Reykjavík Grapevine - Jan 2020, Page 8

Few Icelandic cultural constructs have
undergone as much change as the
Völvuspá. Which stands to reason,
given that it’s a concept that’s been
around since at least the 10th century.
While Icelandic might have changed
very little over this period of time,
what a Völvuspá is has changed so
much that today’s version is essentially
a completely different thing from what
it was in the Settlement Period.
The original Völvuspá is the first
poem of the Poetic Edda. Its name can
be loosely translated as “the predic-
tion of the seeress,” and is for very
good reason probably the most popu-
lar poem in the Poetic Eddas. In it, an
unnamed seeress reveals how the world
came into being, and how the pantheon
of the Icelandic deities were formed.
Things take a dark turn later on, as she
predicts how the twilight of the gods—
Ragnarök—will come into being.
Pretty heavy stuff, to be sure, but
today’s Völvuspá is anything but. As
each year draws to a close, various
media outlets will release their own
Völvuspá, wherein a usually unnamed
author makes predictions about what
major events will come to pass in the
year to come. While no one seems
to take them very seriously, they are
nonetheless very popular. You can think
of today’s Völvuspá as pop astrology:
entertainment that no one admits to
believing in yet everyone pays attention
to. The phenomenon of the modern
Völvuspá is a true Icelandic supersti-
tion.
Völvuspá
From doom prophet of yore to fortune teller of next year's #ossip
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2020
Sunna Margrét
- Art Of History
This song is like turn-
ing on a radiator in an
old house a&er hours
spent in the cold. It
starts o" sparse, with
some sounds to let
you know it’s on, and
those sounds get
progressively faster.
Then the melody
kicks in, and you feel
that warmth. Much
like an old radiator,
though, this song
only gets so warm
before it shuts o".
That seems to be the
point in this unhappy
tune. SPO
Keelrider - Sun
I’m not gonna
lie, this is a great
headbanger. This
is a melodic and
angry good old rock/
Metal tune; a great
one to listen to with
your dad so he can
remember the times
when he was cool.
You know, before he
had you and had to
go corporate. IP
Bjarki - Psychotic_
Window
Bjarki is truly a busy
guy. He released the
EP ‘Psychotic_Win-
dow’ in December
2019, following up
on the success of
his brilliant album,
‘Happy Earthday,‘
which dropped in
February. The new
album is as diverse
as its predecessor,
perhaps skewing a
little bit darker. The
soundscape is as
unique as ever, giving
listeners the sense
that this guy hasn’t
just evolved as a
musician, he is close
to achieving some
kind of an Electro
Nirvana. VG
Prins Póló/FM Belfast
- Ekki Nokku!
“Ekki nokku$” (Not a
thing), is a hilarious
sarcastic take on
a famous and silly
quote from an Icelan-
dic alt-right advocate
and a professor at
the University of
Iceland scared of
Greta Thunberg and,
of course, scepti-
cal about global
warming. It was
written for the an-
nual Áramótaskaupi$
sketch comedy revue,
it's an instant classic
like everything Prins
Póló produces. VG
K.óla - Plastprinsesan
Vaknar
K.óla burst onto the
scene with a bang
last year with “N'ir
draumar’’ o" her
excellent album, ‘Allt
ver$ur alltílæ’. With
her new song, “Plast-
prinsessan vaknar”
(Awakening of the
Plastic Princess), K.óla
sings about sadness
in her oddly retro
style that reminds
of the magic of The
Sugarcubes. Sprinkle
some heavy violins
and you have a mel-
ancholic weirdness of
a plastic princess. VG
JóiPé x Króli - Geim-
vera
“Geimvera” the Ice-
landic word for “Alien”
is a great addition to
this new stoner wave
of Icelandic pc hip-
hop, with a dash of
R&B sexiness. I know,
I know, it sounds like
these words were
randomly selected
but I can only make
sense of how good it
sounds by adjectiviz-
ing with all the words
I like. IP
GRAPEVINE
PLAYLIST
JUST SAYINGS COMIC
ICELANDIC
SUPERSTITIONS
Words:
Andie Fontaine
Photo:
Adobe Stock
First
ARTISAN BAKERY
& COFFEE HOUSE
OPEN EVERYDAY 6.30 - 21.00
LAUGAVEGUR 36 · 101 REYKJAVIK
Grapevine's own Völva has foresight on fleek
„Varla upp í
nös á ketti“
"Its name can be
loosely translated
as 'the prediction
of the seeress,'
and is for very
good reason
probably the most
popular poem in
the Poetic Eddas."
When it comes to cats, historically, Iceland-
ers are not fans. We have the
brutal Yule Cat that eats poor
children around
Christmas and
the monster
Skuggabaldur
( y o u c o u l d
translate it as “the burden
o f t h e shadow”), the nasry spawn of a cat nd
a fox that cannot be killed with a gun. The saying
“varla upp í nös á ketti” translates to “This is hardly
enough to fit it in the nose of a cat,” and means that you
have such a limited amount of something, you couldn’t stuff the freak-
ing cat with it. It’s a negative thing to say and often used in Icelandic
when you’re unhappy with portion sizes. But, keep in mind, anything
you have will probably fit up the snout of Skuggabaldur, and that “it” is
probably you. So, run! VG