Björk Covered by Maynooth Guitar Orchestra

A cover of Björk‘s “Bachelorette” by Maynooth Guitar Orchestra
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uecTv-9iFlI&hl&fmt=18

The Icelandic Music Experiments – Edition 2009: 40 artists on stage

The Icelandic Music Experiments / Battle of the Bands aka Músiktilraunir 2009 will be held for the 27. time (since 1982). This year there will be only 4 Semi-final nights instead of 5.

The Dates of the 4 Semi-finals: 27. March – 30. March @ Íslenska Óperan.
Doors: 18:00
Start: 19:00
Entrance: 800 IKR
Tickets @ Íslenska Óperan @ 16:00

The Final Night: 4. April @ Listasafn Reykjavik, Hafnarhúsid (Reykjavik Art Museum) will be broadcasted live on Iceland Radiostation Rás 2.
Doors: 16:00
Entrance: 1.000 IKR

The main goal is to make way for young and uprising musicians, and giving them an opportunity to perform on a professional level, and even get rewarded with spectacular prices that include recording sessions, music instruments etc. Through the years, I.M.E. has proven to be a milestone for young and upcoming bands and still is a great venue for our evergrowing Icelandic music scene.
The registration started on 27. February & ends on the 13. March.
Application forms and any information is given @ Hitt Húsið @ Pósthússtræti 3-5, & http://www.musiktilraunir.is/ & http://www.hitthusid.is/.
Fill out tthe application form; send in 2 songs (mp3’s); make a brief text/description of the band and provide a high quality digital band/artist picture.Participation fee is 6000 IKR.
40 bands/musicians can perform this year.
Hitt Húsið will select those 40 applications based on the rules of the I.M.E. Those who will be rejected this year, will get their registration fee back.
List of the previous winners:
1982 – Dron
1983 – Dúkkulísurnar
1984 – Verkfall kennara, keppni féll niður
1985 – Gipsy
1986 – Greifarnir
1987 – Stuðkompaníið
1988 – Jójó
1989 – Laglausir
1990 – Nabblastrengir (Umbilical cords)
1991 – Infusoria (Sororicide)
1992 – Kolrassa Krókríðandi (Bellatrix)
1993 – Yukatan
1994 – Maus
1995 – Botnleðja (Silt)
1996 – Stjörnukisi
1997 – Soðin Fiðla
1998 – Stæner
1999 – Mínus
2000 – XXX Rottweiler hundar
2001 – Andlát
2002 – Búdrýgindi
2003 – Dáðadrengir
2004 – Mammút
2005 – Jakobínarína
2006 – The Foreign Monkeys
2007 – Shogun
2008 – Agent Fresco

Upcoming Gigs @ Reykjavik in March & April 2009

March
7. March: Mödd & others @ Grand Rokk (Smidjustigur) venue
13. March: Grapevine Night @ Grand Rokk with Ólafur Arnalds, Mammút & Valgeir Sigurdsson (Doors @ 22:00 – Start @ 22:30 – Entrance 1.000 IKR)
14. March: Deep Jimi & Zep Creams @ Grand Rokk venue
20. March: Grapevine Grassroots # 2 @ Hemmi & Valdi (Laugavegur)venue with Me, the Slumbering Napoleon, Skelkur i bringu & Kid Twist
21. March: Agent Fresco, Vicky, Nögl, Skorpulifur & others @ Sódóma Reykjavik (ex-Gaukurinn) venue
27. March: Mammút, Cosmic Call & Dikta @ Sódóma Reykjavik

April
3. April: Mammút, Sudden Weather Change, Cosmic Ball, Barújarn & DJ Matti @ Nokia on Ice Concert @ Sódóma Reykjavik (Entrance 2.500 IKR)
4. April: Punk Night @ Grand Rokk
8. April: Jan Mayen & others @ Grand Rokk

Article by Dr. Gunni in Grapevine Magazine about The History of Icelandic Rock Music

More Dr. Gunni News:
A revised edition of his book “Eru ekki allir í stuði?“(about Rock Music in Iceland) is forthcoming in 2010. The First Edition was published in 2000 (sold out fast).
Hope this edition will be in English, like this article in the great Grapevine Magazine (www.grapevine.is) , March 2009 number.
Part I:
The Foresighted Stewardess
Iceland 1956.
Only few years have passed since Icelanders lived in mud huts and died young. The Second World War had made (some of) us rich and the modern ways were slowly creeping in. British, and then the much hipper American soldiers, had brought chewing gum and Forties pop music. Youngsters, being only used to old time psalmody and Icelandic country songs, got hip to listening to jazz and pop around the soldiers’ barracks.
Cue in pop singer Haukur Morthens who had a weekly radio show at the only radio station (The state radio – Rás 1). One day a foresighted stewardess brought him “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis and asked him to play it. “It sounded unworldly and crass. So much beat and volubility. Today it sounds just easy and cosy,” commented Morthens, thirteen years later in 1969. The kids liked what they heard, but legend has it that in Höfn a farmer had a heart attack when Elvis sounded on the radio.
Iceland got its share of the international rock and roll craze. The Icelandic kids went gaga over the flaming hot new music, just like kids everywhere. More and more rock music got played on the only radio station, much to the dislike of many.
“This filthy American noise will spoil the youth”, said the cultural elite, adding, “Thankfully rock music is just a bubble that will burst soon enough.” Early American rock films were shown in theatres and the first rock combo played in Reykjavik in 1957, Tony Crombie & and his Rockets, a British former jazzist who had jumped on the rock bandwagon to make some quick cash. The band put on a convincing rock show night after night, playing altogether for around ten thousand Icelanders. Sometimes the police were brought in to calm down rock crazy teens. Icelandic musicians, most of them being jazz snobs, didn’t like this new thing at all. “This is crap music, if you can call it music”, they said, all the while forced to play “the crap” because the kids and the young audience liked it so much and asked for it at the dancehalls.
The record industry’s initial attempts with rock fumbled at best. Pop singers were given slightly “rock-ish” songs to sing; sometimes the only indication of them being of the genre was that the word “rock” was mentioned in the song. Skapti Ólafsson was the first to nail the new thing. He sang six rock songs on records that sounded pretty convincing between 1957 and 1958. The most famous song was “Allt á floti” – an Icelandicized version of “Water water” by Tommy Steele (Britain’s first rock n roller).
The song was banned from the radio, presumably because radio personnel thought it included sexual messages. This was the best publicity possible and the single sold like a motherfucker. Eventually Skapti was to buy a refrigerator for the income.