Beranek and EL/NeUe inspired by 1982 ESC song for their new single ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’
Beranek and EL/NeUe latest single ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’ are inspired by lyricist Bernd Meinunger’s words in the German Eurovision entry ‘Ein Bißchen Frieden’ from 1982, performed by Nicole.
(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Live photo Alex Tjore) In a time filled with uncertainty, conflicts, and imbalance, Espen Beranek Holm a.k.a. Beranek and EL/NeUe latest single “Ein Bisschen Frieden” have been inspired by lyricist Bernd Meinunger’s words in the German Eurovision entry “Ein Bißchen Frieden” from 1982, performed by Nicole.
“Ein Bisschen Frieden” is a collection of associations with peace and the concept of peace, allowing space for both pessimism and optimism – carried forward on an unmistakable electronic foundation, spiced up with a catchy chorus, clarinet, vocoder, and an out-of-tune piano.
They launched the single with a live event at Kampen Bistro in Oslo, with everyone on stage contributing to each other’s songs. It started with an EL/NeUe set, followed by some of their collaborative songs, and ended with a Beranek set, culminating in a hilarious “lecture” about his first single, “Dra te hælvete” (“Go to hell”‘”), which was banned on Norwegian broadcasting in the early ’80s. He gave a step-by-step breakdown of the song, instrument by instrument, before performing it in full. He ended his set with a beautiful acoustic version of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”.
The evening was concluded with the music video premiere of “Ein Bisschen Frieden”.
A few days later we had an email exchange, catching up on the latest events:
Side-Line: What made you do this single now? How has it been received?
Askild Hagen: We have previously made two songs together—which we are very satisfied with—and it has been very exciting and fun to work together, so we wanted to do another song. We met in Espen’s studio and created a draft for a beat, and Espen suggested the title ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’, a title that fits just as well in 2025 as when Nicole sang a song with the same title in ESC in 1982.
We have received good feedback so far. Erik Valebrokk, one of Norway’s leading music bloggers, wrote: “Their new single ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’ is very, very catchy.”
Beranek: It was great fun making our two previous singles, so why not keep up the fun? We met up in my studio to draft the initial ideas, then it became a mail/file transfer process. The single has received an overall positive response.
S-L: Happy with the gig?
B: I was very pleased with the gig. We joined forces on both EL/NeUe’s and my music—as well as on the Beranek + EL/NeUe collaborations, of course. It was the very first time that both ‘Niedrige Erwartungen’ and ‘Goethe Ist Tot’ were performed live.
AH: We are very pleased with the concert. It was rather crowded at Kampen Bistro, and the atmosphere was great. The concert was filmed and will probably be available on YouTube eventually.
S-L: More songs or events in the pipeline?
AH: We will definitely make more music together. The next song title is ready (should we say what it’s called, Espen?). EL/NeUe is working on their third album, Neben, and hopefully, it will be released in autumn 2025.
B: We have talked about the theme for the next project, but I think it’s a bit too early to disclose any further details at this point in time. Apart from the EL/NeUe collaboration, I will be making stage appearances in both comedy and music throughout ’25.
Some live clips can be seen here and in the comments of this Facebook post and in this “Dra te hælvete” lecture videopost (+ more in the comments).
This is the video for the track.
Still here? OK, here’s an old classic and it’s revamped 2016 EP with Todd Terje and other remixes!
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