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00:04I'm Scott Yu. Coming up on Great Performances, Iceland. It's so incredible here.
00:12It is. With a tiny population. There are 400,000 people here.
00:17400,000. Just hit. Just hit. Yeah.
00:19Iceland produces some of the best music and composers in the world.
00:23Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. How do they do it?
00:29I'd explore Iceland's amazing landscapes.
00:32So this is the cone of a volcano that went off.
00:39And modern architecture. And traditions.
00:45This is the center place of Icelandic culture through centuries.
00:49It's really small in here.
00:52And of course, food.
00:56Oh my god.
00:58To find out how this brilliant, sunlit, rainy, volcanic land of extremes
01:07creates a people overflowing with music.
01:11Come with me on the next Now Hear This
01:14to unravel the mystery of the Iceland sound.
01:22Major funding for Great Performances is provided by...
01:30And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you.
01:39I went to Iceland to find out why this tiny country is so prolific in music.
01:46But I began with a trip down into a volcano.
01:51To get there, I had to cross a long lava field with the Cantok chorus and our guide, Jonas Birgesen.
01:59First stop, a cabin at base camp.
02:08Why is Iceland such fertile ground for art and culture?
02:13I mean, per capita, it's got to be a world leader, right?
02:17I mean, Iceland, I'm told, released about 500 albums last year, which is quite a bit for the country.
02:23Almost two a day.
02:24Yeah.
02:25There are 400,000 people here.
02:27400,000, just hit.
02:28Just hit.
02:28Yeah.
02:29That's one every 800 people per year.
02:32Yeah.
02:33So is everybody an artist here?
02:35I mean, that seems like it's almost normal here.
02:37I like to believe kinda.
02:40Yeah.
02:40I mean, if you look at Iceland's history, Iceland has always been riddled with music, singing, performances.
02:47Nobody visited us for centuries.
02:49Yeah.
02:50So we were basically just trying to, yeah, entertain ourselves over long winters and dark nights.
02:55Yeah.
02:56In my opinion as well, I mean, Iceland having, being a very kind of small, close-knit society,
03:00if you want to release a single, if you want to make an album, you kind of have the feeling
03:07that you can always call someone.
03:08You are always one phone call away from someone to work with you.
03:11To help you and help you out.
03:12And everybody also believes that they can.
03:15It's not a passive waiting until something works out.
03:18No.
03:18It's a, do the first thing that comes to mind and it'll work out somehow.
03:21We are doers.
03:22That's awesome.
03:23We're doers in Iceland.
03:24It's very inspiring.
03:24Yeah.
03:25Are you guys going to sing something?
03:26Yeah, we could do that.
03:27Since we're going to be going underground, we could sing a song about a man who's already underground.
03:32He's in the grave.
03:33It's called in Icelandic grafskrift, which means epitaph.
03:37And it says, here in the ground lies Simon, and it's talking about...
03:41When he was born, who he was married to.
03:43And then his dream, right, of becoming a knight.
03:47He was not a knight.
03:49He was a farmer.
03:50But he wanted to be a knight.
03:52He had big dreams.
03:53Yeah.
03:54Typical Icelandic way of going for it.
03:56It was farmer or knight on his tombstone?
04:01Knight, right?
04:02Yeah.
04:03So he lived a farmer, but he died a knight.
04:04Yeah.
04:05Let's hear it.
04:05Yeah.
04:06So let's honor his memory.
04:07Yeah.
04:08Okay.
04:09He died.
04:13I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
04:41I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
04:46We'll get back to the volcano.
04:48For now, I wanted to take in more of Iceland's legendary landscapes.
04:52So I went to the south coast where Efi Ejolfsson builds instruments of an unusual material.
04:58So this was a lava flow.
05:00Yeah.
05:01And it ends here because it hit the water.
05:03Yeah.
05:17With us was Jofrieder Akastotter, but her artist name is easier for me to say, JFDR.
05:29So Efi, here's your driftwood.
05:32Yes.
05:33This is what we've been looking for.
05:35This one has nails in it.
05:37Yeah.
05:37Makes it a little more interesting, doesn't it?
05:40Wood with history.
05:42Where is it from, you think?
05:43Well, typically driftwood comes from Siberia.
05:48Really?
05:48All the way from there, yeah.
05:50So why were they making the instruments out of driftwood?
