Reykjavík Grapevine - feb. 2022, Blaðsíða 23

23The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02— 2022
Traditional
Values
Kvæ$akórinn are reima!inin! Icelandic folk music for
a new !eneration
Linus Orri describes himself as a reluc-
tant conductor. He had been singing
with and teaching traditional songs
to friends for a long time, but when
it was suggested that they turn what
they were doing into a formal group, he
initially resisted the idea.
“Eventually Elsa [Jónsdóttir, found-
ing member] told me, ‘If you're not
going to be the conductor, I'm just
going to find someone else to be the
conductor.’ And then I was like, ‘Okay,
fine. I'll do it.’ I couldn't bear the idea of
someone else being the pioneer.”
T h e g r o u p
i n q u e s t i o n i s
‘ K v æ" a k ó r i n n ’,
a new collective
p r e d o m i n a n t l y
c o m p o s e d o f
young artists, who
gather to learn and
perform traditional
Icelandic Kvæ"i, a
form of folk sing-
ing unique to the
country. Alongside
Linus, the found-
ing members of
the group are the
aforementioned
Elsa, and Björn
Loki Björnsson,
otherwise known
as the artistic duo Krot & Krass. The
pair became interested in learning
Kvæ"i through their work with another
traditional Icelandic art form, Höf"al-
etur, an idiosyncratic variety of typog-
raphy strongly associated with hand
carving. Attracted by the similarities
and equivalences of their artistic prac-
tice, Linus, Loki and Elsa began to meet
regularly to sing, encouraging other
friends to join them.
Defining Tradition
Icelandic folk music is a somewhat
confusing landscape. The word ‘Kvæ"i’
can refer to both the poetic and the
singing or chanting traditions, built on
a structure of very specific rules regard-
ing metre, rhyme and alliteration. Even
Linus struggles to give a specific defini-
tion when I ask him.
“It’s a little complicated, because
that one word means a few different
things,” he admits. “To most people,
Kvæ"i, without context, would just
mean a poem. But it also means the way
to sing the poem, the style that accom-
panies it.”
Kvæ"i, and the similar tradition of
rímur, are no longer a major part of
Icelandic society. Bar a few examples
that are taught in primary schools, the
singing of Kvæ"i these days is generally
confined to specialist groups, typically
made up of older individuals, who seek
to catalogue and preserve these arte-
facts of heritage.
“Part of the reason why these words
are unclear and awkward is because
there has not been a strong tradition
in modern times,” Linus explains. This
is something that he and the other
members of Kvæ"akórinn are hoping
to change, but doing so involves break-
ing a few barriers on the way. This, it
turns out, was the source of Linus’s
reluctance.
“The Kvæ"i tradition is very much
a solo tradition,” he elaborates. “There
are parts of it that are for group sing-
ing, but it's a very small part–a hand-
ful of songs. If you were to get a group
together to learn that part of the canon,
you would run out of songs almost
immediately.”
An alternate
reality
Instead Linus was
forced to consider
the practice from a
completely different
standpoint, in order
to be able to arrange
the poems and melo-
dies in a way that
made sense for group
singing. To do so he conducted a kind of
thought experiment, imagining a real-
ity where Kvæ"i had been a mainstay
of Icelandic culture in the last century.
From there he tried to consider what
the tradition would sound like now if it
had existed alongside, and interacted
with, other genres.
“To be able to make this choir work
I’ve had to come up with ways of prac-
tising the tradition as a group. And so
what I think about when arranging is, ‘If
this had been a strong, living tradition
through modern times–through the
development of rock music, electronic
music, jazz–what would have happened
to this tradition naturally?’ And I'm
thinking about it in very literal terms,
in regard to which intervals would be
used in harmonising, for instance.”
It’s a radical approach, and one that
risks raising a few eyebrows in tradi-
tional music circles. But Linus sees
this attitude as a necessity for both
progressing and protecting the act of
Kvæ"i singing.
“This form, the combination of
this tradition and a choir-style group,
doesn't exist. So doing it definitely
requires some innovation, which could
be seen as breaking the rules.” Linus
tells me, clearly choosing his words
carefully. But ultimately he is resolute,
firmly casting off his prior reluctance.
“At the end of the day, innovation in
traditional music is inherently anar-
chist. In a year’s time I hope we have
proven the concept.”
All together now
Words:
Josie Gaitens

Photos:
Art Bicnick
and
Josie Gaitens
Culture
“At the end
of the day,
innovation
in traditional
music is
inherently
anarchist”