Iceland review - 2002, Page 4

2 ICELAND REVIEW
FROM THE EDITOR
On the cover: Mt. Herdubreid, near Eldgjá, south-central Highlands. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
Most visitors come to Iceland with certain expectations.
They brace themselves for harsh nature and awesome landscapes, and they
certainly get both. However, when it comes to Icelandic society, first-time vis-
itors are usually quite surprised to find that it strikes them as familiar on many
levels, at least as Iceland is experienced in its capital, Reykjavík. They expect
something more quaint, when in reality Reykjavík is not so different from
other small European cities. You can see the same international restaurants
and shop chains lining the streets of the capital as can be found in cities on
both sides of the Atlantic.
Yet Iceland still retains some of its own strange little worlds, and we visit two
of them in this issue. First, and perhaps the more bizarre, is the National
Accordion Festival. A lovely event where more than 800 accordion enthusiasts
come together for one long weekend to squeeze their boxes and dance the
night away (p 20).
The second feature is on a slightly more mainstream matter – both on an
Icelandic and international scale – that is, the National Horse Championships,
or Landsmót as it is called in Icelandic (p 34). The Icelandic horse is responsi-
ble for an international subculture, with the biennial Landsmót drawing big
crowds from all over the world. This year more than 10,000 guests attended
the Championships in order to witness the various events, compare horse
breeding notes, and again party hard into the night.
Thankfully, globalisation has not reached all corners of Iceland.
Jón Kaldal
This summer the publication of ICELAND REVIEW changed hands when Edda
- Media and Publishing sold its magazine department to Heimur Ltd. Our new
publisher is a stable company with firm roots, having among its publications
Frjáls verslun (one of Iceland’s leading business magazines), PC World (the
Icelandic version), and various travel brochures. A new address, e-mail and
contact numbers can be found in the column to the right.
EDITOR
Jón Kaldal
PICTURE EDITOR
Páll Stefánsson
DESIGN
Bergdís Sigurdardóttir
EDITORIAL STAFF
Anna Margrét Björnsson
Andrea Ósk Jónsdóttir
Edward Weinman
PROOF-READER AND COPY EDITOR
Raymond T. Meaney
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Áslaug Snorradóttir
Brian Sweeney
Spessi
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Krista Mahr
Kristján B. Jónasson
Thórdís Lilja Gunnarsdóttir
PRODUCTION
Thórdís Lilja Gunnarsdóttir
ADVERTISING SALES
Ottó Schopka
Sigrídur Hanna Sigurbjörnsdóttir
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Guðrún Jóhannsdóttir
PUBLISHER
Benedikt Jóhannesson
HEAD OFFICE
Borgartún 23,
105 Reykjavík, Iceland.
Tel: (354) 512 7575
Fax: (354) 561 8646
icelandreview@heimur.is,
www.IcelandReview.com
Printed in Iceland by Oddi Ltd, Reykjavík.
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ISSN 0019-1094
ICELAND REVIEW
Published quarterly for international
distribution by Heimur Ltd.
02 IR302 - Ávarp 2.9.2002 17:56 Page 2