Iceland Airwaves — Day 1

As I was going out this morning I met my host, Björk, in the stairway. “I’m going to meet the President!” I chirped, “At Grund!”

Each year the kickoff for Iceland Airwaves is held in Grund, a senior home, with Icelandic artists performing to the crowd that consisted of seniors, Airwaves attendees, pre-schoolers, and Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, the president of Iceland. He gave a welcoming speech, honest and genuine, thanking the Airwaves attendees and, in a broader sense, all the visitors to Iceland. His speech was followed by a short set from Una Torfa, singing her songs in Icelandic, who charmed the crowd:

Then came Mugison, troubador par excellence, who wowed the assembly with his songs accompanied by guitar and accordion. At one point he asked the audience if they wanted a song in English or Icelandic, with the response firmly for the latter. He played an old song, a waltz, on accordion, that had the crowd spellbound, even some of the seniors were seen “waltzing” in their seats. The assembled group demanded an encore in which Guðni joined the throng in a singalong on the chorus.

A beautiful start to a beautiful day.

On the way to the pool I helped a woman who had lost control of a box of mandarin oranges, and she gave me one for thanks!

The pool was divine, again. I spoke with some Airwaves attendees from Slovania and then made it back home for a bit of lie-down.

My first off-venue event of the day was at Smekkleysa record store where the noise trio Osmé was grinding out metal machine music, two guitars ans a technician on various noise generators. Mesmerizing, and I had my second Kevin Cole sighting of the festival:

I left to check out a happening on a boat in the harbour with free cocoa!

On the crowded boat there was a small dog on a leash, and attached to the other end of the leash was JFDR, to whom I actually spoke—thanking her for her music and semi-apoligizing for all the Wikipedia pictures I had posted of her. She graciously said that they were alright. After my fill of cocoa I went back to Smekkleysa where the techno duo Pellegrina was playing. Kevin Cole was still there, but also Heiða of Hellvar fame who I met in 2009! Then JFDR and her husband Joshua Wilkinson came in (without a dog this time) and cuddled in a corner while techno duo Pellegrina made the most unromantic music imaginable, although they were much improved over last years Airwaves:

Then the chanteuse Sigrún came on with a series of kenning tunes with prerecorded backgrounds:

She was very affecting but I left before her set was over in order to see the band Kvikindi at the Airwave information center stage (too Many Choices!):

The lead singer appeared to be visibly pregnant (a fact which she happily acknowledged!) and she didn’t let that stop her fun. The show seemed a little packaged (“Hello, Airwaves!”) but the band was good.

I went back to my flat to gather strength for the rest of the night. After a bit of a lie-down I was putting my shoes on in the entry when Unnur, the daughter of my Airbnb hosts, came in. She was honestly delighted that I was enjoying my rooms (I suspect she may have had a hand in their decoration.)

At Fríkirkjan Sunna Margrét was performing in a power trio. Very strong songs with great arrangements made this the best surprise of the day:

Over at Gaukurinn the female-fronted group Fókus was playing hard-nosed hard rock:

I had never seen Cyber put on a full act, so I went to see them again at the IA headquarters stage. They were as fun as ever but seemed to run out of gas toward the end. All that gyrating is hard work!



Best costume award goes to Jonathan who performed at Fríkirkjan with backing tracks, very ethereal:

Konx-Om-Pax is a Glasweigan techno artist with a penchant for spewing obscenities. No picture—he wanted the stage in Iðno to be “F-n black.” When his ‘music’ began I lasted about 20 seconds before I made for the exit.