Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.12.2016, Page 2

P:16 REFUGEE MYTHS
Common refugee and asylum seeker
misapprehensions debunked
+ No government this year?
+ Union struggles, volunteerism, all
the whippet news that's fit to print
P:26 GET LIT
Oddný Eir on her breakthrough book,
Land Of Love & Ruins
+ A guide to our favourite Icelandic
books + Vala Þóroddsdóttir's writers
to watch + Ásta Fanney's gig picks
P:12 FAR EAST
What goes on in Neskaupstaður, Ice-
land's easternmost town?
+ Exploring the Snæfellsnes peninsula
+ Beneath the surface at Silfra
NEWS
CULTURE
TRAVEL
There's only so many rock concerts
you can go to until you feel you've seen
everything. And for someone who's
gotten used to live, visceral thrills,
the world of choreography opens up a
whole new world. When your only ex-
posure is through pictures or videos,
it may seem a bit weird and cold, but
an artform that is mostly motion and
mostly taken in by the eyes can have a
very direct effect, and that's where the
concert comparison comes in—pieces
can be hypnotic, gut-wrenching, elat-
ing or soothing, take you to all kinds of
places. It shouldn't come as a total sur-
prise then that the most talked about
cultural event last month was a chore-
ography piece, Da Da Dans. The show
is a collaboration between Reykjavik
Dance Festival darlings Inga & Rósa,
electronic musician and Retro Stefson
member Hermigerfill, and The Icelan-
dic Dance company. To this viewer the
show depicts the confusion and anger
of our age, in a humorous, compas-
sionate way. But the beauty of choreog-
raphy is that it differs for each person
what you take away from a show. SHP
Intro: The
Literature Issue
Iceland is, famously, a literary country.
Deprived of the means to create music
or art for centuries by colonial overlords
from Denmark, early Icelanders instead
took to channeling their imagination
into words. Thus, we have the Sagas (see
page 60), Eddas and skálds, a rich tap-
estry of monsters, magic and mythol-
ogy (p. 62), Rímur—the chanted rhymes
that emerged in the 14th century and
survive to the present day—and, most
recently, a resurgence of rap.
The tradition of storytelling laid the
foundations of a rich literary culture.
Today, Icelanders publish more books
(per capita, of course) than any coun-
try in the world—five books a year per
1000 people, or roughly double that of
the aforementioned colonial overlords.
In 2011, Reykjavík became a UNESCO-
certified City of Literature, and each
Christmas time, the publishing indus-
try goes into a frenzy each year for the
“jólabokaflód”—the Christmas book
flood. Everyone gets a book or two for
Christmas, and word of mouth on the
best new titles is intense.
With that in mind, welcome to our
Christmas Literature Issue. From a be-
ginners guide to Icelandic literature (p.
12), to interviews with outstanding Ice-
landic authors Sjón (p. 20) and Oddný
Eir (p. 26), to Vala Þóroddsdóttir’s young
writers to watch (p. 38), to a list of our
contributors’ very favourite Icelandic
works (p. 40)—we hope you find some-
thing interesting to read in these pages,
and then perhaps outside of them, too.
JR
Hafnarstræti 15,
101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
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PUBLISHER
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Grétarsson
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+354 540 3601
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ACTING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
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ACTING MANAGING
EDITOR
John Rogers
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ART DIRECTOR
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
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is
NEWS EDITOR
Paul Fontaine
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TRAVEL EDITOR
John Rogers
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CULTURE EDITOR
Parker Yamasaki
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FOOD EDITOR
York Underwood
york@grapevine.is
PHOTO EDITOR
Art Bicnick
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COPY EDITOR
Mark Asch
ILLUSTRATIONS
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Mark Asch
Nanna Árnadóttir
Hannah Jane Cohen
Grayson Del Faro
Óli Dóri
Svetlana Graudt
Gaukur Grétuson
Valur Gunnarsson
Björn Halldórs
Eunsan Huh
Helga Þórey Jónsdóttir
Susanna Lam
Davíð Roach
York Underwood
Valgerður
Þóroddsdóttir
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Arta Balode
arta@grapevine.is
Signe Smala
signe@grapevine.is
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Sophie Butcher
Martin Diegelman
Timothée Lambrecq
SALES DIRECTOR
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson
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Helgi Þór Harðarson
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FOUNDERS
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Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar
Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine
is published 18 times a
year by Fröken ltd. Monthly
from November through
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May til October. Nothing
in this magazine may
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COVER PHOTO BY
Hörður Sveinsson
hordursveinsson.com
Illustration by
Halli Civelek
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In This Issue
Choreography
THE GRAPEVINE PLAYLIST
einarIndra - Some-
times I’m Wrong
Murky late-night
electronic soul has
become a genre all
of its own thanks to
James Blake et al,
but einarIndra adds
a welcome flourish
to the moodiness.
Starting off with a
familiar slow, clicking
rhythm and washed-
out textures, it
climaxes nicely with
stabs, stuttering
beats and mashed up
brass shining through
the mist. JR
Bang Gang - Dive
into the Deep Blue
Sea (ft. Esther Talia)
Barði from Bang
Gang usually keeps a
low profile here, but
he’s world-famous in
France, where he’s in
a band with that guy
from Air plus a bunch
of other projects.
He’s in town for a bit
though, doing music
for the theatre piece
Brot Úr Hjónabandi
at the City Theater.
This is the closing
song from the play.
Lovely. SP
Bjarki - Fresh Jive
Despite his breakout
club hit "I Wanna Go
Bang"—which has
2.4m plays on You-
Tube—and the release
of three mix-and-
match collections this
year on Nina Kraviz’s
Trip label, Bjarki
remains relatively ob-
scure in his homeland.
"Fresh Jive" could
change that—it’s a
mischievous hi-tempo
track, slightly reminis-
cent of latter-day big
beat, with a great cut
‘n’ paste video. JR
Auður - 3D / Both
Eyes On You
23-year-old R&B star
Auður previewed his
debut album 'Alone'
at Airwaves this year
when he made it
available to stream,
Pokémon Go style,
at the Austurvöllur
square in Reykjavík.
4000 people ap-
parently did so. For
everyone else, two
smooth and polished
tracks about love in
the age of internet are
now streaming for all,
via Soundcloud. JR
Emmsjé Gauti -
Svona er þetta
Rap can be a lot
about dipping and
weaving through a
language. Saying one
thing and meaning
another. Gauti’s lat-
est album, Sautjándi
November, is pretty
straight forward. It
was released on—
you guessed it—17
November. The track
is equally straight
forward. A bip-bop
beat and a cool head
nod. Gauti just telling
it like it is. PY
Listen & watch:
GPV.IS/PLAY
Words:
PARKER, SVEINBJÖRN & JOHN
Fresh
www.oddsson.isd
r
in
k
sleep
ea
t
sing
hello is it me
you're looking for?