Hatari, GDRN and Víkingur Heiðar Amongst Winners In The Icelandic Music Awards

GDRN was the winner of last night’s Icelandic Music Awards (IMA), netting four awards in total. Readers of the Grapevine should know this artist, as she was on our cover in the beginning of the year when she won Reykjavík Grapevine’s awards (the only one that matters) for the best record of the year.

She got awards for her video at the IMA last night as well, as she was awarded for her album (we saw that coming kilometres away) and for the song of the year, Lætur mig, (in English, “Let me”). To underline her domination of the last night awards, she also got awards as the best singer, squashing the competition and earning her the nickname “Queen G”.

Classical superstars

Another cover star of the Grapevine, the incredible pianist Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson, also had a good run last night. He got an award for the best album in classical music – his riveting album where he plays Johann Sebastian Bach. Of course he was also awarded as the music performer of the year in the classical section. Anna Þorvaldsdóttir also had an award for her composition, Spectra, but she has been making some international waves past years, and was for example shortlisted in the New York Times for this composition last year.

Svavar Pétur Eysteinsson, better known as Prins Póló, got an award for his lyrics, but his song, Líf, ertu að grínast (in English, “Life, are you kidding me”), was awarded by Reykjavík Grapevine—mostly because of his hilarious lyrics, that are all in Icelandic.

Hatari did it again

And to top it all, Hatari, the much feared spectre of Eurovision—the band that could easily trigger a cold war between North Europe and Israel—got an award as the best music performers of the year in the pop, rock, electronic and hip-hop section.

The band of course rattled things up, and criticised the government in Iceland because of a scandal related to the court of human rights in Europe, and asked if Iceland wasn’t definitely a member of the court. Ministers have been trying to undermine the court in Iceland because of the verdict, which has shaken the foundation of Icelandic court system. Rebels.

Hatari have of course been on our radar for a few years now, and was awarded “best live band” at the Grapevine Music Awards two years in a row.