Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.10.2003, Page 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur, 3 október 2003 • page 3
FRÉTTIR • NEWS
Kanadískur prófessor með einstakt áhugamál
A Canadian Professor With A Unique Field of Interest
He is a Canadian profes-
sor in the fíeld of Parks,
Wildlife and Conservation
Biology at the University of
Alberta, Canada, and has
worked all over the world as
such and he combines Eco-
tourism with his work.
Guðrún G. Bergmann met Dr.
James Butler and found out
more about this interest of his.
“In 2001 I began a project
with my students which I call
ELFEN (Elemental Life-Fonn
Encounters in Nature), it con-
sists of recording peoples expe-
riences of supernatural phe-
nomenon. Canadian TV has a
program called Magnificent
Obsessions. In this program
they follow people, who have a
peculiar interest, around for a
week and mine is unique
enough to receive their favor-
able attention,” said Dr. Butler
and laughs. “That’s the reason
for my visit to Iceland.”
While he dwelt in Iceland
he met with various individuals
who can sense the presence of
the elves and he travelled to
places that are known as Elvin
places. Dr. Butler said that he is
working on a book about elves
and other elementals and how
their existence is linked with
people’s daily lives. Therefore
he is also interested in informa-
tion about firms in Iceland who
use the name of the elves in the
names of their fírms, and have
elves in their logos or are con-
nected in any way with the
supernatural world.
“I find Iceland to be a very
interesting country and I have
PHOTO BY MORGUNBLAÐIÐ/GUÐRÚN BERGMANN
Dr. James Butler, a Canadi-
an biologist with an interest
in elves and elementals
been in contact with Icelanders
in Canada to fínd out about their
experience with the elves and
other elementals. I expect that
the information I’ll gather here
will be useful for my book. I
had the opportunity to get my
knowledge across during this
visit of mine, because the Ice-
landic Farmer Tourist Bureau
and the University of Agricul-
ture at Hólar had a meeting at
Bratti, the meeting roorn, of Ice-
land University of Education in
Stakkahlíð, on Monday, Sep-
tember 1, where I held a lecture
called: The Changing World of
Eco-tourism and the Sacredness
of Nature and the Hidden Land-
scape of Elves, Gnomes and
Fairies. Through my work I
have collected extensive knowl-
edge on eco-tourism, with the
views of both the seller and the
buyer, and by sharing this
knowledge with Icelanders I
think I may have helped them to
avoid mistakes others have
made. I also talked about how
one can connect the supernatu-
ral world with eco-tourism.”
Dr. Butler stayed in Iceland
for a few days after the shooting
of the TV film was done. “I had
hoped to get to see puffins, but
am a bit late for that,” he said.
“The worst thing is that I had
been asked to be a guide for a
bird watching tour which was to
be next spring in Iceland,
because I have been a guide for
such tours before all over the
world. But as soon as Iceland
announced that they were going
to begin hunting whales again
the tour was cancelled in protest
and therefore I will not be here
next year,” said Butler. It is evi-
dent that he is not happy about
this decision of the Icelandic
govemment.
Infonnation from Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
Soulful Sounds from Duo
Sigurður Flosason and Gun-
nar Gunnarsson, the
organ/saxophone duo from Ice-
land played a soul-stirring con-
cert at Christ Church Deer Lake
in Toronto Sunday, September
14th.
Those wise enough to make
this part of their Icelandic expe-
rience weekend were treated to
sounds they will not often hear
replicated. Their CD Sálmar líf-
sins includes many of the pieces
they performed, but it cannot
quite catch the vibrations creat-
ed by the powerful pipe organ
in combination with the intensi-
ty of the saxophone, sometimes
singing sweetly, sometimes
wailing.
Sigurður Flosason, saxo-
phonist and Gunnar Gunnais-
son, organist are an unbeliev-
able duo. They have been play-
ing this version of sacred music,
which they say cannot really be
categorized, since 1999. It is
based on improvisation. As
Gunnar said, “Listen for it. The
melody should emerge at some
point in the piece.”
Gunnar’s day job is as
organist at Laugarneskirkja in
Reykjavík. In 1998 he invited
Sigurður to join him and some
other musicians “to do a jazz
oriented thing in the church -
jazzy interpretations of popular
sacred music. It was not a radi-
cal departure.” Gunnar played
the piano in this show.
Because Sigurður lives near
PHOTO COURTESY OF GAIL EINARSON McCLEERY
From left Siggi Flosason, sax; Petur Oskarsson, Iceland Nat-
urally New York; Gunnar Gunnarsson, organ, with the
organ in the hackground at their concert in Christ Church
Deer Park
Gathered at the first meeting of the Icelandic Canadian Chamber of Commerce were several
of Iceland’s honorary consuls in Canada. From left to right, Hallgrímur Benediktsson, consul
for Southem Alberta, Calgary, Jon Ragnar Jonsson, Consul General in Toronto, ON Tammy
Axelsson, Gimli, Ambassador Hjálmar W. Hannesson, Heather Alda Ireland, Consul General
for British Columbia, Vancouver, David Franklin, Montreal, QC, Gail Einarson McCIeery,
Toronto, ON, Gordon Reykdal, consul for Northem Alberta, Edmonton.
the church, they decided to try
playing the organ and saxo-
phone together. The music they
now create together “unites their
varied backgrounds.” Both are
classically trained. Both have
played with dance bands. Both
do a lot of theatre and studio
work. They “put the elements in
the pot and stir,” combining
strange and sweet. They look for
variety and contrast.
In this concert Siggi played
the alto and soprano sax. Gun-
nar reported, “Every organ is so
different, it is like playing with
a different person.”
Their Toronto concert
included two Christmas pieces,
children’s prayers, a piece
played at funerals, sacred music
written by living composers as
well as very old pieces.
Along with Gunnar Hrafns-
son, bass player, Sigurður and
Gunnar, on the piano, played at
all the functions during the
Toronto weekend activities. At
the reception following the
inaugural meeting of the Ice-
landic Canadian Chamber of
Commerce, at the opening of
Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir’s sculp-
ture exhibit, at the gala recep-
tion and dinner on Saturday
night, they were the background
music. When asked how they
felt about this, Gunnar said “It
doesn’t bother me at all,” while
Siggi added, “Music has so
many functions. It’s ok. Just
playing with other musicians is
enough.”
Sigurður was trained in
both the classics and jazz at
Indiana University, and when
he retumed to Iceland in 1989
he headed the Jazz School,
which he still does. He is from
Reykjavík. Gunnar is from
Akureyri.
They have two CDs, Sál-
mar lífsins and a Christmas CD.
These are available in music
stores in Iceland. Ivbmh
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