Inferno Metal Festivalin perustaja Jan-Martin Jensen on kuollut

Norjalaisen Inferno Metal Festivalin perustajiin kuuluva Jan-Martin Jensen on kuollut. Jensen sairasti syöpää. Hän jatkoi työskentelyä kuolemaansa asti varmistaen, että konsertit ja festivaali toteutuvat. Inferno Metal Festival järjestetään Oslossa 17.-20. huhtikuuta.

Jensenin kollegat tiedottavat:

”It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Inferno Metal Festival’s Jan-Martin Jensen after a hard-fought battle with cancer. This is a profoundly difficult day for all of us in the Inferno family.

Jan-Martin meant so much to so many, and to everyone who loved music in Norway. His memory will live on through the joy he brought to countless people by organizing thousands of concerts and the Inferno Metal Festival.

Born in Bodø in 1963, Jan-Martin was among the first to embrace punk as a musical movement in the city. He became a key figure in the local scene as a concert organizer, book café curator, sound technician, and manager for various bands. He helped launch the fanzine Gakk and served on the board of Bodø Rockeklubb.

Later, he moved to Oslo, where he worked as a concert promoter and sound technician, including at Blitz Youth House. In the 1990s, he co-founded the record and booking company Zone Productions, which released albums and organized concerts and rave parties across the country. Eventually, Jan-Martin establish the alternative club Mars, which hosted bands such as Emperor, Tulus, Old Man’s Child, Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Morbid Angel, and many more.

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In 1999, Mars closed its doors, and just a year later, Jan-Martin founded Radar Booking who organized countless concerts and tours in Norway and abroad. You would be hard pressed to find any metal fan in Norway that has not been to concerts organized by him. Radar Booking provided Oslo’s audience with an excellent selection of underground concerts featuring top international artists. The shows promoted was within a wide range of the metal spectrum and beyond and included artists like Mayhem, Manowar, Cannibal Corpse, Devin Townsend, Leprous and hundreds more.

Radar collaborated with all the clubs in Oslo and played a vital role in supplying them with content and creating great programs for the audience. In essence, Radar Booking has opened Oslo as a music city to numerous genres and artists who would not have been represented in Norway without Radar bringing them in.

Since 2000, Jan-Martin has also been a founder and organizer of Inferno Metal Festival, which takes place every Easter in Oslo. Over time, the festival has grown into one of the world’s most important gathering places for extreme metal. Metal fans, media, booking agents, and festivals specializing in extreme metal from all over the world come to Oslo every Easter to connect with the scene and witness the evolution of the extreme metal genres, which have strong traditions in the Oslo area.

Jan-Martin was kind, honest, and hardworking to the core—always positive, always an optimist. Even after being diagnosed with cancer, he continued working with music, ensuring the best for his concerts and Inferno. He remained optimistic until the very end.

Jan-Martin was a true gentleman, someone who always looked out for those around him. That’s why so many people held him in such high regard and appreciated him deeply. He played an irreplaceable role in Norway’s alternative music scene. If you have ever been passionate about rock, punk, or especially metal, chances are you’ve attended a concert that Jan-Martin organized. Whether he was booking a major show at Oslo Spektrum one day or arranging an intimate gig at Blå the next, he treated every artist and event with the same level of care and respect.

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Jan-Martin Jensen will be deeply missed. His passing leaves an immense void. We will forever remember him for the incredible person he was and for everything he did for us.

Rest in peace, Jan-Martin.”