In the afternoon of Sunday, I defied the gale that’s sweeping the country to be present at Undiraldan’s special anniversary. The occasion was one not to be missed, so I didn’t mind losing a limb—or even two—to the freezing cold. I am thus forced to write this entry using only my left hand: if you find my right anywhere around Reykjavík, please be a pal and give me a shout.
Undiraldan/Undercurrent is a series of concerts that is held at Harpa Concert and Conference Center in collaboration with 12 Tónar. Concerts are usually held twice a month and they are totally free. Everybody is welcome to attend: you can basically just show up at any moment, take it easy and have a good time, and then leave when you have to. Dozens of bands performed at Harpa in the course of this series of events and attendees had a chance during these months either to enjoy a free gig featuring their favorite band or to get acquainted with music artists they had perhaps overlooked. Undercurrent is an exemplary instance of one of Iceland’s greatest strengths, which is the eagerness to promote its music and to find adequate spaces for its artists to express themselves. It’s truly unusual to find anywhere else the same degree of liveliness when it comes to the art of sounds and it’s not hard to understand why.
These are some shots of a few of the live acts that I took in the course of the evening. They are mostly Kimono-related, as Kimono has a well-deserved legendary status among Icelandic bands, not to mention it is also one of the local bands I am most into. Other than Kimono, I could catch Tilbury, which was a nice suprise, Sin Fang, whose songs I’m starting to know better than my own name, and Jónas Sig og Ritvélar (I have yet to see those typewriters though). Etc. etc.
I had to leave before the show was over, so you’ll forgive me for the lack of visual evidence for the last segment of the evening. I am sure I will be able to make up for it sometime in the near future.
All photos © Pu the Owl & Iceland Chronicles.
Where I live we never have many concerts and never free, for sure. I came to Iceland for holidays last year and in only a week I had more free shows than in my whole life. It’s incredible.