Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Qupperneq 23

WHEN SUBTERRANEAN
REACHED THE SURFACE
Honouring Icelandic hip hop’s pioneering album
‘Central Magnetizm’
Words: Steindór Grétar Jónsson
In 1997, Ice-
landic hip hop
was decidedly
underground,
with a number
of dedicated
heads waiting
patiently for
their weekly dose from radio DJ Robbi
Chronic. The aptly named Subter-
ranean, a group of then-17-year olds,
were among the first rap acts to break
through with their seminal album
‘Central Magnetizm.’
“At the time, everyone was in their
own corner, sneakily listening to hip
hop,” says band member Ragna Kjar-
tansdóttir, aka Cell 7. “There was a lot
of passion for the genre.” The band
sprang from brothers Magnús Jónsson
and Karl Davíðsson’s stay in Sweden,
where they started making music with
MC Frew Elfineh. When they moved
back to Iceland and began hanging out
with Ragna, Subterranean was born.
“Maggi encouraged me to write lyr-
ics and all of a sudden we had a record
deal with a small label and a deadline
coming up,” Ragna explains. “Frew
came over to record and one track was
even recorded over the phone. We tried
to make it work. We were young and
didn’t have an overall concept for the
album, just tracks that we liked and
lyrics we wrote individually and re-
corded quickly.”
INSTANT CLASSIC
‘Central Magnetizm’ has aged well,
with its sophisticated New York-influ-
enced production and jazzy grooves
underpinning the refined lyrical deliv-
ery. The album was celebrated as an in-
stant classic from the nascent Icelan-
dic scene and Subterranean were voted
the most promising band at the Ice-
landic Music Awards. Standout tracks
like ‘Mortal Combat’ and ‘My Style Is
Phreaky’ were hits and the band went
on to open for both The Fugees and De
La Soul.
“I don’t think we realised then what
we were going through and the oppor-
tunities we had,” Ragna says. “We were
just having a good time, and this was
the result. I think that may be the rea-
son people connected to us—the fun of
making music. To me it’s invaluable,
knowing that we have played a small
part in the history of Icelandic hip hop.”
At the same time, Quarashi was
coming of age, with their brand of
rock-influenced rap music. The media
depicted a rivalry between the bands as
this first wave of the genre came into
being. “There was a little bit of a child-
ish beef regarding what was pure breed
hip hop,” says Ragna. “But in general,
we had a lot of support from rap fans.”
WAVES OF RAP
Subterranean followed the album up
with two tracks on compilation ‘For Ya
Mind’ in '98, but then headed in differ-
ent directions. Magnús has been with
many projects since, including Amaba-
dama, while Ragna has a new LP under
her Cell 7 moniker coming out in 2018.
“Hip hop has always come and gone
in waves, but it never reached the
heights it has now,” she says. “It’s the
central pop music of our time and I
love how much of it is in Icelandic. The
language gets to evolve with the new
generation, and middle-aged people
are adopting the slang. Rap is accepted
now, whereas it used to be frowned
upon. For someone like me, who’s a fan
of the genre, every day is a festival.”
THE GUM GUM
QUEEN
The rise and rise of Alvia Islandia
Words: John Rogers
Alvia Islandia appears over a patchy Skype connection,
from Florida, where she is spending her Christmas
holiday. Through a fog of digital glitches, she’s full of
energy and beaming smiles, bouncing around her room
as she reflects on a year that saw her rise to the top of
Iceland’s exploding rap scene.
“I released my mixtape ‘Elegant Hoe’ this year, and
I’ve been working on ‘Pistol Pony,’ an album that’ll
come out in 2018,” she says. “It’s been a year of me find-
ing my path, exploring, and getting a lot of inspiration.”
Now 24, Alvia started rapping at the age of 16. After
years of honing her craft, her first album ‘Bubblegum
Bitch’ came out in 2016, on her own Gum Gum Clan la-
bel. “I see the releases as a trilogy, like the Matrix, and
‘Pistol Pony’ is the final part,” she says. “I’ve also been
working with Vala Crunk, and Gum Gum Clan is going
to release her EP in March. She’s my hype girl, and now
she’s doing her own music. I want to release more art-
ists too.”
