Music of Iceland
An eclectic mix to whet your appetite
I’m off on a rare overseas vacation in the near future, when I’ll be visiting Iceland for the first time. I happen to be traveling with a group that as a part of previewing our vacation is looking into Icelandic arts and culture, with a particular emphasis on the medieval sagas of Iceland.
In support of these efforts, I’ve created a musical “Icelandic Top 12" with YouTube video links and Spotify audio links to single selections or full albums. I’m hoping I can encourage my fellow travelers to check out this post, but I’m also hoping that my regular subscribers will enjoy at least some of the selections that follow. If all twelve appeal to you, then I congratulate you on your truly wide-ranging musical taste.
#1) Bjork: Venus as a Boy
Perhaps like me, Bjork is the only Icelandic musician you can name, even if you only know of her from the infamous swan dress she wore to the 2001 Academy Awards ceremony. I’ve always been a little adventurous myself in my musical explorations, so I did buy, without sampling ahead of time, a Bjork CD, 2001’s Vespertine, on the cover of which she wears that aforementioned swan dress. Somehow, I let it out of my life, even though I have some memories of enjoying it. I’ll check it out again on Spotify, but for you, I’ve selected a video of one of her better selling singles. I was intrigued by the description of the string accompaniment to this song as Bollywood-like. Nothing like starting our Icelandic musical adventure with a side trip to India, right? I promise we’ll get more suitably Icelandic as we proceed.
#2) Sequentia: Edda
Here’s a CD I still own, and, like the Bjork, represented a pretty adventurous purchase for me. I’ve always found medieval Gregorian Chant to be appealing, and guessed that this recording might be an interesting variant. Sequentia is a musical ensemble with a goal of recreating what it might have been like to be a listener in medieval times as a bard intoned musically and at length epic mythic poetry of various European cultures. Benjamin Bagby, vocalist and lutenist, and a member of Sequentia is famous in the world of medieval music for his stage performances of Beowulf; here he takes on the Eddic poems of Iceland. While it’s convenient to have this full recording available on Spotify, this truly is a case where you should seek out the CD (limited copies are available in the Minuteman Library Network, for my Eastern Massachusetts readers). The CD booklet not only includes the English translations of the myths sung here, but also has ten pages of notes on Icelandic culture, religion, the Eddas, and most fascinatingly, performance practice of the early 13th century.
#3) Skalmold: Gleipnir
Whatever reservations I may have about Wikipedia, it is a good place to go when you start from a place of zero knowledge. What are the top pop/rock/folk/punk/indie music acts in Iceland, you might ask? Wikipedia will let you know. In compiling this countdown, I sampled a handful of the artists Wikipedia featured. Skalmold particularly appealed to me. Their placement in the musical firmament as a Viking folk/metal band brought to mind one of my favorite musical acts, the Dropkick Murphys (substitute “Boston Irish” for Viking in the above description and you have the Dropkick Murphys). Then I navigated from Wikipedia to Spotify to see what Skalmold song was the most popular there. Here’s a video of that song. The visuals are out of this world, unless of course this world is Iceland. It’s best if you bring a punk sensibility as you view it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
#4) Voces Thules: The Office of St. Thorlak: Gloriatur
Back to the Middle Ages, with two selections by Voces Thules. St. Thorlak is the patron saint of Iceland, as recognized upon his canonization by Pope John Paul II. St Thorlak lived during the 12th century, and his miracles are recounted in “The Saga of St. Thorlak.” The intertwined story of Catholic Iceland and the pagan tradition represented by the Eddas would be interesting to explore further, but we’re about the music here. Voces Thules explores both medieval and contemporary music. The manuscript they use for this recreation of the Office of St. Thorlak is from around 1400.
#5) Voces Thules: Sturlinga: Battle of Iceland
Snorri Sturluson is perhaps the greatest of the Icelandic saga writers, but he also played a role in the largest armed conflict in the history of Iceland. He was a vassel of King Haakon IV of Norway, but refused to be as aggressive in subduing Icelandic chieftains as the king would have liked. Snorri’s nephew Sturla assumed his uncle’s place as the king’s right-hand man in Iceland, but he was defeated by the chieftains in the Battle of Orlygsstaoir. Voces Thules’s music here is more muscular and martial than their commemoration of St. Thorlak (obviously). But we’re still talking about the Middle Ages, so don’t expect Skalmold.
