Reykjavík Grapevine - 22.05.2015, Blaðsíða 8

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Take a step back in time
and enjoy modern Icelandic & international
cuisine in a setting rich with history...
Starting at noon on May 14, Icelandic state television RÚV broadcast continu-ously for almost 24 hours from a farm called Syðri-
Hofdalir in the Skagafjörður region
in North Iceland. That was because
it was lambing season, with 20 to 40
sheep giving birth every day.
Why not the whole 24 hours?
It was supposed to be 24 hours, but
the relay transmitter nearest to the
farm short-circuited when there were
still two and a half hours to go. This
was RÚV's experiment in slow televi-
sion, a genre of broadcasting that has
been developed and popularised by
NRK, the Norwegian state television,
since 2009. In Norway there have
been many such programmes, with
live broadcasts of entire train jour-
neys, 12-hour knitting marathons and
60 hours of choral hymn singing.
Are governments trying to
bore people to death to save on
healthcare costs?
These Norwegian programmes, as
well as similar shows made in other
countries, have been a huge, popular
success. In 2011, half the population
of Norway, as well as hundreds of
thousands of online viewers from all
over the world, watched a 134-hour
live broadcast of a coastal ferry jour-
ney from Bergen in the southwest of
the country to Kirkenes, a town north
of the Arctic Circle.
Well, it beats watching a hun-
dred old guys drinking beer and
listening to oompah music.
You are confusing Norwegian TV
with the popular German-language
show 'Musikantenstadl'. The Icelan-
dic lambing broadcast was also a hit,
with people watching on television
as well as online. The producers re-
sponded to requests made on Twitter
and Facebook, adjusting cameras and
asking questions of farmers.
Poor farmers! What awful-
ness did the internet hordes
unleash?
Actually, they were quite caught up in
the event, asking about naming prac-
tices and markings. There was even
an outpouring of grief when one lamb
was stillborn. Not that some trolls did
not emerge from under the bridge,
despite the lack of goats. Many people
made jokes about grilling and cutlets,
but the most persistent troll was a
vegan Twitter user commenting on
the meat industry using the hashtag
promoted by RÚV.
I bet that was about as welcome
as a coffin-shaped baby crib at a
baby shower.
Yes, insofar as some really liked it, but
most people either ignored it or react-
ed with annoyance. Largely, though,
people went on Twitter, Facebook and
other social media to talk about how
much they enjoyed the programme.
As a rule, Icelanders like and respect
farmers and farming. Until the end of
the 19th century, nearly all Icelanders
lived on farms, and until about 1980,
most children in Reykjavík spent
summers in the countryside.
Hopefully not for the same rea-
son lambs spend their summers
in the countryside.
But as the practice has largely died
down, most Icelanders under 40
years of age are unfamiliar with rural
life. This broadcast was therefore a
window onto a world they know little
about. As the world has become more
urbanised, Icelanders have been mov-
ing to Reykjavík. Roughly two-thirds
of the population live in the city and
the towns which are a part of the
same urban sprawl.
Maybe if every third grade
class were given a pregnant
sheep to take care of, the city
kids would get in touch with
rural life.
A little bit of trauma builds charac-
ter. There is something to be said
for getting people in touch with dif-
ferent species and ways of living.
Farmer Atli Már Traustason of Syðri-
Hofdalir was asked by a viewer if see-
ing a lamb die had become routine. He
said that it never stopped being sad.
The whole broadcast was a big
bummer, then?
Not at all. The other most discussed
moment was when reporter Gísli
Einarsson fell on his ass because
the piece of wood he was sitting on
snapped. This happened off-camera,
but farmer Ingibjörg Klara Helgadót-
tir could not stop laughing during the
interview. During the long broadcast
the farming couple, their children
and various assistants became famil-
iar to the audience, who gained an in-
sight into the working life of farmers.
And a close look at the repro-
ductive systems of sheep.
In the novel ‘Höfundur Íslands’ (“Ice-
land's Author”), Hallgrímur Helgas-
on wrote that "spring comes out of a
sheep's ass." Up until a few decades
ago, the rhythms of Icelandic society
were linked to animals. While televi-
sion is no substitute for experience, it
at least allows people to glimpse dif-
ferent ways of life. The sheep, mean-
while, paid the cameras hardly any
mind, except for sniffing at them oc-
casionally. Not long after the lambs
were born, mothers and children
were released to roam around the
countryside until winter. Hopefully
some of them will avoid the slaugh-
terhouse and bring the next spring
forth from their behinds.
8 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 6 — 2015
So What're These Lambs
On TV I Keep Hearing About?
Words by Kári Tulinius @Kattullus
Illustration by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
I C E L A N D 4 D U M M I E S
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OPEN 7-21
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By Paul Fontaine
NEWS
IN
BRIEF
Continues Over...
It’s that time of year again: time
to argue about whale hunting! An
umbrella organisation of numerous
whale-watching companies have
criticised whale hunting just out-
side the Faxaflói Bay area, where a
whole lot of whale-watching takes
place. Their main argument is that
whale hunting scares away other
whales and a single whale-watch-
ing excursion generates as much
revenue as a landed whale. Still, the
whale hunt is on for the summer.
In news almost universally
embraced by our readership, down-
town’s main street, Laugavegur,
will be closed to car traffic for
four months this year, up from
three months last year and one
month in 2011. Although this greatly
increases foot traffic, and most
merchants express approval of the
closure, some shopkeepers worry
about the decreased number of
parking spaces—17 spaces, that is.
Meanwhile, the ongoing
back-and-forth between Iceland’s
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson and
the European Union has yet to
conclude, and will likely continue
until the heat death of the universe.
Recently, the EU released a report
in which Iceland was listed as a
nation seeking accession despite
Gunnar Bragi’s repeated insistence
that Iceland’s accession is now off
the table on account of that letter...