Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.04.2019, Blaðsíða 6

Ba
na
na
st
an
gi
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vs
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ar
On April 8th, it came to light that
veteran metal band Slayer has still not
been paid by the Secret Solstice music
festival, where they performed last
June. The future of the festival, includ-
ing where it will be held, is unclear.
Slayer performed at Secret Solstice
2018 as the headlining act. RÚV reports
that the band were not paid when they
were supposed to be—July 2018—and
are now seeking recompense to the
tune of about $133,000 USD.
Furthermore, a representative for the
band contends that festival organis-
ers retained 20% of Slayer’s revenue to
pay cash to tax authorities, but these
same tax authorities confirmed that
this money has not been paid.
And the money adds up
The question of ultimate responsibil-
ity is unclear. Many musicians and
contractors have said that they still
have not been paid for working with
Secret Solstice, but the company that
runs the festival recently changed from
Solstice Productions to Live Events. As
such, Live Events eschews any personal
responsibility for paying Slayer, as they
were not organising the festival when
the band performed.
The debts do not end there. The festi-
val is supported by the City of Reykjavík,
and RÚV has reported that the festival
owes the city some 11.6 million ISK.
Where even to hold it?
For the record, the current organisers
of Secret Solstice have every intention
of going forward with the festival this
year. The only problem, apart from
finances, is where it should be held.
The residents of the Reykjavík neigh-
bourhood Laugardalur don’t want it
to return, and other options are being
explored, some of them as far afield as
Selfoss or Ölfus, in South Iceland.
Where Secret Solstice will end up—
and whether Slayer will get paid—
remains to be seen.
Thanks to numer-
ous reaction vid-
eos on YouTube,
I c e l a n d i c
c a n d y i s
now well-
k n o w n
around the
world.
Sometimes, it’s dif-
ficult to tell brands
apart, and some
skirt dangerously
c lose to being
identical contents
in different pack-
aging. No more is
that the case than
when it comes to
Bananastangir and
Froskar, two “differ-
ent” candies sold
by the company
Vala.
How similar are
they? Well, they look
the same, being
chocolate-covered
bars with a fluffy
fill ing, although
one has yellow fill-
ing and the other
g r e e n . T h e y ’ r e
also both banana-
flavoured. Their
respective ingre-
dients show that
the only difference
between them,
apart from what
kind of colouring,
is their emulsifiers;
one uses soy leci-
thin, and the other,
rapeseed lecithin.
So similar are
theirtastes that
when we conduct-
ed a blind taste test
in our offices, none
of our subjects
could tell them
apart.
Fortunately, they
are also priced the
same. So if you see
Bananastangir and
Froskar from Vala
on the shelves
of a local store
(and they are of-
ten conveniently
d i s p l a y e d s i d e
by side), the only
question you need
to ask yourself is
“yellow filling or
green?”
AF
Hell Awaits: Slayer
Suing Secret Solstice
The future of the music festival
is also uncertain
Words:
Andie Fontaine

Photo:
Wikipedia
First
Njáls Saga is one the longest of the
forty Icelandic sagas written between
the 13th and 14th centuries.
Many Icelanders can track their
heritage to the characters in the
sagas. In Icelandic, the word 'saga'
means both 'history' and 'story' and
the Njáls saga is a heck of a dramatic
one. There are deaths and burnings,
famine and revenge; but one of the
most intriguing mysteries is Njáll’s
sexual orientation.
So we asked Medieval Historian Arn-
grímur Vídalín: “Who wrote Njáls Saga
and was Njáll gay?”
Almost no medieval Icelandic text
is attributed to a particular author. Sa-
gas are based on a centuries-old oral
tradition of storytelling that is com-
piled and worked into a narrative and,
finally centuries later, written down.
The version of Njáls Saga most people
are familiar with was edited by Einar
Ól. Sveinsson in 1954. His aim was to
recreate the lost original Njáls Saga by
collecting it from various redactions
of different manuscripts.
Many scholars have brought forth
arguments for its authorship, with po-
tential authors being Sæmundur the
Wise, Snorri Sturluson and his nephew
Sturla Þórðarson. Yet no one argued
that it could have been a woman who
wrote it.
The homosexual undertones of Njáll
are insinuated by his lack of facial hair
and close ties to Gunnar. Homosexual-
ity was not a known sexual orientation
in the Middle Ages, so Njáll is never de-
scribed as being gay. But, people have
had homosexual sex in every country
and Iceland is no exception.
Thankfully, there is no true answer
to this question—that would take the
magic out of the story. We are able to
approach sagas with our own mind-
sets and experiences, without preju-
dices and biases. It is because we are
able to mirror ourselves in these texts
that they continually offer us new and
exciting possibilities of interpretation.

ASK A
Medieval
Historian
Q: Who Wrote Njáls Saga?
6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 05— 2019
FOOD OF ICELAND
NEWS
I mean c'mon, who'd mess with these guys?
Words: Aliya Uteuova / Arngrímur Vídalín
Photo: Art Bicnick
For more information and bookings:
www.thelavatunnel.is
+354 519 1616 +354 760 1000
info@thelavatunnel.is
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Experience
is a
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