It is said that some things that don’t make sense actually do make sense. Using a design store as a place to hold concerts does in a way not make sense, but in this case it makes a lot of sense. The store mentioned is “Skaparinn”, or in good old English, “The Creator”. The Creator is owned and run by a pair nicknamed Rósi & Dúsa, both designers of clothes. Rósi & Dúsa opened up their store in 2001 after working together for over a year designing and you’ll find nothing but their design on the stores hangers (no shelves you see). The store itself is designed by their standards and ideas also.
Less than a year ago they started to hold concerts in their store and during last winter they held 17 concerts with various artist and bands. Their schedule included bands like Singapore Sling and Ensími, who both toured the USA last winter and also other highly respected bands and musicians like KK, Hudson Bay and Stjörnukisi. In order to be able to hold each concert they have to empty the store completely, which is a lot of unpaid work, since neither they nor the bands and artists get paid any money for their effort, as there is no entrance fee, the music is free.
Rósi & Dúsa then use the musicians as models and that way they combine their design and the concerts, and their efforts have received a lot of attention abroad, for instance in various music and design magazines. Icelandic media has been less impressed and shown little interest what they´re doing. As the saying goes, enginn verður spámaður í eigin heimalandi (No one becomes a prophet in his hometown).
On the 25th of July there is a musical show named Dada Pogrom. Behind the name is Kenneth Vladas Balys, a.k.a. K.
K is born in Canada and is half Icelandic and half Lithuanian. His origin draws him to his roots in Iceland and his great grandfather Sigvaldi Kaldalóns is very well known in Iceland for his music compositions. Though K doesn’t live here, he’s worked a lot with Icelandic artists and filmmakers on movies and music videos, including the movie “1. April” with director Haukur M and the video “Bent Nálgast” a rap track by Icelandic band XXX Rotweiler. This fall he is going to record a new album at Thule music in Reykjavik. The tracks on K’s latest album all bear names in Icelandic, and the last song, eilífð, is dedicated to his grandmother, Selma Kaldalóns (also a composer of music). K is mostly into techno, but leaves the classical music to his ancestors.
Grapevine asked K if he knew any Icelandic, and his response was; “Ég er bara heimskur útlendingur, gefðu mér bjór”, which translates; “I am just a stupid foreigner, give me a beer”, and then he added; “I know a little bit more, but this sentence has proved to be the most helpful one on numerous occasions.”
Grapevine hopes more is to come from the music hall of Skaparinn.
Event: Electro Musical show by Data Pogrom
When: Saturday 26h of July
Where: Laugavegur 28, shop “Skaparinn” (the Creator)
Admission: Free
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