05:54Why weren't they making them out of just native wood?
05:57Most of settled history, we didn't have any forests.
06:01When the Vikings came, the accounts say that 40% of the country apparently was birch trees.
06:08But they soon disappeared.
06:11They used it for houses, firewood, etc.
06:15So driftwood has been a very important source of material.
06:21Should we bring it up there?
06:22Yeah, let's do it.
06:23Cool.
06:38So this is a langspiela.
06:40Yes, this is it.
06:42Langspiel is the traditional instrument of Iceland.
06:45This is what I like about the langspielas, because not so much is known about how exactly it looked.
06:51So you're quite free to interpret it.
06:53Exactly.
06:53It's very much in tune with folk traditions.
06:57But still, it's a part of a big family of drone zithers.
07:01I would say the American equivalent is the dulcimer, Appalachian dulcimer.
07:05And therefore, the most famous langspiel player in the world is Dolly Parton.
07:11She plays the dulcimer very well.
07:13So you have the bows out.
07:16How do you play one of these?
07:17Yes, in Iceland we played with bow traditionally.
07:20So you might just play the drone strings first, and then you pick up the melody string.
07:36Like that.
07:38But you can also pluck it, which is quite nice.
07:51And also, if you would drone with me...
07:53Okay.
07:54You have these...
08:00Exactly.
08:01Yeah, very nice.
08:02And then you can also hammer it like this.
08:13But traditionally they would be used for accompaniment.
08:17Accompaniment of...
08:18Singing.
08:19Nice.
08:19Yeah.
08:20So can you play something on the langspiel so I can hear a piece?
08:25Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:26Would you mind playing with me a bit?
08:28Sure, the drone.
08:29You're born.
08:51Sayonara
08:52Well, you'll be a person of no matter.
08:59Böndir bláum sólasali, söðlöks upp í lignum dali
09:08Fólkið hafa hana hagali, kvösta skemmtum bænum á
09:13Fagult galaði fuglin sá
09:17Óða fleiri fugla hali, friðum sumar stundi
09:22Lista maðurinn lengi þar við undir
09:43Hinnangspjónur öllum makti, heldur sætum inga makti
09:51Svingi bæn í grasa, gáttum gjörði tíð á enda klár
09:56Fagur galaði fuglin sá
10:00Skjópa nýðið langt að hattunglægst var allt í blundi
10:06Lista maðurinn lengi þar við undir
10:35Hinnangspjónur öllum
10:38Arni Hæmur Ingolfsson
10:40I guess you could say that for most of Icelandic music history
10:44Iceland was kind of stuck in the Middle Ages
10:46Iceland was settled by Norwegians in the 9th century
10:49But the earliest music that we have here is church music
10:52Because Iceland was Christianized around the year 1000
10:55And so for a very long time
10:57The only music that Icelanders were singing and performing
11:01Was folk music and music for the church
11:04And there are a few different types of Icelandic folk songs
11:08But one of the unusual I would say probably for people outside Iceland
11:13Is a type of singing called tvíðsjóngur
11:16Which really just means singing in two parts
11:18Okay, well that's pretty common
11:20That's pretty common
11:21The interesting thing is that the intervals
11:23Between the two lines that are being sung
11:26Are always parallel fifths
11:29Like all the time?
11:30All the time
11:31Really?
11:32And parallel fifths as we know are forbidden in classical music
11:36I mean that's one of the first rules that you learn
11:39When you take a beginning theory class
11:41Sure, sure
11:41Is no parallel fifths
11:43Sure
11:43And it sounds to us really quite strange
11:46Yeah, you know
11:55It sounds quite archaic and a bit sort of grim
11:59Yeah
12:00But these parallel fifths are part of what makes Icelandic music really unusual
12:07At Hallgrimskyrkja, Iceland's great cathedral
12:10Their choir was ready to give me an example
12:13Let's sing
12:16Of there is
12:19Not aWERC
12:23Yes it sounds like
12:34Yes it sounds like
12:36But it sounds like
12:36Why?
12:36Yes it sounds like
12:39Yes it sounds like
12:41In a spirit
12:57These harmonies may be unique to Icelandic music, but they sound pretty great to me.
13:08So Icelanders sang like this for a very long time.
13:10We have a whole repertory of songs.
13:12So when did everything change?
