Nordic Delight (Festival) presents.. Iceland.

A couple of weeks ago a selection of the Icelandic Music scene flew over from their rough, vulcanic Island to impress the European festival-bookers and international music-journalist during the Eurosonic showcase festival in Groningen. In the slipstream of Eurosonic the Nordic Delight Festival in Utrecht arranged an even more exciting festival in EKKO, Utrecht. As follow-up to their previous sold-out and extra-ordinary Nordic Delight Norwegian Night they managed to organise an evening with 3 excellent performing live-acts, a couple of short Icelandic films and for some early-bird ticketholders a 3-course dinner! The only thing missing? Schnapps like Brennivin and Opal.

Dinner for starters..

The evening started off when I joined a couple of my Iceland music friends at the dinner table. Discussing the music for the night the first course was served. Tapas! Not actually something you would expect from Iceland but indeed an interesting menu-choice as it consisted of air dried haddock, rye bread and sour herring.  The main course was a bit more predictable but yet again very tasteful: braised lamb with mashed potato's and.. berries and spices from the currently active volcano-area Bárdarbunga. To finish of the culinary part of the evening a rhye pancake with oven baked rhubard, whipped cream and blueberries was served. Delicious!

Valdimar

The music part of the evening started just after 8pm with Valdimar Gudmundsson and his band: simply Valdimar. I had seen his name and records many times in recordstores in Reykjavik but never listened to their music before. It probably has something to do with my nose for good music in combination with appealing recordsleeves. Somehow Icelanders seem to making great music but hide their treasures in less appealing packages. But I do have to admit, if Valdimar had put himself on the cover it would not have been his biggest sellingpoint. My point? Valdimar sounded amazing! Rich music, fine vocals and a singer who easily managed to impress the crowd while one of the guitar-players controlled his pedals barefoot.  Next time I'll be in Reykjavik/Iceland I really hope to see these guys play again.

Low Roar

Originally from the USA the musician Ryan Karazija (of the band Audreye Sessions) moved to Iceland a couple of years ago. Enchanted by his new homeland he started a new band: Low Roar. It's first album in 2011 was a collection of songs written to express his experiences of starting his new life on Iceland. Titles like "Give Up", "Help Me", "Patience" and "Nobody Else" are sort of exemplary for the feelings of hope and despair he must have experienced in the beginning. In the fall of 2014 Low Roar's high anticipated second album "O" came out. During Iceland Airwaves '14 their performances were well attended and as one of the 19 Icelandic Erupting acts during Eurosonic '15 the band got many great reviews from press and audience. After two performances in Groningen and one in Amsterdam saturday night was Low Roar-night at Nordic Delight presents Iceland. Or so it seemed. Although there must have been some people watching movies during this one night festival in EKKO the was little room left in the venue as the room was packed. The electro/ambient-like music combined with guitar and emotionally touching vocals took the audience on a breathtaking journey. In contrast with their previous gigs the lightshow was rather dark which made it even more intense. However, as I was trying to capture some of the magic with still photography my attention dropped after about 30 minutes as the music started to sound the same. Nevertheless, somehow they managed to turn the tide and reclaim my attention as I wanted to hear more at the end of their show.

Fufanu
The closing act of the night and one of the highest anticipated new bands from Iceland was Fufanu. Originally they started off as the quite successful techno-duo Captain Fufanu. They made many remixes, played lots of gigs but never released an album as such. Around 2013 they wanted do broaden their musical horizon and added live instruments (guitar & live-drums) to their music. They lost the captain-part but returned as the much stronger Fufanu. