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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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Escapist Fantasies: Inside Avant-folk Band Emma’s Debut
Emma’s phantasmagoric debut Halidome embraces opposites Avant-folk collective Emma talks about their journey from Músíktilraunir to the sterling debut album Halidome. Paraphrasing Brian Eno’s philosophy, the best songs are made when the creator is short on money and time. In early 2023,…
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Video Premiere: Jelena Ciric Releases “Love Song”
Jelena Ciric has been a definitive namestay in Reykjavík’s folk scene for years. In February, she released her first follow-up to her critically-acclaimed EP Shelters Two, the wonderfully crafted “Love Song”. Today, she releases the accompanying music video. Jelena’s song and accompanying…
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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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The Reykjavík Grapevine Design Awards 2020
Times like these call for creative thinking and the ability to adapt—two qualities arguably best found in the design community. From leading the way in innovation of sustainable materials, to radically rethinking household items, the winners of this year’s design awards have…
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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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The Legends Of The Outlaws: Afraid Of The Men Of The Mountains
For decades, Icelandic farmers feared the men of the mountains. One of the best known of all Icelandic folk songs is “Á Sprengisandi,” by Grímur Thomsen. Therein, a rider dashes across the rocky desert of the title, pursued by increasingly outlandish creatures…
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Sóley Reveals Her Musical Roots Ahead Of Reykjavík Folk Festival
When you think of the spectral music of Sóley Stefansdóttir, folk is perhaps not the first genre that springs to mind. But the more you think about it, the more her presence at the annual Reykjavík Folk Festival starts to make sense.…
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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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In the Eye of the Storm
The trio of musicians in Monotown (two of them brothers) released their first album, ‘In The Eye Of The Storm,’ this year. The album is a mix of folk harmonies, rock ballads, and up-tempo tracks. The title song is one of the…
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Special Live Report: How Cheek Mountain Thief Fixed It For Me
In a special live review, writer and Drowned In Sound photographer Carmel McNarmara, tells of experiencing Cheek Mountain Thief at first hand in Holland, and how Mike Lindsay ended up roping her in as a band member for the night… Who: Cheer Mountain Thief When:…
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Homey and Cosy
We are in a small church, beside a small lake, in a small city in the far, far North. On a not-so cold November night, Christ, arms aloft in a gesture of welcome (or an attempt to kill his followers with his…