Mari Boine Band

One of Norway's most exciting musicians, Mari Boine, will perform in New York on October 3 and in Washington, D.C. on October 6. Clearly a composer of today, she nonetheless draws deeply from her Sami heritage and the folk music of Scandinavia's northernmost culture which ranges through Norway, Finland and Sweden. Boine is one of the pathfinders in the new Sami music.

World-Class Soccer Is Coming back to America!

Last year's World Cup tournament put soccer on the map in the United States, and with America hosting the centennial Olympics in Atlanta next summer, soccer fans hope that interest in America will continue to rise.

Youth for Understanding

Early in their tour of the United States, King Harald and Queen Sonja visited the Youth for Understanding Center in Washington, D.C. Just a little nervous, four Norwegian exchange students conversed with the royal couple about their experiences in this country.

Norwegian at the Metropolitan

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (34) made her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera last month in Verdi's Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera).

Cyber Cops Take All

And the winner is... Norwegian Police Data Processing Services. This finalist at the 1995 Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program in Washington last month took top honors in the category, Information Technology in the Workplace, Government and Non-Profit Organizations.

Oslo 2 at the White House

"It has taken time to see the benefits, but the signs from a couple of years ago are now showing. We are at a point of no return," Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjørn Tore Godal told the National Press Club.

Julie Goes to Washington

This year's winner of the distinguished Ambassador Robert D. Stuart Fellowship to work and study in America, Julie Christiansen, is spending six months in the Capitol Hill office of Senator Richard Lugar (R - IN). Learning more about U.S. politics and how the process functions, she also attends lectures at George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs.

'Norwegian Visions'

Through a series of partnerships between leading Norwegian and American arts institutions, a panoply of Norwegian cultural events will appear in the United States this fall, a kaleidoscope called "Norwegian Visions." The programs encompass the visual and performing arts from 19th-century painting, sculpture and folk art, to modern literature, music, dance and theater.

World Body Turns 50

Anniversaries tend to generate all sorts of mixed feelings -- joy and sadness, satisfaction and disappointment, pride and regret, hopes and worries. That's perfectly normal, not the least when the turning point is the ripe, round age of 50. The anniversary of the United Nations this fall is no exception, but rarely has a 50-year-old been scrutinized as thoroughly as in this case.

Norway - the official site in the United States