Iceland’s progressive rock, go on!
(This article was featured on “Tengivagninn” on Rás1 Icelandic National Public Radio on Tuesday, 2 July 2019.) I took part the other day in a discussion about Icelandic music in which I heard that Björk wasn’t particularly popular in Iceland when her music career was starting to take off abroad. At home, her music wasn’t described as ‘mainstream’. That made me think about how one’s perspective on Icelandic musicians depends on one’s vantage point – from abroad or from Iceland. Outside the island, Icelandic musicians are seen as a phenomenon, and many people believe that living and creating in Iceland must be a wonderful experience. I observed this and came to the conclusion that one of the most beautiful aspects of following the local music scene is witnessing how projects in Iceland sprout, grow and blossom and get well-deserved attention abroad – sometimes more often than in Iceland itself. To…