Fashionable folk?

Talented, fashionable folk! A happy night with friends, January 2006.

I like listening to the radio. I remember well Karen sitting in the wooden summer-house style room in the west of Reykjavík that we lived in consecutively listening to late night shows from an opinionated old guy. I should find out what that is - maybe I´d get some more of it now. My Icelandic is still less well tuned .. I listen to RUV 2 and Bylgjan, equivalent to BBC Radio 2 and Forth FM, and try to understand repetitive song lyrics and adverts for special deals at Bónus. Don´t eat the special offer meat.. just a warning.

I heard a few days ago on a very straight-laced radio program, Woman´s Hour, to which I am a devout expat listener, that folk music is fashionable. I tune into it to get a taste of home and intelligent (sometimes) conversation or when I need to just get a background noise that is relaxing. . translating ads occupies too much of my brain for a sideline activity. It is truly the best place to hear about women´s rights, medical scare stories, old fashioned recipes and excuses for sticky puddings and very proper, slightly blushingly announced, discussions of rather intimate matters!

So, folk music is fashionable.. never thought I´d be a particular fan of fashionable music. Actually, I thought folk was somehow independent of fashion, routed in the past, yet still alive, never really likely to go in phases of popularity like mini skirts or shoulder pads. But now folk is blending so much more with other types of music .. my all time favourite ceilidh band, The Cutting Edge, for example, skillfully plays traditional Scottish folk with a salsa beat.

The Cutting Edge, men in kilts for felis!

Six months ago or so a friendly Icelandic girl asked me which Icelandic music I liked. I was embarrassed to admit I only knew three bands.. not counting Björk who is really less well liked here that in the UK.. 1. Bubbi Morthens, one the nation´s most famous singers, more favoured than Björk at home. His songs are the ones that many people listen to but don´t admit to and they are always the ones people sing when drunk at the end of parties.. 2. Hjálmar, a Swedish-Icelandic reggae band (not joking) and 3. Jeff Who? who are poppy-indie stuff with english lyrics and I mainly remember because I once lived round the corner from the guitarist who stopped me in the street to promote a gig.

Since then I´ve explored a bit more and living with a fiddle player introduces you to more music, though definitely with a folky slant and an awful lot originating in Ireland, Scotland and Nova Scotia rather than in Iceland. The bothy ballads (e.g. The Barnyards o Delgaty) I grew up with, which are proudly attached to a small agricultural heartland in the north of Scotland, are played here with Icelandic lyrics. Iceland in many ways reminds me of Buchan in its fishing and farming heritage and perhaps the songs fit in as well in both homes. I wonder whether they came from north east Scotland or if the Norse left them there on their route north and westwards.

These day in Iceland folk is very alive and blends seamlessly with other influences. There are so many unsigned bands here playing in bars and clubs and living rooms around the town it amazes me. And so many are so good. So, for those of you interested in the Icelandic music scene, have a look at these folk (now try not to read anything into the names, be thankful there's nothing dangerous in there like trolls, Christmas lads or hidden people):

Ljótu hálfvitarnir, the ugly halfwits.. a play on words, I´m told.
Hlynur Ben
Papar, the Irish monks, the Icelandic-Irish folk band
Búálfar, the leprechauns, of course!
My Summer as a Salvation Soldier
Hraun, lava