13:14Everything started to change in the late 19th century and the early 20th century,
13:18partly because this is a time when Iceland is starting its push towards independence.
13:23Iceland was part of the Danish kingdom,
13:26and there's a sense that if we want to become a nation among nations,
13:30then we need a national theater, a national gallery, a symphony orchestra, a music school.
13:36The infrastructure had to be there.
13:38That's a very sort of enlightened leadership.
13:42Yes, yes, exactly.
13:44So out of this movement, were there some good composers that came out of it?
13:48Absolutely.
13:49One of the first Icelandic composers to really have a strong impact was Jon Leifs.
13:56Leifs.
13:56Leifs.
13:57He was very occupied with this idea of what does Iceland sound like and creating a broader style that was
14:06based on the elements.
14:07You know, you have this vast wilderness and you have this expanses of, you know, very quiet, calm,
14:13but then also this unpredictable nature that can often be quite violent as well.
14:19So this idea of really trying to recreate Iceland musically.
14:31I wanted to ask one of Iceland's best contemporary composers, Anna Thorvaldsdottir,
14:36how she interprets Iceland in her music.
14:39We're going into a bit darker space.
14:41There's a nice big space we're going to rehearse in.
14:45Okay.
14:45Okay.
14:59My friend, the cellist Johannes Moser, was here to perform her new concerto.
15:11Yeah.
15:12Wonderful.
15:13And I love how you start on the C string.
15:17It really kind of manifests this dark opening.
15:22So actually, Anna, I had a question about, you ask for some special effects and you ask for non-pitched
15:32notes.
15:32So they're not like, but they're actually more like scratchy sounds.
15:37For example, we have something like, or we have some pitchless sounds like.
15:44So I'm trying to see what you had in mind, actually.
15:48I do think about them like any other melody.
15:51For me, it is about the musical material.
15:56It's like you get a shadow of a pitch.
15:58So it's something very simple like, can be really musical without being really, you can almost not even hear the
16:13pitches.
16:14You know, Anna, your music has so much texture in it and so much space.
16:20And I'm wondering if the geography of Iceland somehow has informed your creation.
16:27It's not unlikely because, I mean, I grew up here in Iceland.
16:32And my roots are here.
16:34And even though I've lived abroad for many, many years, it lives with me in my music.
16:39The sense of space and the sense of the wind is almost always blowing.
16:45And you have all these sounds connected to that.
16:47It's not that I'm trying to take a natural element and put it into music.
16:52It's more that it becomes an inspiration and manifests as this combination of textures and lyricism and harmonies.
17:02Yeah.
17:10Their rehearsal was happening in Harpa, the magnificent concert hall that's also an interpretation of Iceland.
17:18I talked to CEO Svanhildr Konradsdottir.
17:23What motivated the design of this building?
17:28I mean, it's so unique.
17:30Icelandic nature.
17:31And the architects, they actually did travel to the highlands of Iceland to get the inspiration.
17:36So it's very direct.
17:38You can see it in the facade of the building, where you have the formation of the basalt columns you
17:43find in Icelandic nature.
17:45You see it in the black color of the walls and the floor, which are the black sands.
17:50You see it in the cascading staircases, you know, that are the waterfalls of Iceland.
17:55And you see it, of course, in Eldborg, which is our main concert hall.
17:59And that is the volcanic, fiery heart of Harpa.
18:07What makes Iceland absolutely unique is the light.
18:12And this building could only have been made in Icelandic nature is full of contrasts.
18:27I mean, we have these magnificent mountains, you have these empty spaces up in the highlands, you know, the black
18:34lava, the fire in the volcanoes, geothermal energy.
18:39So it's full of energy and full of life.
18:42So it really seeps into the expression of artists and, I guess, all of us.
18:52In the basement of Harpa is the percussion room, where Eckert Pahls and Stefan Osterhut showed me some instruments made
19:00for that Iceland sound.
19:02Jan Leifs.
19:03Jan Leifs.
19:04You've heard of him.
19:04Of course.
19:05He's famous here.
19:06Oh, yes, he is, actually.
19:07What does Hekla mean?
19:09Hekla is a volcano, probably one of our most renowned volcanoes.
19:13So this is a big piece.
19:15It is a very big piece.
19:17It was nominated at some point to be the loudest pieces ever written.
