folk music
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Addressing Misconceptions: This Year’s Vaka Folk Arts Festival
Fiddle workshops, embroidery, a feast, poetry, and a folk DJ set: this is the 2025 Vaka Folk Arts Festival. Since its inception in 2015, this festival has celebrated the folk arts traditions of Iceland and beyond, spanning music, dance, spoken word, and…
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Maturing With Music: Árný Margrét’s I Miss You, I Do
Folk artist Árný Margrét shares her diary on sophomore LP I Miss You, I Do Árný Margrét’s rise to stardom has been rapid. In a matter of months, the young artist progressed from playing in her bedroom to securing a record deal…
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Traditional Values: Kvæðakórinn Are Reimagining Icelandic Folk Music
Linus Orri describes himself as a reluctant conductor. He had been singing with and teaching traditional songs to friends for a long time, but when it was suggested that they turn what they were doing into a formal group, he initially resisted…
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Perfect Day: Ásta Kristín Pjetursdóttir
Ásta Kristín Pjetursdóttir is a violist who has played as a soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She recently made her Iceland Airwaves debut with her folk/pop solo act Ásta. Here’s her perfect day in the city. First things first On a…
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Strange As Folklore: Snorri Helgason Brings Icelandic Myths To Life
His fingers gently pluck on an acoustic guitar, while his warm and magnetic voice plucks on your heartstrings. Reykjavík-based singer-songwriter Snorri Helgason released his new album ‘Margt býr í þokunni’ in December of last year, and it’s the perfect music for a…
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The Eccentric Trad Society of Ölsmiðjan
Once a week, after schoolyards fall quiet and workdays end, a handful of musicians climb the stairs of a whitewashed Reykjavík pub. They hail from England, Scotland, France, the United States, and Iceland too, and the cases under their arms hold guitars,…
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Chris Foster’s ‘Hadelin’: English Folk Hits Reykjavík
English folk ballads don’t get much attention these days on a musical stage saturated with grunge-hip-techno-disco-pop. But here to give them the attention they deserve is Chris Foster, a Somerset native who has lived in Reykjavík since 2004. Chris’s work preserving and…
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What Is Folk Music, Högni?
The first time Snorri Helgasson and Högni Egilsson worked together, they painted sheds for Reykjavík Energy in the hillsides of Reykjavík. Snorri, the musician who manages The Reykjavík Folk Festival, noticed that the then-16-year-old Högni hadn’t been exposed to enough music and…
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Reykjavík Folk Festival Starts Tonight!
The Reykjavík Folk Festival takes place March 5 – 7 at Kex Hostel at 20:00. The festival runs for three nights with four acts per night. The acts performing will be Teitur Magnússon, Ylja, Kólga, Funi, Moð, Lindy Vopnfjord (CA), Klassart, Lay Low,…
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Seven Icelandic Elf Songs
“Álfareiðin” (“The Elf Ride”) “Álfareiðin” is one of Iceland’s most beloved elf-themed songs, and is sung by a bonfire every year at Þrettándinn (“the Twelfth Night”—celebrated by Icelanders every January 6). The song is actually not Icelandic at all: the lyrics are…
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The Reykjavík Folk Festival Has Announced Its Schedule
This folkie annual gathering takes place at KEX next week, from the March 6 to 8. The lineup features twelve artists and aims to celebrate the depth of Iceland’s folk music tradition by representing different generations of musicians. Snorri Helgason was involved in…