From Norway, The Lesbian Singer Who Is Too Straight...

By DutchCJ on Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 01:38

For years I have been searching the net looking for women in music. Believe me, I have seen thousands, thousands pass by. From really bad to insanely brilliant, from very straight to super lesbian and everything in between. But if you have been doing this for such a long time, like me, you can easily separate chaff from wheat. But also many times you run into the same artists AND because of that sometimes you need to be creative when it comes to discovering new artists. A while ago I was feeling like having one of those alternative discovery tours again for women in music that I didn’t yet know. Now this process took place in exactly the same period that I began to wonder “What is time?” Time can be so many things, but ok I won’t bother you with my philosophical brain web. So time and women in music. Just type in that search in YouTube and this is how I found Heidi Marie Vestrheim, singer songwriter from Norway and her beautiful song "Time"and once again my alternative way of searching gave me something nice.

I love it when that happens.

It also so happened that last month in Norway the book “Gay Kids- cool kids who also exist” got published (unfortunately indeed only in Norwegian), where Heidi Marie also has a part in. Yes indeed, she is a lesbian.

“Heidi Marie is one of over 100 people who has shared some cool pictures and stories from their childhood in this very important and brilliant book that talks about homosexuality in Norway. It's a book for children and young people, but grownups and especially teachers and parents would benefit from the knowledge you receive from reading this book.”

Here you can find more info about the book:

For the Norwegians amongst us, the official website: Gay Kids

Right, back to Heidi Marie Vestrheim. So she is a lesbian singer songwriter from Norway, born in 1977 on the west coast of Norway. Now, when she isn’t touring or traveling, living in Bergen or Oslo. Heidi Marie started writing songs at a young age, but it didn’t take its definite form until the discovery of songwriters like Ani Difranco, Tori Amos and the Indigo Girls. In her biography on her website this is what she has to say about this:

“Discovering these acts was a really good experience. I didn’t know music could sound like this. The subject matter, the storytelling – I just had to keep listening. Heidi Marie’s sources of musical inspiration are diverse. But one common trait can be found – their honesty. “It has become the way I write music myself. I can’t pretend to be anything I’m not. I write about things I’ve experienced; it’s all genuine”.

That’s my kind of girl.

And that she doesn’t mince matters, hides she’s lesbian, doesn’t use vague words and phrases to say something, is in my opinion best illustrated in “I am too straight to be a Folksinger.”