Stúdentablaðið - 01.12.2009, Page 35

Returning to the past
One of the major topics for discussion this past year
has been the recession; the collapse of the banks
and the króna, cutbacks, and the question of how
to save lcelandic homes. But what are the recession's
real effects upon the daily life of the public and this
country's businesses? Are people tightening the purse
strings, saving every króna, or have the real effects of
the economic crisis not yet hit the public? Furthermore,
a certain regression to the past seem to have happened,
to old traditions and ways of life. Will we be seeing more
businesses going bust in coming months, and how will
people cope with celebrating Christmas? Our reporter
went out and talked to employees of various shops,
members of the public and a group of students, to try and
figure out how the land lies.
The discourse following the collapse
There has been great chaos afoot in lcelandic society since
October last year. One hears reports of all sorts of fraud
in big businesses, and rising food prices have been a fairly
hot topic. There has been coverage of impossible monthly
payments of loans which have risen to ridiculous heights,
and the recent sugar tax has angered many. Petrol prices
have long been a thorn in people's sides, and people were
less than amused when the price of alcohol was raised
on two occasions just before Christmas last year. Many
businesses went bankrupt or were scaled down following
the collapse of the banks in October last year.
A lot happened in the first few months after the bank
collapse and many worried about how Christmas would
turn out. However, many wonder whether the effects of
the crisis have yet to be played out. It may not really have
hit us yet, people having simply stopped paying off their
loans while waiting for their issues to be resolved so they
can begin to adjust to manageable conditions.
Slátur and wool make a comeback
It would appear that a change of mentality is happening
in the wake of the collapse. People are seen knitting all
over the place; on the bus, in lectures and over coffee.
Stores selling wool and knitting needles can hardly
cope with the demand. A sales assistant at the Knitting
Association of lceland (Handprjónasamband Islands) on
Skólavörðustígur says demand began to increase as early
as October last year, and has kept growing ever since.
A mania for slátur (lcelandic offal) also seems to have
taken hold. Hagkaup has been running a slátur market
since mid-September and according to the assistant
manager of the Skeifan branch, people can't get enough
of slátur, which also happens to be inexpensive food.
Even though there are now fewer branches of the Nóatún
supermarkets, a sales assistant from its butchery section
says business is going well and they haven't noticed a
decrease in demand. He also says slátur and all sorts of
offal are popular in their stores like in many other places.
Over the past few years, the top ten best selling records in
Sklfan have mostly been those of foreign artists. However,
nowadays it is considered newsworthy when a record
from overseas makes an appearance on the list.
Evidently, people are turning back to the old ways.
Inexpensive home production of warm dothes and food
rich in energy, along with local produce, are being chosen
over imported goods.
A different financial situation
The demand for places at the University of lceland grew
considerably last autumn and our reporter has heard the
same applies to Hússtjórnarskólinn (the Homemaking
Schoool). Those university students we spoke to said more
students were now using buses than in recent years;
they said the attitude towards taking the bus is, at least,
more positive than before. At this point the number of
applications for student loans is fairly similar to that of
recent years, but the students told us they thought many
intended to use the student loans as a back-up plan, since
the deadline for application is very late. We may yet see
an increase in loan applications.
The sales assistants our reporter talked to were generally
quite positive. They say business is going well, on the
whole, and they've not noticed a decrease in sales
which could be traced to the recession. In those 24
One Big Party!
The eleventh lceland Airwaves Festival is fast approaching
and will take place October 14th to 18th. The excitement
is reaching a peak, 193 acts have been confirmed, of
which two thirds are lcelandic. Our reporter just about
managed to get a hold of Árni Einar Birgisson and Kerstin
Ganzemueller, who were both busy preparing for the
festival.
Ticket sales have been incredibly good, were you
expecting this in the middle of a recession?
"The recession is really the reason why we didn't initially
consider Hafnarhúsið. It's the most expensive location to
set up, technically speaking, and we didn't have a clue
how the ticket sales would go, as in whether lcelanders
could afford to attend Airwaves this year or not; but
in actual fact we've never sold out this quickly. Aírline
fares are also more expensive for festivalgoers from
abroad. Still, everything else is cheaper for them. BigMacs
are often used as a reference point for pricing in each
country, but reporters who've attended Airwaves are
ringing up to ask how much it is for a pint at Kaffibarinn
this year. Although the price of beer has gone up around
20%, people from abroad are still paying less for their
beer than two years ago. That definitely helps."
Which band do you think is the biggest attraction this
year?
"That would probably be Kings of Convenience, but we
can't really point out one single act, there are so many of
STÚDENTABLAÐIÐ
them. And like we said, there's never just one band that's
the biggest attraction. Also, it's normally the lesser known
bands that surprise people the most and turn out to be
the highlights."
In recent years, people have complained about long
queues. Have you done anything to avoid that?
"Last year we received hardly any complaints about that.
It was a problem in 2005 but since then it's usually gone
smoothly. We're selling people access to an entire festival
and I think people fully realize you can't see everything.
This is how these festivals work all over the world. You
can't expect to be able to walk straight into every venue.
Last year there were only big queues for two concerts,
and the security guards are saying they'll try and direct
people to places with shorter queues. Then people
will have a choice between waiting or maybe seeing
something that might surprise them."
Is this a young people's festival or do people of all ages
attend?
"The people from abroad are normally a bit older than the
lcelanders, but the music is so varied that everyone should
be able to find something to suit their taste, be it coziness
or techno music. It's a festival for everyone who enjoys
listening to good music and meeting people who feel the
same."
How big a proportion of the guests comes from abroad?
"It's roughly 55%, if you include the artists."
Is the aim of the festival to introduce musicians to record
hour shops we visited, managers told us the stores were
coping well with the extended opening hours and that
business was more evenly distributed. Some fast food
places have noticed a decrease in demand following the
bank collapse, but staff say business has perked up and
recovered. The manager of the Skífan store in Kringlan
says sales have hardly gone down. However, he rightly
points out that there has been a vast flow of tourists
into the country ever since early spring and well into the
autumn. He says the tourists have done a lot of shopping
at the store and that might possibly be a factor in the
success of local business in spite of the economic crisis.
The effects of the recession may not have appeared yet,
and he worries about Christmas sales.
It is obvious that people are reacting to the crisis by going
back to older ways. One could also say that the increased
intakes at the University of lceland are people's way to
make use of the crisis in order to create new opportunities
for themselves.
Edda Sigurðardóttir
company scouts, rather than entertaining festivalgoers?
"We like to claim it's a mixture of both things. The main
thing is obviously to create a good party! If the scouts
weren't enjoying it, they would hardly come back. We
want everyone to be happy, to have a good time and
enjoy good music. There are different kinds of festivals
abroad, both ones that focus on business and ones that
focus on creating a laid-back party atmosphere. The goal
is for lceland Airwaves to be both those things and much
more."
Do you have the time to participate in the festival full on?
"It totally depends on what you're doing at the festival,
what your job is. I (Árni Einar) saw quite a lot last year,
but l've also worked at a festival where I didn't have time
to see anything! The person who's in charge of relations
with the artists is unlikely to see much more than the
backstage areas and Keflavík Airport. Kerstin is actually
doing that job now."
What are your must-sees?
Árni Einar: "The Field, which is a Swedish band, and
Trentemöller."
Kerstin: "It's hard to say. Kakkmaddafakka, Choir Of
Young Believers, When Saints Go Machine, Trentemöller
- I could go on and on!"
ehþ