Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2009, Blaðsíða 10

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2009
10
Finally! The biggest party before the
winter comedown is less than a month
away. They have weathered the storm like
everyone else and have come out kicking.
Now the 11th annual Iceland Airwaves
festival, running October 14th to 18th,
is poised to deliver five of the wildest,
most fun, music-filled days of your life.
Since its inception in 1999, the festival
has steadily grown, each year featuring a
bigger, more notorious party than the one
that preceded it.
kREPPA MUSIC
The group behind the festival, Mr.
Destiny, has always had a rather modest
budget in terms of booking international
acts, and even moreso when it comes to
international marketing. According to
Egill Tómasson, artistic director and
booker for the festival, their campaign
with Icelandair has been very successful,
but their biggest marketing asset has
always been the word of mouth spread
by pleased festivalgoers. Suffering quite
a sting from the currency drop over the
course of the last year, Mr. Destiny were
never deterred them from their plans.
“There was never any doubt that it would
happen,” says Egill. “Last year, we stood
in the eye of the storm and we knew
it couldn’t get any worse. We made it
through that, so we can make it through
anything.”
As for booking, their situation is
tighter than previous festivals, and they
have had to display a lot of pragmatism.
Egill tells me they had no intention of
compromising the quality of the music,
however there was a slight shift in
focus to go with the local flow, booking
international acts that fit into the current
vibe in the city. This was not the hardest
task, since the festival has never gone
for the biggest names or most obvious
acts. Thus, festivalgoers should notice
that visiting acts have been selected to fit
into what the good people of Mr. Destiny
believe the current Reykjavík music
scene to be about.
dON’T FEAR THE UNkNOwN
Last year’s Airwaves saw the likes of
Crystal Castles, The Mae Shi, Simian
Mobile Disco and Fuck Buttons gracing
the headliner list. While you may not
have heard about any of this year’s
internationals acts, you’ll likely be
writing home about them. With regards
to the sceptics who fear the festival is less
exciting than years past, Egill has one
word for them: research. “Once we have
announced the line up, just check it out,”
he says. “There are always sceptics, but
there are always hidden treasures within
the line up. Just do your research and
you will find your own gem.” This year’s
festival will thus likely please active blog-
diggers with all the buzzworthy bands set
to play.
After all, the festival’s focus has
always been the Icelandic scene and
Egill says he currently feels it is stronger
than ever. There are between 130 and
150 local acts booked to play this year’s
festival and they feel that even if they
had no internationals, the festival would
feel different, but the Icelandic bands
would pull it off on their own easily. “It’s
their home turf, and this weekend they
go full on,” says Egill about the local
talent. “Those groups make up around
600 people, which is a good base to start
the party. Then you have all these crazy
foreigners coming in, looking for some
good music, and it just explodes!”
HIGHLy CONCENTRATEd
The festival draws in a large number of
international attendants, making the
crowd a somewhat even mix of locals
and foreigners. Kerstin Ganzemueller,
travel and artist relations manager at
Mr. Destiny, says that festival attendants
often become infatuated with the event,
coming time and time again. They
describe their audiences as fun loving,
thinking music fans—folks who are
more proactive with their music and
involved in discovering new artists. For
this reason, Egill sees music piracy as a
positive thing, especially with regards to
younger people.
What truly sets the festival apart,
according to Egill and Kerstin, is how
compact the whole event is. Apart from
their legendary Blue Lagoon hangover
party, the entire thing takes places smack
dab in 101, with venues barely steps away
from each other, so one never has to move
far to cover a lot of ground and see all the
shows.
BUT wAIT, THERE’S MORE
The weathered Airwaves vet can expect
a few new things on the menu this year,
such as the comeback of some old venues
that haven’t been used in a while, and a
bunch of altogether new ones. These
new venues may not have very large
capacity, but they will certainly give the
overall festival more grounded surface.
Festivalgoers will also be happy to know
that Prikið’s Rock & Bacon breakfast,
ongoing throughout the event, will be
starting at 7:00am this year. Definitely
eat a yummy, greasy breakfast and kill
your hangover after partying on Saturday
night, because this year is going to close
with a big bang. On Sunday night, which
has been fairly low key in the past, they
plan to throw the party to end all parties.
See you there.
For the record, our great new intern Louise
Petersson doesn't eat any meat at all. She still
seems to be doing fine.
Music | Iceland Airwaves
REBECCA LOUdER
EMMA SVENSSON
Coming In The Airwaves Tonight...
