit too “cool” to join. What I want to achieve is to bring along the artists you didn’t think would be at MGP.

Tarjei Strøm, new Musical Director for Melodi Grand Prix
[Tarjei] has a completely unique network of contacts in the music industry, which perhaps no one else has. I have faith that he will find absolutely crazy artists for Melodi Grand Prix.

Mads Tørklep about Tarjei Strøm

Strøm’s exact involvement in the 2025 edition is yet to be clarified, though. Indeed, Stig Karlsen left on October 1st in order to finalise a line-up for next year’s Melodi Grand Prix. The new Music Director also admitted that there would not be drastic changes to the selection process.

He also wanted to insist on his wish to accompany each artists, from the moment they accept to take part in MGP, “until they get back home from the Eurovision final”. He commended the support around artists during his participation in 2013, and wants to make sure artists feel the same with him at the helm.

With new heads of delegation and selection, and the extended network of Tarjei Strøm, will MGP showcase big names or more diversity in its lineup? Who would you like to see represent Norway in Basel? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button