Three students from the Musikkonservatoriet and two from the music department at Kongsbakken make up the recipe for success for a band that will groove for a long time in life. The members are all active in the music scene in Tromsø, but it was their love for fusion that was the common denominator for the start of the band.

Coolgate is inspired by star artists such as Mike Stern, Michael Brecker, the Funky Knuckles and Casoipea, to name a few.

The quintet writes all the songs themselves, and says about the music: "You'll hear homemade jazz rock that will knock your socks off, but with the opportunity to put them back on!"

Coolgate made its debut at JazzNatt in April 2022, under the auspices of Tromsø Jazzklubb. The band has also played at the Tromsø Jazz Festival in the same year. There they delivered a terrific concert. With a load of well-deserved confidence and energy, the quintet showed that they really mean business when they play. Everyone in the hall was enthralled by catchy, home-made tunes that were performed with strong interplay, musical excess and an impressive amount of joy in playing.

The project is one of five grant projects awarded by UiT Norway's Arctic University, as part of a strategic collaboration between the Festivals in Northern Norway and UiT Norway's Arctic University.

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About the collaboration

- As the only institution in the region, UiT trains artists and musicians for a variety of roles and tasks in cultural life. The collaboration with the Festivals in Northern Norway is a highly relevant practice arena and an important point of contact with the professional field our students aim for, but above all a platform where they can present their own projects to both festival audiences and other festival actors. The scholarship scheme has received a good response from the students, and we look forward to further developing the collaboration with FiNN in the coming years, says Solmund Nystabakk, deputy director for education at UiT.