Last week the news broke in Åsane. Business end Jan Olav Jørgensen and guitar guru Tino Andersen have joined forces to create Europe’s largest guitar festival. Not in Paris, Rome, London or Berlin. No, in Asane!

The festival, which will last for almost a week in June 2024, is perhaps one of the biggest singles ever held in Åsane. We of course have Kulturfest Åsane, which is an important and well-attended event every year. And it’s a football festival that has attracted a diverse crowd and major concerts with Prince, Dolly Parten and most recently 50 Cent. But six days devoted to one theme, we rarely see. And it’s not just some concerts, workshops and voila, it’s done. Here, millions are spent to create Europe and perhaps one of the biggest guitar festivals in the world.

Jan Olav Jørgensen, owner of Tertnes Holding and has donated several tens of millions of kroner to teams and organizations in the district over the years that contributed funds. And together with Tino Andersen, who knows some of the best guitarists in the world, they form a duo that must have every chance of making the Tino Andersen International Guitar Festival something really big.

The latter is particularly fond of stringed instruments, and has previously hosted an international festival in Bergen, but never of this magnitude.

– For many years, my idea has been to make a classical guitar as big as the band’s movement in Norway. And now we’re going to make it happen. Now we will put the guitar and Åsane on the map, he said before.

From 21 to 26 June 2024, 150 guitarists will come for a summer school at the Åsane cultural center. There will be concerts with stars Yamandu Coasta, Anabel Montesinos and Zoran Dukic. It will also be a tough competition, which will also be the biggest in Europe in terms of prize money. There is talk of a 20,000 euro prize pool, and then we are closer to a quarter million at today’s exchange rates.

It should be attractive enough to attract more world stars. Combined with the summer school’s 150 guitarists, an array of concerts and one of the city’s absolute concert arenas, the ingredients are a must. It will be a huge success. At least we hope so.