Reykjavík Grapevine - jun 2023, Qupperneq 26

The Reykjavík Grapevine 7 / 23 26Music
Music If This Barn’s A-Rock-
in’, Do Come A-Knockin’
The Eyvindartunga country venue keeps creativity alive
WORDS Ása Dýradóttir
IMAGE Art Bicnick
May 12, 12 Tónar
I’m not a DJ. I lost my imposter
syndrome some years back and
now I just say yes to everything and
nothing makes me feel any particu-
lar way. I also just found out I stole
the name DJ Death. It was too good
to be true. I think I’ll change it to DJ
Beth.
So this liar and a thief walks into a
bar, ready to make people feel sad
on a Friday night. I set up my gear
on red velvet and slide into my set,
which has four stages:

1: Inconsistent stuff with no lyrics
or beats
2: Cool stuff with almost no bpm
3: Cool stuff with some more bpm
4: A 14 min choir piece, Allegri:
Miserere mei, Deus, with tons of
reverb and filter on the soprano.
I finish my set, comfort a friend from
Kælan Mikla who is crying because
of that soprano thing, and step into
the gray Reykjavík spring, feeling
good and at ease with life, death
and everything in between.
What happened
last night? Ása
Dýradóttir, DJ
Death
A liar and a thief walk into a bar…
WORDS Rex Beckett
IMAGE Supplied
When Stephanie Langridge
left her life as an arts publicist be-
hind in Australia and came to Ice-
land, she had no idea she’d eventu-
ally end up managing a countryside
venue in a renovated barn. None of
us really know where life is going to
take us, after all, but hers has led
to Eyvindartunga, near Laugarvatn,
where she is now throwing a summer
concert series for the first time.
“It’s kind of funny because I grew up
in the countryside, relative to Sydney,
sort of like Laugarvatn,” says Steph-
anie. “Then I moved I guess to [Syd-
ney’s] equivalent of Vesturbær when
I went to uni. That’s why it’s not so
strange for me to be in Laugarvatn.
It’s kind of like going back to where I
was as a kid.”
In Sydney she worked as a publicist,
staunchly with traditional media only,
and ran an independent venue out
of a warehouse on the outskirts of
town. She ended up in Laugarvatn
after meeting her now-husband,
Magnús, at a gas station near Skaf-
tafell, where they were both glacier
guiding, a direction in life she took
when her previous career proved to
be unsustainable.
“A friend of mine passed away and it
was just a very intolerant industry for
that,” she says, describing a relata-
ble pressure of corporate careers.
“They were like, ‘Cool. If you’re not
willing to work 15 hours a day and
you don’t have a thousand spoons
every day to waste on us in exchange
for some alcohol at the bar, there’s
100 people behind you.’” Stephanie
flipped her bosses the proverbial
bird and flew to Iceland in 2017.
“We thought of renovating the barn
because we were getting married
and then it turned out to be Magnús’
dad’s lifelong dream to renovate it,”
she says of how they began to trans-
form Eyvindartunga. “We were just
the impetus he needed.”
Stephanie and her husband con-
tinued to work most of the week as
guides and continued renovations
in their free time, but they eventually
started looking at ways to make the
barn a sustainable and profitable
venture. This is when Stephanie’s
dormant venue manager persona
began to stir and she figured turn-
ing the renovated barn into an event
space was the natural next step.
She has spent the last three years
running weddings out of the venue,
but her real passion is promoting
the arts.
“I also wanted to bring an oppor-
tunity for people in my community,
because there are so many creative
people in Laugarvatn,” she says.
“There are so many visual artists.
We have a gallery there. We also just
have people who just enjoy music
and visual art. And so I wanted to
create a space that really captured
a little bit of the feeling I had running
my old venue back in Sydney.”
Eyvindartunga is now having its first
run as a concert venue this summer
with a series of monthly shows that
Stephanie is carefully curating with
her community’s interests and de-
mographic in mind.
On the docket so far are Korinn
Kliður — a celebrated community
choir of some of Reykjavík’s finest
musical talent — and singer-song-
writers Magnús Kjartan and Grétar
Lárus. Stephanie hints at more
names that are yet to be confirmed,
but are very intriguing, while em-
phasising that it’s not all going to be
“safe”.
With the transformation of Eyvin-
dartunga, and the trajectory of her
career returning to venue and event
management, Stephanie sees it as
forward momentum which is only
going to get bigger and better.
The House at Eyrarbakki
Opening hours:
May 1st - Sept. 30th daily 10 - 17
or by an agreement
Tel: +354 483 1504
info@byggdasafn.is
byggdasafn.is
Árnessýsla Heritage Museum is located in Húsið, the
House, historical home of merchants built in 1765. Húsið
is one of the oldest houses in Iceland and a beautiful
monument of Eyrarbakki ś time as the biggest trading
place on the south coast. Today one can enjoy exhibitions
about the story and culture of the region. Húsið prides
itself with warm and homelike atmosphere.
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