Iceland review - 2013, Side 10

8 ICELAND REVIEW
0302
Culture Club
05
ear Candy
THe iCeLandiC musiC awards
Harpa
February 16, 2013
Ásgeir trausti (interviewed in ir 0113) was
the star of the 2013 icelandic Music awards,
winning accolades for the Best album in the
pop and rock category for his debut dýrð í
dauðaþögn, and Brightest hope, among others.
retro stefson earned several awards too,
including Best song for ‘glow,’ and Best
songwriter went to Moses hightower. Valdimar
guðmundsson was crowned Best Male Vocalist
and andrea gylfadóttir Best female Vocalist.
in the classical category, Best Jazz and
Blues album was awarded to The Box Tree
by skúli sverrisson and óskar guðjónsson.
Best Classical album went to Víkingur heiðar
ólafsson and Kristinn sigmundsson for
Vetrarferðin.
the event of the year prize was awarded to
the reykjavík Midsummer Music festival and
Kuregej alexandra agunova received special
recognition for her album Lævirkinn, which
doesn’t fit into conventional music
categories. PS
a feminist’s
take On nOrse
mythOlOgy
Blood Hoof
Gerður Kristný
arc publications
COlOrful BOuquet
flowers
sin Fang
morr music

hOrse with
nO name
reyKjaVíK museum
oF pHoToGrapHy
spessi
may 12 –
september 15,
2013
Flowers is the third album by pop artist sindri Már
sigfússon, aka sin fang, and the one that’s most
accessible. the ten beautiful pop and rock songs
show that sin fang has obviously learned how to
cultivate the crops of the pops.
it’s hard to pick just one song as a favorite, but
‘What’s Wrong With your eyes,’ begs to be put on
repeat, again and again. it’s the perfect pop song.
the first track, ‘young Boys,’ is also a great melodic
pop song.
in the last song, ‘Weird heart,’ sin fang asks: “is
there someone that feels like me, that there’s nothing
to see or feel?” it’s a feel-good song and the perfect
end note to a diverse album.
Flowers contains many emotions and it’s one of
the best album of 2013. yes, and the year has just
begun. PS
in her much-acclaimed poetry book Blood Hoof
(original title: Blóðhófnir), which earned the 2010
icelandic literature award and was nominated
for the nordic Council literature prize in 2012,
icelandic author and poet gerður Kristný sheds
new light on norse mythology, underlining its
modern relevance.
inspired by the ancient norse poem skírnismál,
gerður Kristný shifts the focus from freyr, god
of fertility, and his messenger skírnir, to her
namesake gerður, a giant maiden and freyr’s
object of affection. only after skírnir threatens
gerður and her family does she agree to follow him
to freyr, sealing her fate as a victim of abuse.
in the poet’s words: Freyr’s paws; pawed me;
reducing me; to terror. scored; a new scar; on my
skin each night. ESA
04
photographer spessi (sigurþór hallbjörnsson) is one
of a kind in icelandic photography. his advertising
and editorials have the strong fingerprints of his
vision; you know when you see an image by spessi.
Born in Ísafjörður in 1956, he has been active as a
photographer for 20 plus years. his new exhibition
nafnlaus Hestur (‘horse with no name’) is a portrait
of bikers in america’s mid-west. “this is a diary of
recent trips, about the friends i found on the road
on my Chopper. these are images of a world we
seldom see, pictures of outlaws and blue-collar
bikers, where the bike unites, where the bike is
freedom.” PS
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Ásgeir Trausti