Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.10.2014, Side 26

26 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 16 — 2014MUSIC
www.elding.is

Elding Whale Watching schedule
* From 15 May to 15 September
** From 15 June to 31 July

Make sureit’s Elding!
WHALES
& DOLPHINS
from Reykjavik all year round
Call us on +354 519 5000
or visit www.elding.is
Jan-Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov-Dec
EL-01 / EL-02 / EL-03
13:00 13:00
9:00 9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
9:00
13:00
17:00* 17:00 17:00 17:00 17:00*
10:00
14:00
10:00
14:00
10:00
14:00
13:00
20:30** 20:30
NORTHERN
LIGHTS CRUISE
Call us on +354 519 5000
or visit www.elding.is
Daily departures from 15 September
Make sureit’s Elding!
The Mengi Set
In the heart of Reykjavík, an exciting new
venue is carving itself a niche
One of the people behind Mengi is bassist,
guitarist and composer Skúli Sverrisson.
Having lived in New York for over two de-
cades, Skúli had recently moved back to
Reykjavík when the project began.
“I had been living in a very big city for
25 years,” he says. “In New York there were
so many venues for music, but there was
always one space that would focus on cre-
ative music, improvised music, electronic
music, contemporary music, and that one
space would have an
incredible impact on
the music of that city. I
wanted to replicate that
in Reykjavík.”
In typical Reykja-
vík style, the founding
group came together
quite naturally. “There
were four of us in the
beginning—me, Bjarni
Gaukur Sigurðsson, his
wife Elizabeth, and Ólöf
Arnalds. After Bjarni,
who had been living in
Holland, moved back
to Iceland, we became
friends and started a
small label. That was
the beginning of Mengi,” Skúli explains.
“A space was just an idea we were talk-
ing about, because for this kind of activity,
you’d need somewhere very specific, right
in the centre of town. And then Ólöf Ar-
nalds, who has an interest in real estate,
found the perfect place, and we decided
to just go ahead and do it.”
Mengi has a different atmosphere
from most of Reykjavík’s bustling music
venues. Its light walls have more in com-
mon with an art gallery than a bar environ-
ment (although a small selection of beer
and wine is available to gig-goers at the
entrance). The stage is almost bare, but
for a couple of armchairs, standing lamps,
bric-a-brac and furniture—an intentionally
sparse design that creates gives the room
its calm “culture-space” feeling.
“We wanted the space to be function-
al,” Skúli says, “to have the feeling we could
have a dance performance, a lecture, or a
music performance,
or an exhibit of con-
temporary art. We’ve
hosted all of those
things, and the design
creates the framework
for that. We didn’t want
to start a bar or a music
club, there are many of
those in Reykjavík who
are doing a great job.”
N e v e r t h e l e s s ,
Mengi will join the Air-
waves party this year
by staging a series of
off-venue shows in
collaboration with Bed-
room Community, Morr
Music and the artists of
the Mengi label. Like everything about this
intriguing enterprise, there’s a feeling of
natural flow about the collaboration.
“When we began, we sort of wanted
the space itself to define the direction,”
Skúli says. “We didn’t have a specific di-
rection in mind—we opened the doors, set
the tone by booking the first month, and
then slowly it evolved into a community
that was in some ways directed by us but
also, just happened.”
And much like the connection of three
indie labels for Mengi’s Airwaves pro-
gramme, new musical projects and collab-
orations regularly take place on the room’s
diminutive stage.
“There are many spaces and events in
Reykjavík that present fully realised proj-
ects,” Skúli says. “In some ways we wanted
to encourage experiments, and be a space
where people can try things out. I have al-
ways felt that this is an important part of
musical activity—it’s very interesting to see
things that are not fully realised, and to see
people take chances.”
It’s an approach that’s paid off, with
a vital community of artists forming and
often joining forces to perform outside of
their usual music practise. And with every
show priced at 2,000 ISK, the perform-
ers are always paid for their shows—not a
given in the current live music climate.
“This payment model was based on
the simple fact that it has become increas-
ingly difficult for artists to generate income
through new creative music,” says Skúli.
“Mengi is our attempt to somehow correct
this system, and motivate artists to present
original music whilst being well compen-
sated.”
For local and visiting performers alike,
Mengi is a unique, artist-friendly space in
which to try out new things, whilst for gig-
goers, it offers the chance to engage with
their favourite musicians in an exploratory,
playful mode. “I like the idea that artists
with ideas sitting on the back burner can
bring them out for Mengi,” says Skúli. “It’s
something I consider to be an important
part of being a musician, and it’s very sat-
isfying and interesting to watch that grow.”
Amongst the fast-changing merry-go-round of music venues in Reykjavík’s city centre,
something unusual sprang up around last Christmas: a small, homely, unassuming per-
formance space on Oðinsgata, called Mengi. It appeared quite suddenly, passed around
initially only by word of mouth, but quickly become a well-liked venue hosting three
shows a week for an intimate, fifty-strong audience.
Photos
Axel Sigurðarson
Words
John Rogers
“I like the idea that art-
ists with ideas sitting
on the back burner
can bring them out for
Mengi.”