Hi
there, followers!
Like
you've already read in Isabella's post, we've reached Iceland, our final
destination... So here we go for my last blog post, about Icelandic culture.
Although
the population of Iceland is only about 320 000 people, they do have a
rich culture, with literature, art, cuisine, and of course music. Icelandic
culture is mostly influenced by Norse traditions.
The most important literature from Iceland,
are the Icelanders' sagas. These sagas are stories about events in Iceland in
the 10th and early 11th centuries, also known as "Saga Age". The
writers of the sagas are unknown. But these sagas aren't their only important
pieces of literature. Iceland still has many great writers. For example, in
1955, Halldór Laxness received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
We've also seen some art here in Reykjavík,
in the Reykjavík Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Iceland. In those
museums, we've seen paintings from Icelandic artists. These are very
interesting, because they help to explain the traditional Icelandic culture.
Another part of the Icelandic culture, and
my least favourite one is... the traditional cuisine. The Icelandic national
food is called "Þorramatur". It mostly consists of offal dishes:
picled ram's testicles, putrefied shark, singed sheep heads, blood pudding,
etcetera. And believe me, it doesn't taste better than it sounds.
And now, finally, my favourite subject:
music! Iceland has a few popular music acts. The most famous ones are without
any doubt Björk and SigurRós. Björk is a singer-songwriter, who makes electric,
rock, jazz, classical folk and electric dance music. Her most famous songs are
"It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", "Hyperballad"
and more recently "Earth Intruders" and "Moon". She's very
well-known in Europe, and the rest of the world. Next summer, she will be
headlining a lot of European summer festivals, including Pukkelpop in Belgium.
The second Icelandic music act that I'm going to talk about is SigurRós. They are considered as one of the most experimental bands on earth. The genre of their music can be described as post-rock and ambient, but there are a lot of classical influences in there. The lyrics are mostly Icelandic and "Vonlenska" ("Hopelandic"), which is a non-literal language. The band used to be "well-kept secret". They were popular by a rather small amount of people, but that changed in 2008. The band then gained popularity with their fifth full-length studio album, called "Meðsuð í eyrumviðspilumendalaust", which means "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". The album was a major success, so later in 2008, SigurRós were one of the big names on Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop.
In 2010, Jónsi, the singer of the band, released his first solo album, and by the end of May, the new SigurRós album will be in the stores. I can't wait!
The second Icelandic music act that I'm going to talk about is SigurRós. They are considered as one of the most experimental bands on earth. The genre of their music can be described as post-rock and ambient, but there are a lot of classical influences in there. The lyrics are mostly Icelandic and "Vonlenska" ("Hopelandic"), which is a non-literal language. The band used to be "well-kept secret". They were popular by a rather small amount of people, but that changed in 2008. The band then gained popularity with their fifth full-length studio album, called "Meðsuð í eyrumviðspilumendalaust", which means "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". The album was a major success, so later in 2008, SigurRós were one of the big names on Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop.
In 2010, Jónsi, the singer of the band, released his first solo album, and by the end of May, the new SigurRós album will be in the stores. I can't wait!
I could go on for ages, but I don't think
anyone would have the time to read it all, so I think I'll leave it there!
I would like to thank you all for reading
our blog! It was an amazing adventure and I'm really glad I've done this trip
with my friends. But now it's time to go home... With some beautiful music by
SigurRós on the airplane!
Take care!
Jens
