Iceland in Pictures

Iceland’s nationwide sing-along

Today is Iceland’s National Day of Icelandic Music. This means that all of Iceland’s radio stations will simultaneously play a series of three popular Icelandic songs, so that all of Iceland can join in one big sing-along. The video above shows an elementary school taking part in the sing along last year. This year, the three songs will be:

• Á Sprengisandi - A classic Icelandic song by Sigaldi Kaldalóns and Grímur Thomsen.
• Spáðu í mig - One of Iceland’s most popular songs by Megas.
• Jólakötturinn - A classic Icelandic Christmas song popularized by Björk. The song is about Grýla’s cat. Grýla is the mother of Iceland’s 13 santas. She and her cat kidnap misbehaving children and cook them for dinner to feed the santa clauses.

16 year old Björk playing at Reykjavík’s Melarokk concert with Tappi tíkarrass in 1982

My old music teacher was also Björk’s music teacher and she was the one who initially got her onto Icelandic radio when she was 11. This meant that in virtually every class, we would get to hear how Björk was such a talented student. The teacher was quite ambitious in setting up multi-voice choirs  creating class bands etc. And if we weren’t quite performing well enough (usually the case) we would almost always hear “Oh if only Björk was still here. She could always play all of the instruments perfectly.”

You can read a bit more about Björk’s early career here.

(Source: ojosdemosca, via new-verisimile)

Björk just launched the song Mutual Core along with this video. This may be the weirdest Björk video I have yet seen. It is like a very strange educational video on tectonic plates and the Mid-Atlantic ridge that Iceland sits upon. The video does remind me of an even stranger Björk video, where she explains how the insides of her television work and how the “wires take care of the electrons”.

Are you not at Iceland Airwaves right now? Here’s my favorite artist, Lay Low, playing the smallest venue at Airwaves this year. Check out her new video.

(Source: vimeo.com, via robertogreco)

One of my favorite Icelandic singers is LayLow and one of my favorite places in Iceland is Rauðisandur. The video to LayLow’s new single Backbone is in part shot at Rauðisandur. Rauðisandur means Red Sand and is one of Iceland’s seldom visited hidden pearls. While most beaches in Iceland are made of black volcanic sand, Rauðisandur is reddish pink and composed of seashells. To get there you drive down across a high plateau and descend down a steep and winding road. That’s where the beauty of this hidden valley becomes apparent  The river winds down the valley into a beautiful bay sheltered by the red sand reefs. Only a handful of people live in the isolated valley on the isolated Vestfirðir corner of Iceland. It even looks mystical on Google Maps.

Backbone is Lovísa’s (LayLow) newest single and available as a free download or as 7” vinyl on her site. If you like this song, check out her other albums. Farewell Good Night’s Sleep is often played in my home.

Fresh music from Iceland

Tenderloin is the first single released by new Icelandic band Tilbury. Their debut album is scheduled for release on May 7th. The Icelandic music press is convinced that this band will be the next big thing. Check it out for yourself. Might also want to see Tilbury on Facebook or listen to them on gogoyoko.

I wonder if the name of the band has anything to do with one of my favorite author’s, Þórarin Eldjárn, short story. He wrote a story named Tilbury in which a US soldier in Iceland during WW2, named Tilbury was actually a “tilberi”. A tilberi is one of the freakiest concepts in Icelandic folklore. It is a magical creature which woman can create to steal milk from the neighbors sheep and cows. Here’s how to make a tilberi.

Here’s something for all of you in love with Icelandic music. A group of Frenchies is making a documentary about the Icelandic music scene. You can follow their progress on their tumblr page: iminabandfilm

According to their tumblr, the film follows three well known Icelanders from the Icelandic culture scene, Ari Eldon, Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson and Guðlaug Dröfn Gunnarsdóttir as well as drop in on several well known bands and musicians..