Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2016, Qupperneq 43

Music Mixtapes
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Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir is an
Icelandic composer, currently
finishing her master’s degree at
Mills College in Oakland, Califor-
nia. Her summer has been filled
with various intriguing projects.
She participated in the music fes-
tival Only Connect/Tectonics in
Oslo, where the Oslo Philharmon-
ic performed a piece by her. Af-
terwards she travelled to Iceland
and was a part of the RAFLOST
electronic music festival. There
she composed a music piece and
created an interactive video piece,
performed by harpist Katie Buck-
ley in Denmark. This September
she will be bringing to life a new
multimedia chamber piece for En-
semble Adapter, Curious Chamber
Players, Scenatet and Nordic Af-
fect, which will be premiered at
the annual Nordic Music Days in
Reykjavík, from September 29-Oc-
tober 1.
We asked Bergrún to share with
us her five favourite Icelandic al-
bums:
Stefán Íslandi - ‘Stefán Íslandi’
Because summer is still with us,
the amazing Icelandic tenor Stefán
Íslandi has been constantly been
playing in my ears. This is because I
really love listening to dramatic mu-
sic when driving around the coun-
try, and no one does drama better
than Stefán. We also hail from the
same beautiful fjord, Skagafjörður,
and this is very important because
Skagafjörður is particularly great.
dj. flugvél og geimskip - ‘Glamúr í
Geimnum’
What an amazing album. Steinunn
Eldflaug, its creator, is a mad musical
scientist and I am constantly holding
my breath to hear what she creates
next. It is filled with golden moments
but one of my favorite parts is when
the drum slave in “Trommuþrællinn”
has to do a solo for the king even when
he is starving to death.
Skúli Sverrisson - ‘Sería II’
I think I have listened to this album
around a thousand times now (not
really, I wish though). Every time I
put it on I am surprised that I am not
sick of it already. Ólöf Arnalds adds
to the beauty with her vocals (and
charango), as well as countless other
amazing musicians. What a world.
Páll Ivan frá Eiðum - ‘Bon appétit!’
This album hasn’t been released yet
but I think I’ve heard every track
that’s going to be on it through
Soundcloud and let me tell you: this
is going to be the best thing to hap-
pen in the year 2016. We need this.
Good will conquer. Check out Páll
Ivan’s music video to “Expanding.” It
is the track of the album.
Haukur Ágústsson og Telpnakór
Langholtsskóla - ‘Litla Ljót’
Ævintýri með söngvum’
Finally we have a musical adven-
ture. I had this album as a child but
stumbled upon it on YouTube last
weekend and haven’t been able to stop
thinking about it. I loved this album.
It made sense. Four beautiful sisters
banish their ugly sister into the woods
(because she is unfit for society due to
ugliness, duh). In the woods, she en-
counters a fairy godmother, who turns
the tables, the ugly sister becomes
beautiful and her four sisters ugly, and
are in turn, banished to the woods. I
think I am ok today despite my grow-
ing up to this mentality.
LISTEN AND SHARE:
gpv.is/bergfav

Words HREFNA BJÖRG GYLFADÓTTIR Photo ART BICNICK
Bergrún
Snæbjörns-
dóttir’s Top 5
Drum slaves and ugly sisters in