THE MUSIC

It may have started by the neighbour's alluring piano when I was about 7-8 years. That's when I composed my first melody. I got a keyboard in my teens, then a guitar at 20. I attended music, dance and drama school in Ålesund, and after that I started to write a lot of songs. I did a few concerts, one of them at the legendary “SMUGET”, in Oslo.

I was then fortunate to get in to Paul McCartney’s “LIPA”-school in Liverpool, and later I recorded demos myself in my little home studio. Later on I did some music collaborations online with various people around the world. Some via Myspace. In 2006 one of my songs got on 2nd place in The International songwriting competition. Tom Waits and Steve Vai were among the jury panel. That was a big highlight for me.

I experimented with different sounds and atmospheric landscapes, and tried to find my own artistic expression. I aim to explore the optimal balance of organic and electronic elements in my music. Right now I am somewhere between indie, pop, electro, chillout and triphop. But I have also composed music for film and tv, and that is something I REALLY would like to do more of. I feel that I can add to a scene and imagery with music. Field recordings are also fun!

In 2021 I signed a contract with Timewarp Music/Kraak records, on some projects with the London based electronic duo OR https://www.kraakrecords.com/krk140.html . That year I learned video editing, and started to make my own music videos - both with and without AI. I was actually the first one in Norway to create music videos generated with AI. Later that year I was guest artist with a song I wrote and co-song in a duet with one of the relatives of Jens Bjørneboe, from Electro Spectre and Norwegian Giants on the album “Fasan” - a review in Disharmoni: https://www.disharmoni.no/videopremiere-shelter-med-norwegian-giants-feat-manuela-hofer-electro-spectre/

In 2024 I released my first ever song in Norwegian. I did a modernized interpretation of “Vår Beste Dag”, by Erik Bye.

Some notable musical collaborators: Sternklang, Reigo, Peter Larsen, Joar Renolen, Jon Kjørkleiv aka. Gurumunk, Massdriver, Norwegian Giants, Simone Eriksrud, Tarjei Krogh, OR, Electro Spectre.

My first album is called Reflections, and you can find it on Spotify, Amazon and other platforms.

https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Manuela-Hofer/dp/B002U20ZBU

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Xj5gUsA034NNMdIdhzwzt

Facebook Music page:

https://www.facebook.com/manuelasmusic

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ManuelaHoferchannel

Some of my music has been featured in film & TV:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190858/soundtrack (AMREEKA)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460637/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (Everybody hates Chris)

The first EVER AI generated music video in Norway was made by me. This was for my version of Leonard Cohen’s song “Avalanche”.

My second self made AI generated music video. Inspired by “Alice in Wonderland”. I wrote the song, sing and co-produce, as with all my songs.

My third self made AI generated music video, for my version of Oasis’s “Wonderwall”.

This was my very first self-made music video. The song was a collab with Norwegian Giants.

Three of my songs are featured in this film:

My second self made music video, for a collab with the London-based duo “OR”. I wrote the song.

This is “I Surrender” a song I wrote for my album (Reflections). The video is edited by me.

My first song in Norwegian - a modernized version of “Vår Beste Dag”, by Erik Bye.

My version of “House Of The Rising Sun”. Video edited by me.

This is my version of A-ha’s “Summer Moved On”. Video edited by me.

“The Sea” - another of my songs, from the album. I wrote the song and edited the video.

My version of Coldplay’s “FIX YOU”. Video edited by me.

Another of my songs - Video by me, inspired by The Antarctic.