Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.10.2008, Side 18

The Forget-Me-Not Burger – Simply Magical!
Bergþórugata 21 – 101 Reykjavík – Tel.: 5517200
»What to do
and when:
» www.grapevine.is
Your best source
for listings, info
and entertainment
The beginning of the 80’s was an important era in
the Icelandic music scene. The disco era had ba-
sically wiped out all live acts in the country except
for country-ballad groups fronted by singers with
reciding hairlines. It took a few years for punk rock
to travel from the UK to Iceland, but when it finally
did, it was a tsunami. The film Rock in Reykjavik
was shot during the winter of 1981-1982 and is a
good example of these exciting times. “It’s gritty,
funky and sweaty, shot on a 16mm film under hard
conditions,” says independent filmmaker, Ari Eld-
járn. “It’s a great documentary. It basically shows
what was going on at the time. They did not inten-
tionally only choose cool bands to perform. They
also had typical baldy pop to show the contrast,”
says Ari. Rock in Reykjavik features such acts as
the Tappi Tíkarrass with Björk on vocals, the new-
wave rock band Þeyr, the punk band Sjálfsfróun
and many, many more. You should note that the
DVD-version of the film includes the art-happening
punk group BB Bruni chopping heads off chickens,
a scene which was not included in early releases
of the film for home video. Most critics agree that
the film ages well and is a remarkable testimony of
what everyone agrees is the most interesting times
in the Icelandic music scene. The film marked the
first steps of the director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson,
who has since, with movies like Children of Nature
and Angel’s of the Universe, become one of Ice-
land’s most successful filmmakers.
In 2005 Iceland was not modest at all about its
achievements in the music industry. This docu-
mentary is all about exalting Icelandic music as a
screaming masterpiece claiming that there must
be something in the water or the nature of Iceland
that explains such success. The film interviews
people who talk about the inf luence of medieval
poetry on modern Icelandic music and a great ef-
fort is spent on talking about Vikings and the Ice-
landic nature. The film is ambitious and it is never
silly but on the whole, it could just as well be an ex-
pensive and long commercial for the Iceland Tour-
ist Board. It does not necessary ref lect what was
going on in Icelandic music at the time but rather
manually draws a picture feasible to foreigners.
“It doesn’t have enough garage in it,” says Ari Eld-
járn. It could be a safe bet for the regular tourist
though. The film is filled with shots of glaciers,
mountains, lava and hot springs and it has some
very good music. Only time will tell if Screaming
Masterpiece becomes a music documentary clas-
sic like Rock in Reykjavik though the odds are
against it. Among featured artists are Björk, Sigur
Rós, Slowblow, Múm, Ghostigital, the late hip hop
band Quarashi, Mugison and Singapore Sling.
Various documentaries have been made about Ice-
landic music. Some are full length for the screen
and others are made for television. Most of them
are or will be available on DVD. For electro-heads
the film Electronica Reykjavik (2008) is a must
see. It covers the electro-scene in Reykjavik start-
ing in the 80’s and features such acts as Gus Gus,
Ghostigital, Biogen and Anonymous. One of the
most successful Icelandic documentaries is the
Sigur Rós film Heima/Hvarf (2007) which fol-
lows the eccentric Icelandic group along the coun-
try-side during late-summer. Hip-hop enthusiasts
should be sure to see the new Hip Hop Home-
coming (2008) which deals with the American
raised Icelandic DJ Platurn and his visit to Iceland.
Even country music has been covered with Friðrik
Þór Friðriksson’s Cowboys of the north (1984)
about a country festival in Skagaströnd in the
north of Iceland. Alternative music and punk are
featured in The Punk and Fræbblarnir (2004)
about the Icelandic punk group Fræbbblarnir
founded in Kópavogur 1978. People should also
check out the documentary about the legendary
rock group Ham called Ham – The Living Dead
(2001). A rather dissapointing fact is that a very
ambitious documentary about the Icelandic six-
ties group Hljómar, also known as Thor’s Ham-
mer, is lost. The film was called umbarumbamba
(1966) and did perhaps not turn out to be the
masterpiece the band had hoped, as is described
in Gunnar Lárus Hjálmarsson’s history of Icelan-
dic rock Eru ekki allir í stuði. “The film proved to
be only 15 minutes, cryptic and ‘lame’ as on of the
band member put it”. It only ran for a few days in
theatres and hasn’t been available since.
For people looking for feature films with good
music there are some Icelandic f licks better than
others. The Icelandic pop-group Stuðmenn made
a clever and entertaining film Með allt á hreinu
(1982) which features their music as well as mu-
sic from the girl group Grýlurnar. This movie is
to date the highest grossing Icelandic movie in
theatres. The film nýtt líf (1983) had an ambi-
tious music policy. The folk singer Megas was
named musical director and Björk’s band Tappi
tíkarass played much of the music. The same goes
with Friðrik Þór Friðriksson’s skytturnar (1987)
where Björk’s the Sugarcubes took care of most of
the soundtrack. The session includes rarities like
Björk singing the Velvet Underground hit Sweet
Jane among other things. A very interesting sound-
track which is not available on CD. Veggfóður
(1992), stuttur frakki (1993) and Blossi (1997)
all feature good contemporary Icelandic music
which perhaps ages better than the movies. 101
Reykjavík (2000) has soundtrack made by Einar
Örn Benediktsson of the Sugarcubes and Damon
Albarn of Blur. The cult hit sódóma Reykja vík
(1992) has very good music including stuff made
by the Ham frontman Sigurjón Kjartans son and a
little bit of Björk as usual.
The 90’s was a time of confidence in Icelandic mu-
sic. Björk had, as early as 1994, become an interna-
tional superstar and the search for a new eccentric
Icelandic super-act begun shortly thereafter. The
1998 Pop in Reykjavik is a documentary about
the Icelandic music scene. The movie is obviously
meant to promote Icelandic music abroad and at-
tract record company executives and the interna-
tional music press. Perhaps it lacks the raw energy
of Rock in Reykjavik. “The scenario is obviously
staged. The producers have chosen what they be-
lieve is cool music and therefore the movie is not a
good representation of what was actually going on
at the time. It has some fantastic shots and it was
evidentially meant to promote export of Icelandic
music,” says Ari Eldjárn. The film was directed by
Ágúst Jakobsson, a talanted Icelandic filmmaker
who was then mostly famous for directing a mu-
sic video for Guns ‘n Roses hence he was better
known under the name “Gústi Guns”. The search
for a new Björk paid off in some ways, as is evi-
dent in the film which features a memorable scene
of the then little known Sigur Rós. Among other
artists from this film who are still active are Bang
Gang and Gus Gus.
overvieW of icelandic movieS featuring icelandic muSic WordS BY Bergur eBBi BenediktSSon
icelanDic music in the movies
RoCK in REyKJAViK
“RoKK Í REyKJAVÍK” sCREAMinG
MAsTERPiECE
“GARGAnDi sniLLD”
oTHER inTEREsTinG
DoCuMEnTARiEs
iCELAnDiC FiLMs wiTH
A GooD sounDTRACK
PoP in REyKJAViK
“PoPP Í REyKJAVÍK”
200519981982