19:22Oh, really?
19:23It requires a big orchestra, 18 or 19 percussionists.
19:28God, that's like more percussionists than first violinists.
19:31With everything ranging from snare drums to cannons and chains.
19:38Chains, too?
19:38Chains, yes.
19:39Are these the chains?
19:40These are actually the chains.
19:42You just pull it to play it?
19:44Yes, Dave.
19:44Would you do me the honors?
19:46One, two, three, four.
19:54This is probably not for the softer parts of it.
19:57Right.
19:59Does this show up in Hekla as well?
20:01This is there as well.
20:02This is not very subtle.
20:04Not really, no.
20:05He writes for Big Hammer, played on wood, any wood.
20:10I can give you a demonstration.
20:12Okay.
20:14Oh, God.
20:19This is a messu piano.
20:20Whoa.
20:22And what is this made out of?
20:24This is made from a piece of driftwood.
20:26No kidding.
20:27Yeah, there's a lot of driftwood in Iceland.
20:30It's beautiful.
20:31It is very nice.
20:31It's an instrument.
20:32It's beautiful.
20:33The instrument should look nice.
20:35Yeah, it does.
20:35It's really nice.
20:36Hey, what are these cymbal-looking things here?
20:39These are the scudi.
20:40They are shields, musical shields.
20:44Can I try this one?
20:45Absolutely.
20:45All right.
20:46Let's see.
20:48Okay, so.
20:52I probably don't have your technique.
20:54You're hired.
20:54You're hired.
20:55Wow.
20:56Excellent.
20:57So, does this show up in a Leif's piece as well?
20:59Yes.
21:00Several.
21:01Really?
21:01Several.
21:02We premiere these pieces.
21:04Can I hear some Leif's just with some of these percussion instruments to sort of understand
21:10the sound?
21:11Yeah.
21:11We'll call the team in.
21:13We premiere these pieces.
22:08We premiere these pieces.
22:12Speaking of volcanoes, it was time for me to go down into this one.
22:37You're going to descend about 400 feet all the way down to the bottom.
22:41So, if you look down on that side there, you kind of see all the way down to the bottom.
22:45So, this is the cone of a volcano that went off 4,000 years ago.
22:51About 4,500 years ago, you would be swimming in lava right now.
22:55Wow.
22:55But you're going to go through the same way that the lava came out.
22:59Everything that you see around here was made in the eruption itself.
23:03It's the only way you have land in Iceland.
23:05It's erupting volcanoes.
23:06And so, I mean, Iceland forever has lived with the reality of eruptions.
23:12Iceland erupts on average every four to five years.
23:15It's getting colder.
23:16It is.
23:16And if it feels a whole lot warmer very quickly, let us know.
23:28Inside a volcano seemed like a fitting place for another traditional Icelandic song.
23:34It's a whole lot warmer.
24:34A more recent eruption happened on Iceland's Westman Islands.
25:04The entire town had to be evacuated to the mainland.
25:13At their Eltheimer Volcano Museum, I saw firsthand how Iceland's volcanoes shaped their lives
25:21with director Christine Johansdotter.
25:24So this house was excavated, and then they built the museum around it.
25:30Yeah, that's right.
25:31This house is one of 350 houses that were destroyed in the Vulcan eruption in 1973.
25:40It was not only lava, also millions, billions of tons of ash.
25:45Ash.
25:45This volcano, there were around 60 meters on the top of this.
25:50You know, it's really, I mean, it's incredible.
25:53You see ash and lava, but it's also kind of personal and poignant to see like a spoon or a
26:03light bulb
26:03or a piece of jewelry or a piece of clothing.
26:06You have to keep in mind, we didn't have any warning, and it was just, you have to leave now.
26:13So they just took the very most important things, and then they left.
26:19Many of the people did lose everything that night, but we had a lot of luck, we can say that,
26:25because there were a lot of damage, but nobody died.
26:29Were you actually here on the island that night?
26:34Yes.
26:35What happened?
26:36My father did wake me up, and my brothers, we were all sleeping, and he was kind of upset.
26:44I did hear him saying many times, oh my God, oh my God.
26:48We did look out of our windows, and we saw it was like a wall of fire, like the east
26:57part of the island were burning.
26:59We were told that we should go to the harbor and leave.
