Tónlist

Here is the list of the various Icelandic and other Nordic/Arctic musical groups I’ve mentioned in FITK over the years:

Áki Ásgeirsson
Amiina
Andy Schauf
Apparat Organ Quartet
Árný
Árný Margrét
Atli
Ásthildur Ákadóttir
Ateria
Áuslaug Magnusdóttir
Æla

Baggalútur
Bára Gísladóttir
Bárujárn
Bedroom Community
Benni Hemm Hemm
Between Mountains
Biggi Hilmars
Björk
Björt
BKPM
Bláskjár
Borko
Bríet
Brimheim
Buff

Cosmic Call
Cyber
Daníel Bjarnarson
Ditka
DJ Margeir
Dr. Spock
Egill Sæbjörnsson
Eivør
Elin Hall
Elisapie
Evil Madness
Flesh Machine
Fókus
Frid Fufanu

Gabriel Ólafs
Geðbrigði
Ghostigital
GKR
GDRN
Greyskies
Gróa
Grúska Babúska
Guðmundur Óskar Guðmundsson
Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson †
Guðrið Hansdóttir
GusGus
Gyða

Hafdís Huld
Halla Tómasdóttir †
Halli Guðmundsson
Ham
Hekla
Hekla Magnúsdóttir
Hellvar/Heiða
Hildur Gunðadóttir
Hildur
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
Hjaltalín
Hjörvar
Högni
Hraun
Hudson Wayne
Hugar
Iðunn Einars

Jakobínarína
Jana
JFDR
Jófríður Ákadóttir
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jóhanna Elísa
Jóhanna Rakel
Jonathan
Jonfri
Joshua Wilkinson †
Júniús Meyvant
K.Óla
Kaktus Einarsson
Kalli
Kevin Cole †
Kimono
Kira Kira
Kiriyama Family
Kitchen Motors
Kjallarakabarett Kónguló
Kristín Sessala
Kvikindi

Langi Seli Og Skuggarnir
Larus Halldór Grimsson
Liva Mo
Ljáðu Okkur Eyra
Lupina
Mag og Tómas
Magnús Jóhann
Marius DC
Markús & The Diversion Sessions
Marta Ákadóttir
Mikado
Mezzoforté
Mr. Silla
Mugison
Múgsefjun
Mukka
Múm
My Summer as a Salvation Soldier
Mysterious Marta
Neonme
Nini Julia Bang
Nóra

Oculus
Ojba Rasta
Ólafur Arnalds
Ólöf Arnalds
Orphix Oxtra
Osmé
Óttarr Proppé
Pale Moon
Páll Óskar
Pellegrina
Pascal Pinon
Pellegrina
Peter Evans †
Petúr Ben
Rakel
Red Barnett
Retro Stefson
Reykjavíkurdætur
Róshildur
Rokkurró

Salka Valsdóttir
Samaris
Screaming Masterpiece
Shadow Parade
Shahzad Ismaily
Sigrún
Sigrún Stella
Sin Fang Bous
Sindrí
Siggi Ármann
Sigur Rós
Ske
Skúli Severrisson
Sóley
Sólstafir
Sprengjuhöllin
Stórsveit Nix Noltes
Sunna Margrét
Svavar Knútur
Sycamore Tree
Systur

Tappi Tíkarrass
Team Dreams
Tilbury
Toggi
Úlfur Eldjárn
Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán
Una Torfa
Uni
Unun
Útidúr
Valgeir Sigurðsson
Vicky
Wim Van Hooste †

† = Fellow Travelers

A Room With A View

I am safely ensconced in my four room flat overlooking Tjörnin (the pond in the center of Reykjavík). It is situated in the approximate location of the fictional Brekkukot, the setting of Halldór Laxness’ glorious novel The Fish Can Sing (Brekkukotannal in Icelandic). My landlord says it is located a little further north and west from here but, at least in my mind, it’s close enough for me. The place is furnished with original art, and multifarious curios:

I spent some time yesterday getting to know the airbnb host, Björk (not that Bjórk), a delightful person who seemed to appreciate my Icelandic enthusiasms. I went to the pool, soaking in a hot tub with an Icelandic doctor, discussing the country music phase in Icelandic music about 20 years ago (he was impressed that I had seen Baggalútur in their full-country mode.) He was in the first line with Covid in Iceland, but he minimized it, comparing it to pneumonia and said that anyone in Iceland who died and had had Covid was listed as a Covid death, not mattering what the actual cause was. It made wonder how the county I live in in Minnesota, with about the same population as Iceland, had 7 times the deaths.

When I returned to my apartment Björk stopped by and told me there had been an increase in volcanic activity, right around the airport area, and that we had had a +4 magnitude earthquake while I was at the pool. I may be here longer that I expected! I built this little earthquake detector from a glass of water, when the reflected line starts moving, I'll know its time to get outside:

Later, I went out to see a photo show at a gallery by the harbour, helped a delivery worker by holding open the door for her, played a little soccer with a guy in a field by the Catholic cathedral, and then returned home via the old graveyard where I helped a tourist find the gate. She was wondering about when was the cemetery closed for the day. I smiled and told her “it never closes but I wouldn’t want to be in it after dark.” (Especially on Halloween!)

After dinner I went for a stroll downtown to check out the scene. There were numerous gangs of kids prowling for trick-or-treats:

I went up the hill to capture this shot of Hallgrímskirkja, all done up in magenta lights:

Afterwards, I became trapped by a mob of about 100 young people heading for the Hard Rock Cafe!

