Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2012, Side 40

40
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2012
They say that going to the Faroe
Islands is like going back to Ice-
land the way it was a decade or two
ago. When it comes to music, this
is true. In a sense. The music scene
is surprisingly vibrant, varied, and
largely undiscovered, as one could
say about Iceland before Björk. In
other ways, the Faroes have gone
their own sweet way.

The capital of Tórshavn is in many ways
a picture of a smaller, younger Reyk-
javík. Many bar names appear familiar
to the seasoned reveller; within a short
distance of one another (well, this is
Tórshavn), one can find Bar 11 (here
a bar, there a bar), Glitnir (here a de-
funct bank, there an Irish Bar) and Rex
(there still a nightclub, here turned into
a Laundromat).
SIRKúS WILL RISE AGAIN
Most eerily, the legendary Sirkús bar
rises a brief distance from the har-
bour. As everyone knows, Reykjavík’s
Sirkús is where a whole generation of
Icelandic artists and wannabes grew
up. Home to the Tom Selleck mous-
tache competition and members of the
Sugarcubes (some of whom got their
mail delivered there), it was featured
in a Björk video, spawned a copycat TV
station and magazine (who borrowed
the name but had nothing to do with
the bar), and was, tragically, closed in
February 2008 due to scheming real es-
tate developers. The house where court
was held now stands empty on Klap-
parstígur, but seems to have found an
afterlife in Tórshavn. Yes, Sirkús is alive
and well and living in the Faroe Islands.
This is no coincidence. Sunneva,
one of the owners, used to be a bar-
tender at the Reykjavík branch before
setting up shop here. Everything is
faithfully reproduced, from the painted
palm trees to the bright yellow sign and
the loyal clientele. There seems to be
a concert on every night, the acoustics
are predictably crappy, but the vibe is
great. On this particular evening, we
are treated to no less a figure than Tei-
tur, and the tiny locale is packed all the
way up the bathroom stairs.
THE KING OF FAROESE ROCK AND
ROLL
Teitur, as any young person in the Faroe
Islands will tell you, was once signed to
Universal Records but then bought his
way out of the contract due to creative
differences. “A man with integrity,” a
Norwegian woman coos upon hearing
the story. Ironically, Teitur was named
“Businessman of the Year” in his home
country upon signing the contract. I
don’t know if the title has been revoked,
but whatever his business acumen, his
song writing talents are considerable.
After self-releasing his acclaimed sec-
ond album ‘Stay Under The Stars,’ he
returned home to make the Faroese
language ‘Káta hornið’ and has since
released two more albums in English.
On another night, I see the Dead
Beat Punx perform here. They have
great energy but are hampered by the
blandness of their English lyrics. Teitur
plays selections in both languages and
sounds great in either. A highlight is
“All My Mistakes Have Become Mas-
terpieces” from ‘Stay Under The Stars,’
and whatever the nature of his mis-
takes, he seems to live up the claim. He
also does a great job of overcoming the
acoustics and making his guitar effects
sound like a full backing band.
The crowd quickly departs after
Teitur’s performance. I ask him about
his influences, suggesting Bright Eyes
or even Iceland’s Mugison, but instead
he laments journalist’s annoying habit
of comparing artists, sounding not a
little like Elvis as he does so (“I don’t
sound like nobody”). Indeed, the cover
of ‘Káta hornið’ references Elvis’ first
record and ‘Stars’ includes a scaled
back cover of that other King of Rock
and Roll, Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Great Balls
Of Fire,’ finding surprising pain in the
So Cool It Must Be Faroese
Music | Faroese
Words
Valur Gunnarsson
Photography
Valur Gunnarsson
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