Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2019, Qupperneq 32

Music
Cellists Gyða Valtýsdóttir
and Sæunn Þórsteinsdóttir
have been nominated for
the prestigious Nordic Council Music
Prize. The Icelandic musicians are two
of thirteen nominees, all of whom are
from the Nordic countries and their
associated territories. This year will
mark the 54th year of the competition,
which alternates each year between
recognising composers, musicians or
groups. The last time the prize was won
by an Icelandic musician was, when
this issue’s cover star, Anna Þorvalds-
dóttir, brought it home in 2012. The
winner will be announced on October
29th in Stockholm. More information
can be found at musikpris.com. JG

A barn at Karlsstaðir in East Iceland will
be the place to be on July 5th and 6th,
as it hosts the Havarí Festival. A famous
rural farm-cum-music venue located in
Berufjörður, Havarí is a frequent fixture
in our Best of Iceland magazine, and
the festival is guaranteed to be a fun
time. Friday night’s lineup will feature
the exceptional Mr. Silla, Jae Tyler and
Prins Póló. They’ll be followed on
Saturday night by the more mature
entertainment of the travelling variety
show ‘Búkalú’ as it tours around
Iceland. Tickets are available at tix.is,
and you can find more information at
havari.is. KH
Breakthrough Icelandic pop-rock band
Of Monsters and Men just announced
that they will soon embark on their ‘FE-
VER DREAM World Tour.’ This is not to be
confused with Icelandic rapper Fever
Dream; nor is it truly to be considered
a world tour, as it only involves North
America and Europe. But hey, maybe
the African and Chinese dates will be
added later. Kicking off on August 3rd
in Long Beach, California, the tour will
see the group take their new album ‘Fe-
ver Dream’—their first in four years—
to their legions of fans. Tickets are on
sale now, and they’re going fast. HJC
MUSIC
NEWS
A Quiet Place
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir sees music in everything
Words: Andie Fontaine Photos: Art Bicnick
Composer
More info: hafdisbjarnadottir.com
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir has been per-
forming, teaching and composing
music for close to three decades
now, diligently—and prodigious-
ly—creating music for multiple acts
across nearly every genre. Her most
recent effort, ‘A Northern Year,’ is
an extensive and fascinating com-
position she made for Passepartout
Duo. It chronicles the movement
of the sun over Iceland over the
course of a year, using scientific
data translated it into music, with
stunning results.
A little help
Hafdís was initially interested in
the visual arts, but upon hearing
Joe Cocker’s cover of The Beatles’
“A Little Help From My Friends,”
everything changed. "I first heard
the song when I was 12 years old,”
she says. “It felt like a religious ex-
perience. I just got saved. That's
when I just fell for music in general
in my life and started playing guitar
for real."
She began to focus more keenly
on music, leading to her enrollment
in the Félag Íslenskra Hljómlistar-
manna music school. "I remember
thinking, 'I don't really care what I
will become, if I can just make mu-
sic while I'm doing whatever I'm
doing in life,'” she recounts. “I could
just work at a swimming pool or a
supermarket or whatever; if I have
time to make music, then I don't
really care. Then that evolved into
being a full-time musician and mu-
sic teacher, so becoming a musician
just kind of happened."
The frog’s blues
Hafdís’ first album, ‘Nú,’ was re-
leased on the famed Smekkley-
sa label in 2002. It contains her
breakaway hit, “Froskablús” (liter-
ally “The Frog’s Blues”), which went
into heavy rotation, due in part to
the video: a cartoon, wherein a
frog looks for love, and finds it, in
a sense.
This success prompted re-
quests for composition, and the
nature of Iceland's networking and
connections led to further work.
When Hafdís was approached by
Passepartout Duo, the only prompt
she was given was to adhere to a
theme of “light and darkness.”
True to her nature, she dove
headfirst into the project with an
idea inspired by the sun, consulting
an almanac and charted data on the
sunrise and sunset every day of the
year; specifically, the sun's height
relative to the horizon.
From there, she sought to trans-
late this data into music. "I made a
system where the lowest point for
the sun would be the deepest note
on a piano, and the highest point
would be the highest note," she says.
Using a base 24 hours, she also used
the length of the sun's appearance,
in hours, as a basis for how long the
notes were played. "So if it's dark for
that many hours, the note is that
long." Equinoxes and solstices are
marked by "a change in mood."
Brightness creeping
The overall effect is striking. Win-
ter is indeed dark, chilling and
haunting; tensions rise in February,
but with some brightness creeping
in. The spring equinox is sparse,
light, revelatory. By June, light ac-
cents and sparkling bells appear,
accompanied by live recordings of
birds. "I think I see patterns in so
many things,” says Hafdís, “and
there are also many patterns in
music.”
Music is the most important
thing to Hafdís, and it shows in her
approach to her career. "I don't want
to be famous, because I'm a huge
introvert,” she says. “I really need
this quiet place.”
Here comes the sun queen
Cool kids having fun, yesterday
Party in the barn, and you're invited
No rest for the wicked
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