The music festival in Isjafjörður was a nice example of the word eclectic. Apparently the way the festival works is that anyone who wants to participate gets 15 minutes on stage. It’s nice that they can dole fame out like that, don’t you think? Anyway, the first group up featured an electric guitar, trumpet, electric bass, drums, violin and recorder. Every size of recorder from soprano to bass. I have no idea what any of them sounded like, because they never could get her mike placed correctly. I did hear the alto recorder once, but I think that was an accident. The music was sort of eastern inspired jazz with an atonal swing. Very odd, but with a little more polish they might have something. I’m sure the recorder would have made the difference.
The second band was a straight rock band. They all wore black leather coats, except one fellow who didn’t seem to have gotten the memo. He wore a traditional Icelandic sweater. During the course of their set, each of the guitarists and the bass player broke a string. They kept playing and did a fine job. Interestingly, even though all but one of their songs seemed to be original, the lead singer sang in English. What is it about rock that demands English?
We fled the next group. I’m not sure what they had planned, but I think the duo was a Laurie Anderson wannabe. They had a Mac mixing station, a xylophone, electric guitar, and modulated vocals. Or rather, that was clearly their intent. In reality, they had only the Macintosh playing random sampled material, and a performance art exploration of cables and wiring.
After reviving ourselves with seafood soup and conversation with Jodi, Sam, Julie, Sarah and a group of drunk Icelandic teenagers, we returned to the music hall in time to hear the men’s chorus. We had all been very excited to hear the men’s chorus until the most sober of the Icelandic teens told us that it was a joke group that the boys at the local school threw together.
I must say, they did a fine job. They all wore white tie and tails, and had a really tight rhythym and blues trio backup. They sang with regimented enthusiasm, which had periodic breaks into wailing solo vocals. At one point an entire horn section joined them and they did the Icelandic national anthem. What made this work was their dedication to looking like a serious mens chorus in the Russian tradition, while having a serious backup group. This was easily the most fun in the evening.
All in all, an excellent way to spend Tax Day.
It sounds like great fun. Everyone in Falling Water is wanting to know how far it is around Iceland.