Caroline Hitland

I was born and raised in a small town called Ørsta, which is situated on the beautiful west coast of Norway. My interests in music, singing and dancing were awakened at an early age and eventually led me to taking a degree in Performing Arts at Balletakademien in Gothenburg, Sweden. Later on I attended the Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

After completing my education I went off to see the world, working as a singer for the German cruise company AIDA. This is how I met Stanislav Pocaji, a guitarplayer from Slovakia, onboard Aida Aura in November 2007. Since then, I have been visiting Slovakia a number of times, where we’ve played over 100 concerts together.  Amongst the larger gigs to be mentioned, are the Bratislava Jazz Days in October 2009 and the pop/rock festival Pohoda in July 2010. In December 2009 we successfully toured the Czech Republic for three weeks with a full band. 

I am now currently working on the release of my first album, which I’ve produced and co-written with Stanislav Pocaji. To play with us on these tracks, we’ve got some of the most well-known musicians from Slovakia, among others are: Martin Valihora, Marcel Buntaj, Stanislav Paluch, Michal Simko, Igor Szabo, and James Evans from the UK. 

Paul Wertico (US), the drummer known from the Pat Metheny Group, has recorded drums on the track “Easy As That” and says: 

“I am often approached by artists from all over the world who ask me if I want to play drums on their recordings.  For me to do so would have depended upon a number of things, but in this case the decision was an obvious one.  When I first listened to the song ‘Easy As That’ I was immediately impressed by both the lyrics and the melody of the song itself, as well as the sincere delivery and beautiful quality of the vocals – not to mention the overall musicianship and professionalism of everyone involved.  Playing on this track was a joy and I wish Caroline all the best with her debut CD.  I’m proud to be part of it!  - Paul Wertico, August 2010.

People often ask me what style of music I do, and I would say this is a mix of folk/pop, singer/songwriter and jazz. I’m inspired by many singers and musicians, among others are Eva Cassidy, Feist, Lisa Hannigan, Sheryl Crow, Rigmor Gustafsson, Dixie Chicks, The Corrs, Marit Larsen and Sissel Kyrkjebø. 

My energetic & wonderful live band consists of: 

Stanislav Pocaji (SK) - guitar, James Evans (GB) - violin, guitar and vocals, Michal Simko (SK) -bass, & Peter Szapu (SK) - drums