27:04So our father, he did bring me and my brothers to one of the fishing boats, and he did stay.
27:12He stayed here all the time, and he was joining the rescue teams,
27:16and that was not undangerous, because nobody knows what the volcano is going to do.
27:22So this is a pretty common thing in Iceland.
27:25A volcanic eruption, something, will just completely change somebody's life, change a family's life, change a town's life.
27:33They just ask, how can you live here?
27:35Aren't you afraid of the next volcano?
27:37And then they say, no, I'm not.
27:39We can deal with the nature, we are quite sure about that.
27:42Nature can change our life, of course, but we have to live with that in Iceland.
28:09Lava from the volcano, flowing into the sea, added more than four square miles to the island.
28:15Something that Westman chef Giesli Matt uses to his advantage.
28:21So here we're walking on new land.
28:24There was nothing, we were just the sea here, like around 50 years ago.
28:29Really?
28:30Yeah.
28:31So, Giesli, what are we looking for here?
28:34So we're looking for oyster leaves.
28:36Okay.
28:36And the amazing thing about it, it has a slight flavor of oysters.
28:42Oh, really?
28:43Just raw oysters.
28:44Really?
28:45Definitely not the texture of an oyster, but the taste is there.
28:50So here it is.
28:51Okay.
28:51I was once working at a restaurant called Elevnansom Park, which is in New York.
28:57Oh, sure, it's very famous.
28:58Very famous.
28:59I was doing like an internship, and I was asked to cook at this, and I only had 30 minutes
29:06to do so.
29:07And they told me I could use everything in the kitchen, except for foie gras, truffles,
29:13and oyster leaves.
29:14And back then, I'd never heard of oyster leaves.
29:17They were importing them fresh from Alaska and paying one dollar per leaf.
29:23And there I was, standing, just like, I've seen this before.
29:29You grew up with this?
29:30Yes.
29:31But like nobody kind of knew that it's quite a special herb.
29:37So if you want to taste it, it has like a brininess, but it grows wild all over here
29:46in Iceland and all over the peaches.
29:48For you, it's free.
29:49It's free?
29:49Yeah.
29:53Yeah, and like, all these herbs can't be used.
29:56Sea sandworms, mountain soil, some lime grass up there.
30:05So it's actually quite high tide now.
30:08Uh-huh.
30:08But there is still a lot of seaweed that we can find.
30:11Okay.
30:12We use around 12 types of seaweed at the restaurant.
30:17This is the most commonly used in Iceland.
30:21It's called dulls.
30:21Okay.
30:22When it's dried, it has almost like a licorice-y, like quite dark flavors.
30:27Okay.
30:28But then when you're foraging all the time, you get curious about all the different varieties.
30:35This is called pepper dulls.
30:39Okay.
30:39Then this is one of my favorites here.
30:44It's called sea lettuce.
30:46Sea lettuce.
30:47Nice.
30:48It's so fragile.
30:49You can just eat it in a salad, just lightly dressed.
30:54Uh, we use this quite a lot.
30:57This is a sugar kelp.
30:59It's amazing to use for broths.
31:02So I think we should just take that back to the restaurant and cook some food.
31:07Awesome.
31:07Amazing.
31:08Okay.
31:1115 years ago, Gisli and his family opened this restaurant,
31:15trying foodies and food writers from around the world to his little corner of Iceland.
31:23All right.
31:24Okay.
31:26So this is a sugar kelp seaweed broth with a cracker that's made from nori seaweed.
31:32And I recognize that.
31:33Yeah, the oyster leaf.
31:35Nice.
31:35And some seaweed capers.
31:37And then here is cod skin that we've salted, dried, and puffed.
31:42Wow.
31:42Hope you enjoy it.
31:43Very, very impressive.
31:47Oh, my God.
31:55That is laughably good.
31:58Whoa.
32:00Lots of stuff.
32:01This is a seergeon.
32:02And here you have the cured halibut, which is cured with the Arctic thyme.
32:08And then here you have our cod wing.
32:11We love filling the table with food.
32:14Wow.
32:14That is outrageous.
32:17Oh.
32:18Mmm.
32:19Wow.
32:20Has it been all right so far?
32:21That is a world-beating uni.
32:24That's the world's best uni.
32:25Amazing.
32:26Amazing.