It's happening again, oh yes it is!
STOP THE PRESSES! At the time of print, we learned that EVERY SINGLE AIRWAVES TICKET
is sold out. Fancy that! Still, there are talks of them adding venues, so keep yr eyes peeled to
www.icelandairwaves.is for news on that issue, as well as a full schedule, bios and more.
I’m worried. Quite troubled
and downright concerned.
But before looking further
into the subject at hand, I
would like to plea for some sort of
understanding from the general public,
from which I expect to get my ass
kicked after the statements to come.
That said, let’s get down to
business:
Since moving to this rock of a
country there is one matter that has
caused me an extensive amount of
distress. It was while driving along the
ring road and passing Hvalfjörður the
other day when I saw the old whaling
station up and running. A boat was
either coming or going, I couldn’t
tell which. The thought of a whale
potentially being offloaded made me
sick to my stomach, and reminded me
of the reality of which I am now living.
A reality where whaling is considered
fine and dandy.
What shocks me the most is the
fact that no Icelander seems to either
a) care
b) know what the hell whaling is about.
The consumption of whale meat
is something so natural and common
I’m beginning to wonder if anyone has
ever considered how or why the animal
ended up on their plate. It’s time for an
eye opener.
Back in the day, an orgy of
unrestrained whale hunting almost
sent a hell of a lot of species to
near extinction. Finally, in 1986,
environmentalists reached a
breakthrough when the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) voted
to prohibit whaling with a global
moratorium. That means whaling was
banned, people, banned and prohibited
everywhere. Or as the IWC states: “the
commercial whaling moratorium sets
commercial catch limits on all whale
species in all areas to zero.” However,
some countries (Iceland being among
them) thought: “Fuck this.”
For the unversed, Iceland officially
resumed commercial whaling in 2006—
this after a 17 year standstill of the
industry. Along with Norway, Iceland
is openly flouting the IWC’s rules
being the only countries in the world
conducting commercial whaling. Japan
hunts whales using the pretence of
“scientific whaling,” something Iceland
had also been doing since 2003.
So back to why this whole whaling
business is oh so wrong. First and
foremost I would like to make very
clear that I oppose all forms of animal
suffering and that I am against any
kind of industry where animals are
harmed for our own sakes. I personally
believe that there is no difference in
eating cow vs. whale; one is just as bad
as the other. Many seem to have the
impression that the argument of being
against whaling is based on cuteness.
To be honest, that’s just stupid.
Besides, the basic fact that there
is a global moratorium on whaling,
the main issues on why whaling is
so screwed up comes down to three
points: it’s not OK to kill endangered
species, whales cannot be guaranteed
to be killed humanely and the industry
does more harm than good to Iceland
as a nation.
Fin whales are endangered. Iceland
hunts fin whales. Whalers often argue
that they conduct sustainable whaling
and that their catches will not deplete
the populations. These arguments
are based on doubtful science, often
brought on by the whaling nations
themselves. The fin whale is on the
Red List of the International union
for the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources. They are also
listed as endangered by the uN World
Conservation Monitoring Centre.
Endless numbers of NGOs will agree.
As far as I’m concerned, it is a fact. I
rest my case.
Next issue: compared to the
somewhat more humane slaughter
of livestock, the process of killing
whales is nothing less than brutal and
cruel using explosive harpoons that
puncture the skin, exploding inside the
body and all. More often than not it
takes quite some time before the whale
actually dies, which causes excessive
suffering. There is no way to guarantee
an instant death. Which just isn’t nice.
Last but not least, whaling isn’t all
that great for Iceland’s international
reputation and neither is it all that
profitable. The whale watching
industry brings in more revenue than
whaling possibly could, and there is
little or no market for exporting the
stuff.
Before leaving office this year, the
former government issued a major
increase of the whaling quota to 100
minke and 150 endangered fin whales
annually for the next five years. It
should be stated that fin meat is not
eaten in Iceland and again, the export
market is looking extremely slim. Sadly,
the newly elected government has
allowed the proposed quota at least for
this year.
All I ask is that one ought to think
twice about what purpose whaling
serves. But if you simply couldn’t care
less for the creatures themselves,
maybe you should think again before
eating whale meat for your own sake.
The blubber of dead whales in some
areas is so highly contaminated with
PCBs and pesticides that it would be
classified as toxic waste; that, among
other things, affects reproduction.
And that’s just not right, is it?
Opinion | Louise Petersson
Why Whale?