Cirrus-ly Soaking

Chapter 25 of Search For a Dancer, a memoir of a week spent in Iceland in November 2022

It’s good to live in the moment when on vacation.

No what-might-have-beens, no second guessing your itinerary, no comparing this trip to another one. The weather, while still warm by November standards, had turned a bit windy, so I spent most of the afternoon in the hotpots at Vesturbæjarlaug swimming complex. There were a lot of people there with Airwaves armbands, and even a couple of performers (Hi, Pale Moon!) Lolling in the shallow oval hot-pot, laying back with my head on its rim, I gazed at the wispy clouds floating high above me. Allowing my brain to stop, just being one with them, was a moment I will long remember.

Discovering and being part of the pool culture in Iceland has been one of the great  joys of my life. There is now a film about it, here is the trailer.

I spent a long time in conversation with Lárus Halldór Grimsson, a Icelandic music veteran who had been in the prog-rock band Eik in the seventies. He was full of stories; hanging out with David Bowie, writing music for plays, and had even portraying a young Halldór Laxness in a television production! Lárus seemed to know everybody in Iceland, and was full of arcane references, but I think I surprised him when he mentioned Baggalútur and I said that I not only knew of them that I had seen them perform and I even had one of their CDs. I spoke of the Ákadóttir twins of Pascal Pinon and he knows their father well. We also spoke of the late, great Jóhann Jóhannsson whom he knew back in Jóhann’s days in Ham, which brought out my story about seeing Ham perform the previous night. From Ham and Johann it was just a slight turn in the conversation to Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Academy Award-winning composer. He had given her a stuffed Pink panther doll when she was a small child!

Speaking of children, a young man with a boy came into our pot, the man explained that the boy was autistic, and liked to take water-bottles! I moved my $8 medical-grade water bottle away as the scamp cavorted around the pool as we talked. The man wasn’t his father, he was just a friend of the family (and not even an Icelander!) and had some free time so he took the boy to the pool to give his parents a little time off. No big deal, it takes a village to raise a child. I managed to give the boy a side-eye wink that he caught and answered with a shy  smile.

After the pool, I sauntered back to the apartment. It was a bittersweet trip; by this time tomorrow I would be in the Keflavík airport, waiting to return home. Along the way back I took lots of pictures, I know from previous trips that I will revisit them as a way to make the trip come alive again. Some people say that taking pictures doesn’t allow a person to fully experience the moment, but I would disagree. When I take pictures I pause and reflect on my surroundings and take the time to absorb details and vistas that would otherwise be lost.

Rehab in Vesturbær:

Hóllavallgarður:

Skothúsvegur:

Listsafn Íslands:

Castle House Apartments:

My home away from home…


Search for a Dancer Index…

Venues in Iceland - #12

Listasafn Reykjavíkur
Reykjavík Art Museum

The calm before the storm.

This venue has been a mainstay of Iceland airwaves for years. The performance space is actually a courtyard of the old customs building and the roof is canvas, so you can sometimes hear the sound outside. Here’s a video of Baggalútur, a satirical musical comedy troupe, performing there in October 2006:



And a wild one from the great Páll Óskar, October, 2009:



And, finally, the incomparable Apparat Oragan Quintet, featuring the late Johann Johannsson on vocorder, October, 2006:

Iceland Airwaves Update - Day Three

The day dawned bright and sunny again; positively balmy today... Simply can not get over how fortunate I've been with the weather...

22:00 Started off the night at the Reykjavik Art Museum again.

Baggalútur, an eleven piece country swing band led off. With an accomplished vocal trio (singing in Icelandic) and a hot fiddler, this gives whole new meaning to the phrase 'country' music. Well, Iceland is a country, right? A complete joy:

20:45 Benni Hemm Hemm, an even bigger band with an eight piece brass section comes on like a freighter sailing through- oceans of sound. Their energy level threatened to take the roof off. I'm swept up in the crowd:



21:30 Islands, from Canada, with a pair of fiddlers, guitars-bass-drum-keyboards and an occasional bass clarinet(!), gave the younger crowd what they want in a tightly choreographed set, only to be cursed with a bad vocal mix:

22:15 Apparat Organ Quartet. Four mad scientists playing vintage keyboards with a drummer assisting. COMPLETELY INSANE! They whip the crowd into a frenzy with their demented aural assault. This was one of my must-sees, and they exceeded all expectations. GREAT! GREAT! GREAT!

23:00 Jakobínarína These kids had the highest energy of any stage show, with well played pop-punk aimed at the teens. Titles like I have a date with my television and Nice guys don't play good music should propel them to greater fame. Now that they've finished their secondary education, and have a recording contract, the world awaits. They started to run out of gas toward the end of the set:



Exiting, I made my way to the National Theater Basement while Northern lights were shining above Austurvöllur:



00:15 Kalli. His performance in a word: Tragic?- too strong. Anguished?- still not it. Heartbroken?- no. Sad?- not exactly. Whining?- that's it. Or, in three words: Just Awful Emo.

01:00 Shadow Parade. With a Jim Morrisonesque lead singer, and the whole band dressed in black, this was angst done right. Very effective, surprisingly soulful singing.



01:45 Trost, from Germany. The wild card of the night. This drunken rock-cabaret-little-girl-lost turned the nightclub atmosphere into something really quite decadent. In a good way. Weaving on and off the stage on 4 inch platform heels, you had to watch just to see if she would even make it through her set. A very clever four piece band was a perfect backdrop for her amusing, if sometimes incoherent, story-songs. This went on until almost three. A great way to end the night.

Best music of the night: Apparat. Simply smashing.