32:27You know, you can only have this meal not just in Iceland, but only on this island.
32:32Have this, hopefully.
32:34What makes it special is that you can only get it here.
32:39It seems all of Iceland's arts are profoundly shaped by this unique environment.
32:45Back at Harpa, conductor Eva Olekainen ran the Iceland Symphony Orchestra through Anna's
32:51Cello Concerto.
33:11Secondary, more.
33:12Secondary, more.
33:40Okay, yeah.
33:41So the ninth tuplet is over two beats, isn't it?
33:45Yeah.
33:46So first clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoons.
33:49I think some of you tried to play a little bit shorter those notes,
33:52but really...
33:55It is a quintuplet.
33:57What else, Johannes?
33:58Eva, it's a bit too fast for me.
34:00I need a little bit more space for...
34:03To make it speak.
34:05Yeah, sure.
34:06Just to hear the notes a little bit more.
34:09Eva.
34:11Okay.
34:14So I was wondering with the second part,
34:16because it's so completely different from the first part,
34:20that it would be nice to have the atmosphere be kind of laid back a little bit.
34:27So he draws you in, like with the glissandi and the strings,
34:30he's drawing you in there with that.
34:32Okay.
34:33It feels a bit driven still, right?
34:35Yeah.
34:35So it felt a little bit driven.
34:36And this is only for kind of inspiration.
34:39Yeah, it's a little bit more meditative somehow, the second part.
34:42Yeah.
34:43Yeah, absolutely.
34:43Absolutely.
34:44Yeah, we can do that.
34:45Yeah.
34:45Okay.
34:46So, letter J, please.
34:51Okay.
35:15So, letter J, please.
35:15No confirmed anything.
35:18Yeah.
35:33Well done!
35:36Bye-bye.
35:42Wow.
35:44Yes, absolutely.
35:45They're Beieya and Waal.
35:59Every Icelandic musician in this orchestra is a product of their superb school music
36:04program.
36:05To learn more, Jov took me back to her grade school to meet her old friend Birker Hafsteidson.
36:12And so do you teach music here, like music class here, what do you teach?
36:16I teach clarinet here.
36:18So they have private lessons two times a week for each student.
36:21So for us, we're lucky if we have a music budget at all.
36:25I mean, you teach private lessons?
36:28Mm-hmm.
36:28I mean, it's pretty integrated into the school system and it's across the country, it's quite
36:34common that you have access to band and also private lessons.
36:38Boy, lucky Icelanders, huh?
36:40No, I know.
36:40That's fantastic.
36:42And you don't realize how lucky we are.
36:43I mean, I started when I was seven with a private teacher.
36:47I was eight in that room over there.
36:49This room?
36:49Yeah.
36:50Nice.
36:51It's why we have so much music here.
36:53It's because it's not an elitist thing, it's not a class thing, it's like a community thing.
36:58And this is what we do to socialize.
36:59We play in bands, we play in our classical environment or in jazz or choirs.
37:04There's a lot of culture for singing choirs.
37:06And it is to meet and to socialize and to play together.
37:10So, I have 55 students that meet me two times a week, which is awesome.
37:15And I'm also conducting clarinet choir.
37:18Clarinet choir.
37:18I've never heard of that.
37:19And this is how we met.
37:2110, 12 years ago, when we were together in music school, I was studying the classical
37:25clarinet.
37:26And now Birgit is the conductor of the same choir.
37:29That's really neat.
37:30And do you ever sing with the clarinet choir?
37:32So, we have this one particular song that we did together, where I arranged one of my songs
37:38for a clarinet choir.
37:41that Dee Right There's a lot, too What's a clarinet choir with
37:45and doonian?
37:45And for all of our versions of African bands.
37:48So, let me be waiting.
37:51If you're gently breathing.
37:55You'll try barely hearing it.
37:55It's glisten and a tear.
37:58Here's only one dream A wave from our perfect birth,
38:04one promise away from birth.
38:07One secret away from, one promise away from, one dream of, one kiss away from life, from my life, from
38:24another life, from another life.
38:49PIANO PLAYS
39:28Finally, to see how Iceland's traditional culture
39:31and folklore shapes its music,
39:34I went for a drive with composer and conductor
39:36Daniel Bjartesson.
39:46So here we are next to a famous rock
39:49that is named after the elf that lives inside of it.
