Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.2010, Page 11

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. júní 2010 • 11
For a country with a rela-tively tiny population – around 300,000 souls –
Iceland is a tenable hotbed for
artistic talent, with a ratio of
talented-artists-to-citizens that
surely ranks amongst the high-
est in the world.
Ólöf Arnalds is yet another
Icelandic artist helping main-
tain this ratio. Since the launch
of her debut disc, Við Og Við,
the singer-songwriter with a
penchant for intimate, alluring,
and at times shrieky-folk, has
become a prominent name in
Iceland.
And the rest of the globe is
beginning to catch on.
Originally released back
in 2007, Við Og Við was pro-
duced by Sigur Rós keyboard-
ist Kjartan Sveinsson, a musi-
cian whose principal band’s
interests tend to embrace all
things epic and lengthy. But
you’d never know it with Við
Og Við; on it, Sveinsson clearly
advised Arnalds to embrace a
stripped-down, organic sound.
Most of Við Og Við, then, is just
Arnald’s beautifully arresting
pipes and quiet acoustic guitar
playing.
These sparse arrangements
worked amazingly well for Ar-
nalds. Við Og Við was voted top
record of 2007 in her homeland
and even scored the #38 spot on
tastemaker Paste Magazine’s
best albums of 2007 list.
Arnalds recently wrapped
up the recording and mix-
ing of her ridiculously antici-
pated sophomore release, In-
nudir skinni. The album, also
produced by Sveinsson, will
launch sometime early summer,
but those lucky enough to catch
her performance at this year’s
Núna (now) festival heard a
few of these soul-stirring songs
in person.
I caught Arnalds set at the
West End Cultural Centre in
Winnipeg (she played Gimli
the night before) and was thor-
oughly charmed. Togged out in
a bright-red summer dress that
nicely complemented her blond
hair, Arnalds proved herself
a winsome performer. Armed
with only a single instrument,
normally an acoustic guitar, a
disarmingly lovely voice, and
lots of wry wit, Arnalds pretty
much enchanted all in atten-
dance at the event.
Arnalds opened her set with
a lovely piece of lyrical folk.
For this song, she was joined
onstage by treasured Weaker-
thans frontman John K. Samson
and his equally talented wife,
Christine Fellows. This num-
ber set the tone for the evening:
intimate, hushed, and beautiful,
with a little spontaneity throw
in for good measure.
Arnalds performed almost
all of the remaining set solo,
switching between acoustic
and classical guitars, as well
as variants of the guitar fam-
ily, including the charango (for
the uninitiated, the charango
is similar to the lute and made
from, well, the shell of an ar-
madillo).
And it was only fitting that
toward the end of the evening
Arnalds should come full circle
and summon Samson to assist
her in an impromptu cover of
his own song, the crowd-fa-
vourite “One Great City.” (She
admitted to being a tad out of
form, having just learned it that
day.) Samson gladly obliged
and, as is the norm in Winnipeg
whenever “One Great City” is
played, everyone in the crowd
sang along.
Mykael Sopher is a fifth
generation Canadian of Ice-
landic descent on his father’s
side. If there is anything related
to Icelandic music you wish to
bring to his attention, feel free
to email him at: mykael@lh-
inc.ca.
Ólöf Arnalds: another
bright Icelandic star
SOUNDING
ICELANDIC
Mykael Sopher
Winnipeg, MB
First Lutheran Church
580 Victor Street
Winnipeg R3G 1R2
204-772-7444
www.mts.net/~flcwin
Worship with us
Sundays 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
Greetings from
Gordon J. Reykdal
Honorary Consul of the
Republic of Iceland
17631 - 103 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5S 1N8
Tel: (780) 408-5118
Fax: (708) 443-2653
E-mail: gord@csfinancial.ca
PHoto: MykaeL SoPHer
John K. Samson and Ólöf Arnalds
Little did the members of Chapter R of the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educa-
tional Organization) Sisterhood
know, when they brought Erla
Anderson into their chapter
in 1997, that she’d be presid-
ing as president over the 2010
Alberta-Saskatchewan P.E.O.
Convention.
There are some 6,000 P.E.O.
chapters across USA and Cana-
da, with nearly 250,000 mem-
bers. Over the years they‘ve
provided over $199 million for
women’s post-secondary educa-
tion. Last year, for example, 85
PhD candidates and postdocs
were awarded $15,000 each.
Candidates for the six P.E.O.
projects – loans, grants, and
scholarships – include single
mothers, women in financial
need returning to college or uni-
versity, and young women en-
tering university who have dis-
tinguished themselves at school
and in their communities. And
P.E.O. operates a college in Ne-
vada, Missouri to which women
from around the world go to
live and work and engage in
leadership activities. The P.E.O.
Sisterhood celebrates its 100th
anniversary in Canada in 2011.
As Erla says, “I joined
P.E.O. in Brandon and later in
Edmonton, and I met women
with a passion for our projects.
I’ve nominated a good friend
who received funding toward
her Diploma in Social Work,
and have interviewed several
women and written letters of
support. Getting to know these
women and realizing that my
sisterhood was helping them
and their families has been one
of the most gratifying experi-
ences in my life.
“As a P.E.O. I’ve attended
several international conven-
tions and have met amazing
women across Canada and
USA. I’ve gotten to know a
young woman from Trinidad
who was sponsored by P.E.O.
to come to Brandon University
when I lived in Manitoba. With
two children, one of whom was
born while I was on the board,
I wouldn’t have considered the
level of commitment required
to be president in any other or-
ganization, but P.E.O. provides
a strong support system that
buoyed me up through many
challenges. I’ve learned about
leadership from other board
members, but I’ve been encour-
aged to maintain my own style
as president.”
Erla Anderson is the daugh-
ter of Dennis Anderson and
Nina Colwill, and is married
to Ármann Ingólfsson, from
Akureyri, Iceland. They have
two children: Vala, seven; and
Ari, four.
Phone: 204-642-4977 or Toll Free: 1-866-253-0255
Fax: 204-642-8991 E-mail: gimlimla@mts.net
Peter Bjornson, MLA for Gimli
Representing Gimli,
Winnipeg Beach,
Dunnottar, St. Andrews
and West St. Paul
Constituency Office
Rm. 105, 94-1st Avenue
Gimli, Manitoba R0C 1B1
Erla Anderson – A P.E.O. President
PHoto: SearS PHoto dePt.
Erla Anderson