#6) Hildur Guonadottir: Music from Tar: Mortar
Here’s the one Icelandic musician whose music you’ve likely heard before. Hildur Guonadottir has a delightfully eclectic musical background. Cellist, bandmate, and composer, Guonadottir has written the scores for many films and TV shows, including Tar, Women Talking, and Chernobyl. Tar is anchored by Cate Blanchett’s tour de force performance as Lydia Tar, powerhouse classical conductor by day, troubled by nightmares and hallucinations by night. Visit the nightmare side of Tar with this video.
#7) Guonadottir: Joker: Bathroom Dance
Guonadottir took home the Oscar for her score to Joker, one of the few superhero spinoff flicks to be rewarded with multiple Oscars. Fun fact: Joker is one of three film characters recognized with two Oscars (Joaquin Phoenix here and Heath Ledger earlier; Vito Corleone and Anita from West Side Story are the other two roles). Here’s Phoenix (and Guonadottir) in full creepy mode:
#8) Of Monsters and Men: Little Talks
I have to confess that like many people of a certain age, my close familiarity with popular music coincided with my teens and 20’s, now, alas, decades ago. In researching the music of Iceland, I came upon for the first time Of Monsters and Men, a group that once it conquered Iceland by winning the country’s annual Battle of the Bands in 2010, made a mark in the USA, playing the Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, and even Saturday Night Live. We’ve had some dark music on this playlist so I was delighted by the peppy pop sound of “Little Talks.” Yet, dig deeper and you’ll discover that the lyrics convey the dialogue of a grieving widow with her late husband. Iceland sure does cultivate some amount of darkness.
9) Anna Torvaldsdottir: Aeriality
Almost any country you can name has a composer or two whose sound evokes that country. In Scandinavia alone, depending upon which countries you consider to be Scandinavian, you have Edvard Grieg (Norway), Jean Sibelius (Finland), and Carl Nielsen (Denmark). Unlike those three, Anna Torvaldsdottir is very much alive. In her music, she generally attempts to capture the landscape of Iceland. “Aeriality” simultaneously conveys the freedom of flying and the unease of not being grounded.
#10) Daoi og Gagnamagnio: Think About Things
One more place I went to in my research is the history of the Eurovision song contest, where I sought the answer to the question: Has Iceland ever won the contest? The answer: No, but two songs placed second, “All Out of Luck” by Selma in 1999 and “Is it True?” by Yohanna in 2009. Each is perfectly pleasant mainstream pop, and each sounds like it could have originated in any of 50 countries. More Icelandic to my ears (not really, but with Eurovision, everything is relative) is “Think About Things,” which looked like a strong contender for Eurovision 2020 before the contest was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
#11) Sigur Ros: Hoppipolla
Here’s one final contemporary musical act. Sigur Ros fall into the category of post-rock, which generally implies a musical sound less driven by rock riffs and more by atmospherics. In the case of Sigur Ros, those atmospherics have more of an Icelandic feel than the Eurovision songs we just sampled. They sing in Icelandic too.
#12) Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Archora/Aion
To conclude, it’s back to classical, back to Spotify, and back to Anna Thorvaldsdottir, with two of her most famous pieces as performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its current music director, Eva Ollikainen. A musical note for those of you planning an Iceland trip in 2026: Barbara Hannigan has just been named the Iceland Symphony’s music director beginning in August 2026. If you don’t know her, check her out here, simultaneously conducting and singing Gershwin:
Pardon that interruption. Any excuse to share Barbara Hannigan is a good one. Now, back to Thorvaldsdottir, and the conclusion of our musical tour of Iceland.
Post-script:
Most Icelandic names bear accent marks that I’ve chosen not to replicate. I’m so eager to share this music now that I’ve not researched how to convert my keyboard into Icelandic. I apologize for taking the easy way out.
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Have fun in Iceland!