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

Into the Night

Chapter 16 of Search For a Dancer, a serial memoir about a week I spent in Iceland in 2022. Mondays on Flippism is the Key

I left the Nordic House and went back the way I came until I was at Fríkirkjan—the Free Church—where the folk group Systurs was singing an old Icelandic hymn. Every Airwaves has moments such as this: the old songs reborn, not in a retro way, but made new again by a new generation. No amount of hype or promotion can replace the purity and spirituality of this expression.

I went over to the Art Museum by the harbour, it is the biggest venue and usually fills up. I have seen some great shows here and I wanted to get sense of how lively the crowd was. There was a line, but it was moving. When I did get in I saw that the performer was Júniús Meyvant again! He was appearing with a full band. His mid-tempo musical meandering (and whistling!) caused me to think that Júniús needs a new drug, and definitely not lithium. After the previous acts I’d seen I really didn’t want him to ‘mellow my harsh’, so I left after a few songs walked the few blocks east to the Gamla Bíó.

This is the place where I attended my first concert in Iceland, fresh off the plane in 2004, a luncheon recital by members of the Icelandic Opera. They sang in Italian but thankfully they did project subtitles above the stage - in Icelandic! The Gamla Bíó is a stately building that was designed by prolific Icelandic architect Einar Erlendsson, it was remade as a cinema in 1939 and then used for the Opera from 1981 to 2011 until the Opera company moved to Harpa. The building was restored and modified in 2016 for modern concerts and events, removing the slanted floor and the antique seating. As a venue for concerts it is a mixed bag: great sight lines but mixed acoustics, the balcony is better than the main floor where IT CAN GET VERY LOUD (what?) if the sound person doesn’t keep an ear on their dBs. The last time I was here (2018) I was driven out by the excessive volume from an otherwise good band. It was a real shame, most of the other people at that show also left. Hoping for a better experience this time, I crossed my fingers and went in. I climbed the stairs to the balcony, snagging a front-row seat. The band was just finishing setting up and the projected name on the scrim above the stage said KAKTUS EINARSSON in all-caps.

I had read that Kaktus had been in the teen-age EDM band Captain Fufanu, a group that I had seen and was most impressed by in 2009. He is the son of Einar of The Sugarcubes fame and grew up playing in Einar’s Ghostdigital group. Kaktus was all grown up now, leading a real band that played real instruments (including two pianos!) playing real songs, with real arrangements! On one of the keyboards was an attractive young woman sporting a stylish hairdo; she had a habit of tilting her head as she played. I put on my telephoto lens and the view through it confirmed my suspicions: It was Ásthildur Ákadóttir, one half of Pascal Pinon, MY ALL TIME FAVORITE GIRL GROUP!

Ásthildur has always had an air of mystery about her, especially so in comparison to her more famous (and outgoing) sister Jófríður (JFDR.) When I first saw her in 2009 she was shy, painfully so, but she dutifully played keyboards and harmonized with her sister. As she grew older on stage she still played a deferential role to her sister, but behind the scenes she was advancing her musical education and by the time Pascal Pinon recorded their final album (Sundur) Ásthildur was the de facto producer  (In the video of Ást she matches her sister’s intensity with a stunning piano arrangement.) As Kaktus’s set of power pop progressed it became obvious that something special was happening between Ásthildur and the other piano player (whose name I couldn’t find) as they exchanged riffs between verses. They were playing. If there is one thing that most modern pop music lacks it is the sense of play, everything is so damn calculated, so serious, even in the most inane music. Ásthildur has come a long way since 2009 but still has the the head tilt:

Pascal Pinon, October 2009, Norræna Húsið


Search for a Dancer Index…

Grund

Chapter 12 of Search For a Dancer, a serial memoir about a week I spent in Iceland. Mondays on Flippism is the Key

I have mentioned sprakkar, an Icelandic word meaning ‘outstanding or extraordinary women’ before. Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, pictured above, is married to Eliza Reid, who, in a recent book, has popularized the word.

He also happens to be the president of Iceland.

I was in the assembly hall of Grund, a senior residence in Reykjavík. Guðni was speaking to a varied group: Seniors, schoolchildren, media types and a handful of jet-lagged attendees of the Iceland Airwaves music festival. This was a repeat performance, he had spoken here in 2018 (when I was also here) and in 2019. Covid had caused the cancellation of this ceremony in 2020 and 2021; this was a much smaller gathering (the festival had been scaled back considerably) so this event had a special significance. Guðni’s speech was short; a pleasant mix of greetings and platitudes, but his attention to supporting the performing arts in Iceland was a genuine reflection on the country’s support for education in music and the arts. Guðni is a historian and is acutely aware of Iceland’s role in the world and its strategic location in it. He left he following week on a tour of various colleges and universities around the world. I was duly impressed that he took the time to talk with us, even more so after interacting with Eliza (albeit virtually) at the 2020 Iceland Writers Retreat and (in person) in Minneapolis the previous spring.

After Guðni’s speech an Icelandic pop duo Sycamore Tree came up and sang several pleasant, if somewhat nondescript, songs in English with a backing of strings:

They have been an act for a while, YouTube videos don’t show much change in their repertoire, although their hats have gained some embellishments over the years. I wondered what the elderly residents (some of which were my age-peers) thought of them. Cognitive Dissonance? After they had finished, the troubadour Júniús Meyvant performed, solo, singing and playing guitar, also in English:

He offered more of the same bland fare, except with whistling. My musical allergies to CD (and whistling) were beginning to act up so I left after a few of his songs. It wasn’t that his music was bad, but it just didn’t measure up to what I had seen here four years ago: The magnificent Soléy, performing heartfelt tunes sung in Icelandic along with her father’s support on the trombone. This situation of singing in English is a not a problem unique to Iceland, English lyrics are everywhere in pop music. It takes real courage to perform in an obscure language before an international audience, and a great deal of determination to write lyrics in one. This issue will come up again and again over the festival—my fear is that in not too many years Icelandic songs will have become historical curios; and festivals such as this one will become even more culturally diluted.

Another reason for my early departure was that I had a luncheon date at noon, and it was a good twenty-minute walk to Hlemmur Mathöll, a food hall at the eastern end of Laugavegur. In 2004 it was a sketchy bus terminal and one of the few places in Reykjavík where I had ever felt ill-at-ease.  I had stopped in there then to change film in my cameras (Film!) and was given the evil-eye by a young ruffian.

Not a likely occurrence today as the station has been transformed from a shelter for miscreants into a bustling hub of dining opportunities. I made it there in time and, as my partner in gustatory delights worked only a block away (at the Foreign Ministry)  I expected her shortly, although that hadn’t always been the case in the past.


Search for a Dancer Index…