39:53His name is Støjpastit.
39:54This is his home.
39:55This is his home.
39:56And for those who can see him,
39:58and there are quite a lot of people in Iceland
40:00who can still see the elves and the hidden people,
40:02they say he's quite friendly.
40:05Somebody left an apple for him.
40:06I'm sure he will be very happy.
40:09Let's walk up here and we'll get a great view of the fjord.
40:11Okay.
40:19Wow.
40:23Pretty cool.
40:24So this is Kalfjordr, which means whale fjord.
40:28The name is thought to have arrived from an old legend about a man
40:33who fell in love with an elvish woman.
40:36And they had a child together,
40:38but he did not want to recognize that he had this child.
40:42And she became very angry with him
40:44and turned him into a whale with a red head.
40:48And it was called the red head
40:49and banished him to the oceans
40:51where he would terrorize and plague the fishermen
40:54for many, many years.
40:55Until eventually an old priest
40:58who had lost two of his sons to the red head whale
41:01through some sorcery was able to drag him onto land
41:04where he actually exploded.
41:07So that was the end of the red head.
41:09And that's where the name probably comes from.
41:12Icelanders have a, they have an imagination here.
41:15Yeah.
41:16We have a lot of fun stories like that.
41:19Folk traditions have influenced classical composers here
41:22as they do elsewhere.
41:24I met Arnie again at the Reykjavik church.
41:27Jon Leifs actually collected Icelandic folk songs.
41:30So he went around the country
41:32with a little cylinder recording device.
41:35And he recorded farmers and fishermen
41:38and people all over the country
41:40because he was really interested in, you know,
41:42what was the original sound
41:44that he could use for his music.
41:47And because we were talking about
41:49the parallel fifth singing earlier,
41:51one of the other types of traditional Icelandic folk singing
41:55is also quite unusual.
41:57It's called rimr.
41:58And the unusual thing about that
42:00is the rhythmic structure
42:01because they're reflecting the metric pattern
42:05and the syllable count of the poetry.
42:08So every syllable gets one note, basically.
42:11Oh, I see.
42:11It's a bit unpredictable, I guess,
42:13if you're hearing it for the first time.
42:15But once you understand the way it comes from the poetry,
42:18it all makes sense
42:19because it's just reflecting
42:20the way the poetry is structured.
42:21Can I hear it?
42:22Yes, absolutely.
42:24So you have...
42:32I'm already lost.
42:33Okay, okay.
42:33So let's see.
42:34What did he do here?
42:37Oh, so that's how he notated it.
42:394, 4, 2, 4, 3, 4.
42:41Exactly.
42:42And he can just kind of choose.
42:43Exactly.
42:44Can you play that again?
42:45Yeah.
42:57That's cool.
43:00That's cool.
43:25The Atlantic climate shaped their traditional houses,
43:28which shaped their culture.
43:30Many lived in compounds like this,
43:32well into the 20th century.
43:35I went there with Afi, Jof, and her sister, Osthilder.
43:42Turf houses would always be built according to the winds and the sun.
43:47So the main side, of course, is on the south side.
43:52And you see the black house there.
43:54This is the kitchen.
43:56The same type of kitchen people have been using since medieval times.
44:01And the walls are very, very thick, made of turf and rocks.
44:05Like what?
44:05Like this?
44:06Oh, no, like, probably like this at least, you know.
44:08So that's a lot of insulation.
44:10Yes.
44:10And that's why people were able to, you know, survive the winters.
44:15You know, they might look a bit rustic, but they're very functional.
44:18And there's a reason why they have lasted for so long.
44:22Can we see the inside of one of these?
44:23Of course.
44:24Yeah.
44:25Come on.
44:25Come along.
44:32It's really small in here.
44:35I mean, it looks bigger from the outside, but it's small.
44:39So this is the center room.
44:41And this is also the center place of I study culture through centuries.
44:46How many people lived in here?
44:47How many beds are here?
44:49Five.
44:49Five.
44:50So calculate that with two.
44:52You will have the number of people.
44:53So everybody shared.
44:55Yeah.
44:56The only source of heating were the bodies themselves.
45:00Oh, really?
45:01And if a bed would be empty, they would bring in an animal, sheep for a calf, to put in
45:10the bed so they wouldn't lose the heating.
