Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.06.2015, Blaðsíða 44

My next-door neighbour is Björn
Kristjánsson, better known by his
stage name Borko. The name has been
a source of interest for me for a while,
since I’ve repeatedly tried and failed
to teach my father to say it right. He
prefers to call his neighbour “Bronko”
after some old type of car he used to
own. Embarrassingly, said neighbour
is well-aware of this but not offended,
laughing as he lists the various ways
the name has been mispronounced be-
fore (“Birko, Bronko, Porko….”).
He traces the origin of his name
back to when he graduated from col-
lege and decided to move with his
friend to Finland, to learn Finnish and
start an art duo. He explains: “We were
making fun of GusGus who at the time
didn’t want to call themselves a ‘band’
but an ‘art collective’, so we were going
to be an ‘art duet’. We decided to find
names that sounded Finnish. I chose
Borko and he chose Hondo and we be-
came the art duet Hondo ja Borko. But
we never did anything more than creat-
ing the names.”
Björn has toured internationally
with bands such as FM Belfast and
Múm, and has released two albums in
his solo career. Early on, he was also in
a band called Rúnk, whose members
included several well-known musi-
cians in Iceland, like Prins Póló, Benni
Hemm Hemm and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
When I ask him what kind of music
he makes, his frown gives away that he
doesn’t like such definitions. “I really
don’t,” Björn confirms. “I just make all
kinds of music. People can just listen
to it and compartmentalise it if they
want.”
Björn has been living in Drang-
snes for the past three years, working
as a teacher at the local elementary
Teaching
Hillbillies To
Appreciate
Hipster Music
Borko On Music And
Small Town Life
June 13 at 19:00 Samkomuhúsið Baldur,
DrangsnesSumarmölin
Words Ragna Ó. Guðmundsdóttir
I stalk my interviewee from my window, waiting for an un-
familiar car to leave. When the coast is clear, I skip across
the lawn to a house I’m very familiar with. It might seem
like a nifty coincidence that the person I’m interviewing now
lives in the former home of my best childhood friend, but not
in Drangsnes. The tiny fishing village in Strandir is home to
around 70 people who are all somehow connected. When
you live there, almost anyone you meet is a relative, friend,
colleague or neighbour (or a mix thereof).
Photo Art Bicnick
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How to Become
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A comedy stand–up in English
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Icelandic and living in Iceland.
8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2015 OUTSIDE
REYKJAVÍK JUNE 5-18