found happiness in the music community
Storm in love Cecilie Leganger: – I have never felt better!
A new course in life as a composer and pianist has given Cecilie Leganger far more than even a determined former top athlete could imagine.
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Cecilie Leganger (45) strikes it with a voice that formally bubbles with joy, one that also makes others happy.
– I was so incredibly lucky to be included as a pianist in the fantastic project called GunderZheng. To top it all off, the quartet would interpret one of my compositions. Now it has come out as a single, says Cecilie who can not be praised enough for how well she has been received in the music community.
If you go back to 1999, you will see her raise the trophy after winning the World Cup at home with the rest of the girls on the national team.
Once again, she was named the best goalkeeper during a championship. By many she is considered the best in the world through the ages.
The opponents hardly dared to shoot at the tall Bergen girl. They knew that in her creative way, as when she took a penalty standing on her hands, she would probably catch the ball.
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Photo: Erik Johansen
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Playing piano
That the same girl, who off the field became known for being both shy and kind, several years later would appear as a composer and pianist came as a surprise to many.
– I have learned to play the piano myself, she says and makes it sound invitingly simple.
– True enough, my parents bought a piano for us three children in the family, but only in adulthood was the new passion aroused.
She sees many parallels between sports and music.
Photo: Morten Bendiksen
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– As an athlete, I learned to seek solutions. As I see it, restrictions are mostly something you impose on yourself. I have always known that I am musical, but to find out that I can also compose – it is incredibly fun!
Cecilie definitely believes that you can get what you want enough.
– Especially if you love what you do, as I do with music.
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Brand new everyday
The road from sports to where she is as a musician today has been a long journey.
– The learning curve has been steep. As an athlete, I often wore a mask, and understand well why I was referred to as a cloud. I was young and found it difficult to be myself. Now the mask is gone. Finally, I’m just Cecilie.
With zeal in her voice, she describes her new everyday life.
Photo: Morten Bendiksen
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– If you ask me, nothing is random in life. It is shaped by both the good and the bad choices you make. With that in mind – and something else nice that has happened, she shoots in secretly, – I have called the song that is now released, my first own composition, “Karma”.
Cecilie says she plays the piano, while Nora Zheng excels with the strings on the Chinese national instrument guzheng.
– No one has previously heard that instrument in Western compositional tradition. An arrangement of bass guitar and drums is also included. In short, it has been a collaboration that impresses and delights greatly, Cecilie says before she thoughtfully adds:
– There are very many of my feelings in that song, deep love.
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For a few long minutes she becomes quiet, brooding.
– I have to think a little…
While still pondering, she continues to reflect on the path to where she is today.
– All experience is good experience – if you use it correctly. What would a beautiful sunset have been if you did not know what it was like to feel the rain whipping against your skin? she asks philosophically.
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Photo: Morten Bendiksen
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Appreciates life
Today, the former world champion knows how to appreciate the many contrasts that life holds.
– I know what they mean by “walking on the wall”, that the days can be heavy. Now I am also grateful for them. The experiences have made me brave enough to throw myself into the music.
When it was at its worst at the time, Cecilie was recognized everywhere.
– It became natural to protect oneself from the media and a number of other inquiries.
She praises her mentor and good friend, Oddvar Bjørnstad, for always standing by her side. Today, both are part of the company «New Life Forces». There she uses her experiences from sports combined with six years of medical school to help others who need new motivation.
– Caring enough about others is important to me. For example, it is not a given that you get out of difficult moments on your own after a bang. I find it sad that many young people live their social lives through social media. It is often about doing to present oneself so perfectly that it has nothing to do with reality.
Cecilie knows how to embrace every golden moment.
– For hours I can sit outside my house on Radøy and take in what catches my eye. I need no more than that, the music and a handful of nice people around me.
With warmth in her voice, she praises the quartet in GunderZheng again.
Photo: Private
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– Did I tell you how I became part of it? It’s a funny story. Hans Petter Gundersen, a mentor in the music world, had heard a piece I had composed and wrote to me: “I did not know that you were so musical”. Few have been more important to the music scene in Bergen than him, both as a songwriter, producer and musician, but I still did not know who he was. I just thought “what a nice guy”.
A month later, he contacted again and asked if he could call Cecilie in connection with a podcast he had started. That conversation became the start of a wonderful friendship, and she was invited into his flock.
Again she remains silent.
– I still ponder…
Something begins to take shape, but the unspoken still hangs in the air.
– I think many musicians are emotional people, like me. I am very sensitive to the environment.
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Photo: Morten Bendiksen
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Freer and more open
She praises the music environment she is a part of for being free of “artificiality”.
– It has made me freer and far more open. Maybe it’s also because I’m more confident, more true to myself? I have become more curious about other people and also dare to let more in.
Among other things, this has led to her participating in next year’s “Master of the Masters” with recordings this September.
– It will be exciting to meet the other athletes. There are strong personalities who have experienced a lot in their careers. I look forward to hearing about their journey in life. We all have a story to tell. It will also be fun to compete again, she says playfully.
That Cecilie “loves life as it is today”, she leaves no doubt. Could it also be due to more than the music and an enriching sum of experiences?
– During the chat, I have decided to share that Hans Petter and I are also lovers.
She sounds a little out of breath, waiting. The trust lay deep inside.
– The music gave me the opportunity to get to know this nice man, who is more concerned with what I stand for purely musically than the label «the world’s best goalkeeper». HP, as he is called, met me from the very beginning with enormous respect both as a musician and as a human being. The starting point for us to get to know each other was that he identified with my way of composing. We are musical twin souls. A phenomenon that has steadily taken hold in recent months.
Photo: Morten Bendiksen
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Meeting a person like HP, with whom it turned out that she has many common passions and values, has been very special.
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Musical twin soul
Hans Petter Gundersen (67) agrees. He gives us this comment:
– When I happened to hear one of her compositions, it gave me the feeling of being faced with a musical twin soul. I have never experienced anything like this. It made me very curious. When I called Cecilie, it quickly became clear that we are also twin souls in most other areas, philosophically, morally and the view of life values. In order not to forget our common humor, he says and elaborates further:
– I simply fell in love with her during the conversation. She is a wise, warm, humble, intelligent and deeply reflective person. Cecilie is also a musical gift of nature, which I immediately wanted to get to know. In addition, she has a playing style and a touch on the piano that is perfect for GunderZheng, emphasizes HP Gundersen – who is known as a genius in the music world. Everything from Sondre Lerche to Ane Brun has enjoyed his musical flair.
Composer and pianist Cecilie Leganger knows how to appreciate everything new that happens. Once again, she praises both her boyfriend and the others who have taken her warmly into the quartet.
– I’ve never been better than now. Everything in life has a rhythm.
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