45:14So this is before electricity, before the internet, what would people do in a house like this?
45:21Yeah, there's storytelling, there's chanting, and there would be traveling musician performers that would go from farm to farm and
45:31entertain the people.
45:33Literacy was very common.
45:35Literacy was very common.
45:36This was the sole light in the Ba'z Doha, and the ruler of light was the head of the
45:42household, and would decide what was being read.
45:45And it also gives us this important notion of the darkness in this room, and where folklore was created.
45:56And it was dark a lot.
45:57Yeah, we live, like, in darkness a big part of the year in Iceland.
46:04It certainly influences your behavior, and what you spend your time doing.
46:09Do you write more songs during the winter months?
46:12Writing songs is the perfect thing to do when you're inside in a small room.
46:17And I think it kind of, maybe even architecture, spending time indoors in small rooms, can influence the sound.
46:24Are the songs more intimate? Are your voice more intimate?
46:28In Iceland, we work a lot on headphones. We have a great connection to details.
46:33A lot of people say Icelandic music is textural, but maybe it's also just because in Iceland it is silent.
46:39It is very quiet.
46:51We should have left our hearts in the forest, where they first met.
46:59We take them back, but now they are broken, and start to slowly forget.
47:22And if I don't see you, no, I'll see you another year. We'll be reunited someday, some way.
47:31And I lie with the faith, but we know that it'll stay. We can make it reappearing, or send me
47:38out somewhere.
47:40La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
47:54But I cherish and embrace it, appreciate the time you've got.
48:00I'll ask you to forget me now, someday, somewhere.
48:04And our love, it will fade, but we know that it will stay.
48:08We can make it reappear someday, somewhere.
48:14Daniel wanted to show me one more Icelandic tradition.
48:18There are hot spring baths on the edge of this fjord.
48:23Everybody talks about how beautiful Iceland is, but when I arrived, I was really, truly shocked.
48:29It's so incredible here.
48:31It is incredibly beautiful, and whenever I come back home, when I've been traveling, I feel really grateful to live
48:38here.
48:38It's a very special place.
48:40I think Icelanders really do appreciate the beauty of this place,
48:45but I think they're also quite aware of under the surface of beauty, there is also a lot of danger.
48:51This wasn't always an easy place to live in for the generations that came before.
48:57And it's awe-inspiring in many ways to live here, but it's also terrible, and you need to treat it
49:04with respect.
49:05Beautiful.
49:16This has got to be one of the most picturesque hot springs in the world.
49:21This is one of a kind.
49:23Yeah, this is a really, really beautiful spot, this hot spring here on Komsvik.
49:28But this is also the result of volcanic activity, right?
49:33I mean, this place is full of contrasts.
49:35You know, we have the extreme cold, and then we have this heat rising from the earth.
49:40You know, we have almost completely bright summers, and then it gets very dark in the winter.
49:47And it's always swinging between these two extremes.
49:51They live together in one small country.
49:54That's true.
50:02So why is Iceland so musical?
50:05This beautiful, terrible landscape certainly shapes their art, and you can hear it in Anna's cello concerto.
50:27Really ill-made art, if you can hear it in Anna's cello concerto, and you can hear it in Anna's
50:32cello concerto.
50:32This is a classic theater scene where I gagged a lot of dance.
50:32This is a minor project that I'm showed up on Komsvik.
50:33This is a major project that I have 1,000 feet here on Komsvik.
50:33This is a major project that I've worked with you, and I was working on Komsvik.
50:33He's a major project that I've worked with him to take time.
50:33This is a major project work and a project that I've worked with you today on Komsvik.
50:33I've worked with him till you as well-knowledge.
51:42This soaring choral hymn, so different, is also by Anna.
51:56That says a lot about Icelandic musicians.
52:07In a small population, they must be versatile, easily crossing genres.
52:15They're classically trained, yet shaped by a thousand years of distinct culture.
52:23In dark winters, they have time and silence to create.
52:28In bright summers, they explode with song.
52:36This magnificent choir, by the way, are all amateurs.
52:41Icelanders who come together to sing together.
52:44They are doers, as they say.
52:46And what they do is music.
52:50I'm Scott Yu, and I hope you can now hear this.
53:17This program is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.
53:23To find out more about this and other Great Performances programs, visit pbs.org slash greatperformances and follow us on
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