In addition to working on her music and label, Alvia
has also been making candy-themed clothing under the
moniker POPit. “That’s been a dream for a long time,”
she says. “I’ve only made a few of them, but I’m going
to do twenty more, and some sweaters. I’m not going to
do a lot of them; I want it to be exclusive. But there’ll be
some more designs.”
Alvia likes the DIY method, because “You learn the
most from that.” Impressed by her enterprising nature,
I wonder out loud if she’s building a Gum Gum empire.
“That’s right,” she exclaims, flashing her cheeky gap-
toothed smile. “We’re taking over!”
MASS FOR ALL
Bára Gísladóttir pushes the boundaries
Words: Steindór Grétar Jónsson
The more avant garde and experimen-
tal niche of classical music in Iceland
has enjoyed a wider audience in recent
years. One of the rising stars of this
scene is Bára Gísladóttir, composer
and double bassist. In 2017, the Dan-
ish National Symphony Orchestra pre-
miered her composition ‘VAPE,’ which
she followed up with a solo album, en-
titled ‘Mass For Some,’ in the autumn.
“I think the music scene is chang-
ing and opening up,” Bára says. “It’s
not as compartmentalised as it used
to be. Festivals that used to want clas-
sical music are looking for something
new, and Iceland Airwaves, for ex-
ample, which used to be more indie-
rock focused, has opened up to a wide
array of genres.”
A self-described workaholic, Bára’s
busy schedule prompted a burnout last
summer. She addressed her exhaustion
by staying with a friend in the remote
town of Borgarfjörður Eystri. While
she was enjoying some well-deserved
rest and relaxation, everything fell
into place. “It’s where I got the idea and
composed the album,” she says. “When
I got back into town I recorded it.”
2018 will see Bára focusing more on
chamber music, in part as a member of
the brand new Icelandic ensemble Elja.
Her work abroad will continue as well,
as she will be composing for the Dan-
ish National Radio Choir. When asked
about her artistic process, Bára says
she tries to take ideas as far as possible.
“If I’m working with a title in mind, I’ll
consider all possible meanings, inter-
pretations and implications, zooming
in and out,” she says.
Band To Remember: Subterranean
Comprised of Ragna Kjartansdottir (aka CELL7),
the brothers Magnús Jónsson (aka Gnúsi Yo-
nes), Magse (aka Nagmús), Karl Davíðsson (aka
Kalli Youze) and Frew Elfineh (aka Frew Taha, aka
Black Fist), Subterranean still occupies a spe-
cial place in the hearts of Icelanders. So much
so that when one of the panelists suggested
them as this year’s band to remember, the roar
of approval almost shook the walls.
With hip hop taking the downtown scene by
storm in 2017, young Icelanders tend to forget
the precise lyrics and rapid flow of these 1997
hip hop pioneers. Their album ‘Central Magne-
tizm,’ which sold out in a heartbeat, was in flu-
ent, accent-free English, making it impossible
for Subterranean to be pinned down to any
area of the world map. The result was an inter-
national hit that is as relevant today as it was
twenty years ago.
23The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2018
Shout Out: Bára Gísladóttir
and Alvia Islandia
The music that Bára and Andrea (aka Alvia Islandia) make
couldn’t be more different. Bára is a young composer who
has been working solo and with Nordic orchestras for
the past few years on the exploration of rituals and mu-
sic through an avant-garde perspective. Alvia Islandia is
a young hip hop artist with funny lyrics and slightly jazzy
beats. Both are ambitious, motivated, talented and self-
possessed, unafraid of striding forward with self-releases
and taking bold steps into their respective scenes.
Bára is a breath of fresh air for the contemporary com-
position scene, with discordant, even violent recordings
and live performances that are as freaky as they are capti-
vating. Alvia Islandia brings that same innovation to the lo-
cal hip hop scene. As one panellist put it, perhaps because
she is a young woman, “She has another perspective on life.
She is not doing things like somebody else. She is simply
herself.” Bára and Alvia: consider yourselves shouted out.