Lögberg-Heimskringla - 25.03.2005, Blaðsíða 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 25. mars 2005 »11
Tracing forgotten musicians among the first two generations of immigrants
A call for musical memories
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Dr. Bjarki Sveinbjörnsson spoke at the University of Mani-
toba last year on the role of Icelandic music history.
Considerable research
has been done on the lives of
Icelanders who emigrated to
the New World, especially to
Canada, before and around
1900. Articles and books have
been written on their daily life,
farming, fishing, their end-
less journeys and not the least,
Icelanders’ favorite pastime,
— genealogy. The musical life
of these people has however
received little attention.
While preparing his lecture
“On the Role of Icelandic Mu-
sic History,” given on March
26, 2004 at the University of
Manitoba, musicologisl Dr.
Bjarki Sveinbjömsson discov-
ered an article written in 1951
by Gísli Jónsson. The article
lists 15 emigrating Icelanders
who to a various extent com-
posed music. Two 10-year-old
boys who accompanied their
parents in a big group that
sailed from the east of Iceland
in 1876 are named. They set-
tled in New Iceland and during
the trip formed a close friend-
ship that lasted all their lives.
These boys were Gunnste-
inn Eyjólfsson and Jón Frið-
finnsson and it was Gunnste-
inn who composed the first
song that was published by
an Icelandic-Canadian. Other
people mentioned in the ar-
ticle are Haraldur Sigurgeirs-
son, Helgi Sigurður Helgason,
Steingrímur Kristján (S.K.)
Hall, Þórarinn Jónsson, Hjörtur
(Harry) Lárusson, Jónas Páls-
son, Olafur Hallsson, Thordur
J. W. Swinbume, Björgvin
Guðmundsson, Sigurbjöm
Sigurðsson, Thordis Louise
Ottenson Gudmunds, Ragnar
H. Ragnar and Elma Gíslason.
All these people belong
to the first two generations
that emigrated from Iceland to
Canada. Some tumed back to
Iceland (Björgvin Guðmunds-
son and Ragnar H. Ragnar),
while others stayed in the New
World.
For some months now,
the writers of this article have
met regularly to discuss the
heritage of the Icelanders who
emigrated to the New World.
We are convinced that a sub-
stantial amount of unknown
valuable information and doc-
uments may have survived to
this day. If we are not badly
mistaken, it could possibly
be found among relatives,
friends and elsewhere; docu-
ments that can shed new light
on the history of Canadian-Ice-
landers, and may serve the pur-
pose of honouring the memory
of Westem-Icelanders.
We would in particular
appreciate any music related
knowledge pertaining to the
first two generations of Ice-
landers that emigrated, among
whom many were musically
active as musicians, conduc-
tors, singers, music teachers
and composers. We are inter-
ested in their lives in general,
their musical education, musi-
cal manuscripts and composi-
tions.
Our general idea is to doc-
ument the lives of these people,
collect their music and have it
recorded and published. In due
time we also want to produce
radio and TV programs.
This article is an appeal
to relatives, friends and others
knowledgeable about this part
of Icelandic-Canadian history,
in order to help us gather infor-
mation conceming these peo-
ple. Any knowledge is greatly
appreciated: names, stories,
documents, photographs, man-
uscripts — anything that can
help us to document the lives
of these people; preserve and
honour their memory and at the
same time enrich awareness of
our cultural heritage. Time is
precious, memories fade away
daily and documents perish.
Interested readers can con-
tact the writers at:
Musik og saga
Efstasundi 93, 104
Reykjavík, Iceland
Phone: (354) 824-6413
E-mail: bjarki@musik.is
Dr. Bjarki Sveinbjörnsson
is Music Director of Iceland
National Broadcasting Radio.
Dr. Jón Hrólfur Sigurjónsson
is a music educator. Guðinun-
dur Oddur Magnússon is a
professor at the Iceland Acad-
emy of the Arts. Óskar Guð-
mundsson is a historian.
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