John Erik Kaada

Norwegian musician

John Erik Kaada (born 28 July 1975), also known by the mononym Kaada, is a Norwegian singer songwriter, producer, film score composer and multi instrumentalist. Kaada's career spans a string of solo albums, motion picture soundtracks, high profile collaborations with key players such as Mike Patton, as well as numerous live appearances at home and abroad.

Kaada Recordings is a Norwegian label dedicated to releasing or licensing out the music of composer John Erik Kaada.

A core component of Kaada´s career has been composing film scores, beginning with 2000s low budget domestic success Mongoland which generated considerable demand for his compositional skills. 2002 saw Kaada being bestowed with "the Golden Clapboard Prize" at the Amanda Award – the Norwegian equivalent to The Oscars at the time being the youngest film worker to receive the prestigious award. In the ensuing decade, Kaada went on to compose scores for some of the most successful domestic films as well as several international productions, earning him numerous awards for his distinct compositional style. One of Kaada´s most notable international film score successes came in 2014 with the French blockbuster La liste de mes envies. The motion picture, which featured a cast of major French actors, was box office hit in France and Belgium and resulted in a successful soundtrack released through Pathé. Composing for films was something that I took up rather coincidentally, relates Kaada. – "I had not intended to pursue that direction and had no formal training, but at some point, writing film scores was what I did. In the beginning it was quite stressful and made me nervous, but now I'm enjoying the work much more, thinking of it as a compositional playground. Orchestration and sonorous experimentation are the fields that I really enjoy delving into these days. Working on film scores enables me to create unconventional instrument ensembles. I'm also doing music for documentaries and television scores in between film scores. TV gigs is a great composers' workshop, because you have the opportunity to experiment with small ensembles and develop composing and arranging skills." Kaada´s TV music works has been heard on CNN, CBS, Fox and in relation to shows such as Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Oprah, The Super Bowl, Jay Leno, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, 60 Minutes and NBA Tonight.