Music of Iceland

Icelandic music is related to Nordic music forms, and includes vibrant folk and pop traditions, including medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative rock band The Sugar Cubes, singers Björk and Emiliana Torrini; and Sigur Rós. The only folk band whose recordings are available abroad is Islandica.

The national anthem of Iceland is "Our Country's God", written by Matthías Jochumsson, with music by Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson ^[1]. The song was written in 1874, when Iceland celebrated the one thousandth anniversary of settlement on the island. It was in the form of a hymn, first published under the title A Hymn in Commemoration of Iceland's Thousand Years.

Folk music

Main article: Icelandic folk music

Traditional Icelandic music is strongly religious in character. Hallgrímur Pétursson wrote numerous Protestant hymns in the 17th century. This music was further modernized in the 19th century, when Magnús Stephensen brought pipe organs, which were followed by harmoniums. Icelandic folk music was collected by the work of Bjarni Þorsteinsson from 1906 to 1909. Many of these songs were accompanied by traditional instruments like the langspil and fiðla. Epic alliterative and rhyming ballads called rímur are another vital tradition of Icelandic music.

Rímur are epic tales, usually a cappella, which can be traced back to the Viking Age Eddic poetry of the Skalds, using complex metaphors and cryptic rhymes and forms. Some of the most famous rímur were written from the 18th to the early 20th century, by poets like Hannes Bjarnason (1776-1838), Jon Sigurðsson (1853-1922) and Sigurður Breiðfjörð (1798-1846). Rímur were, for a long time, officially banned by the Christian church, though they remained popular throughout the period. A modern revitalization of the tradition began in 1929 with the formation of the organization Iðunn (organization) ^[2].

Popular music

Icelandic pop music as of today consists of a big group of bands, ranging from pop-rock groups such as Sálin hans Jóns míns, Írafár, Í Svörtum Fötum, Quarashi and Skítamórall, to solo ballad singers like Bubbi Morthens, Björgvin Halldórsson and Páll Rósinkranz, and all the way to the newly formed reggae band Hjálmar. The indie-scene is also very strong in Iceland, bands such as Múm, Sigur Rós and the solo artist Mugison are fairly well-know outside Iceland.

Record labels

There are few record labels in Iceland. 12 Tónar, Smekkleysa and Sena being the biggest.

Music institutions, festivals and venues

Iceland Airwaves is a major yearly event on the Icelandic music scene, where both Icelandic bands along with foreign ones ocupy every club of Reykjavík for a week. Iceland Airwaves official webpage can be found here

Samples

• Download recording a rimur from the Library of Congress' California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection; performed by Sigurd Bardarson on April 29, 1940 in Carmel, California

References

• Cronshaw, Andrew (2000). "Waiting for the Thaw". In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.) (ed.). World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. London: Rough Guides. pp. 168–169. ISBN 1858286360.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Steingrímsson, Hreinn. Dorothy Stone and Stephen L. Mosko (eds.) (ed.). Kvædaskapur: Icelandic Epic Song. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

Notes

1. ^ "The Icelandic National Anthem". musik og saga. Retrieved November 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. ^ Cronshaw, pgs. 168-169

External links

• Icelandic Pop Music Museum (in Icelandic)
• Idunn, a folk music preservation organization (in Icelandic)
• Icelandic Music Heritage Database (available in English)
• Musik.is - The Icelandic Music Page (available in English)
• tonlist.com If one is interested one can buy Icelandic music for downloading at that site.