Airwaves and Gender

Jófríður Ákadóttir, Áslaug Magnúsdóttir, Nini Julia Bang, Norræna Husið, November 9, 2018

The overwhelming takeaway I got from the 2018 Airwaves is of its opening up of gender and sex roles. Half of the performers (240+ acts) (and half of the event staff) were women, and not just specialty acts either: neo-punk (Gróa), electronica (Sóley), Hard rock (Vicky), Folk-Goth (Ateria), Hard-core Feminist rap (Reykjavíkurdætur), Power-pop (Between Mountains), Eastern European (Gruska Babuska), Valkyrie warrior-women (Eivør), several neo-classical string sections and, of course, numerous singer/songwriters.

In this reactionary time in the United States, being at Airwaves was like stepping into a parallel reality. My blog pal Carrie Marshall was writing about gender suppression in her blog at the very same time that I was at Airwaves so I sent her a little note about how much I appreciated her analysis of the situation.

Being a fully-realized human being requires an inherent respect for other people. The world of musical performance has long been dominated by men, especially in the more technical genres. This is changing rapidly, no where is this more in evidence than in Iceland in general and Iceland Airwaves. It isn’t a utopia, by any means, but it is a start. There is always be shifting dynamics between people regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, it’s what makes us human, it is what makes life worthwhile.


Þjóðleikhúsið, November 9, 2018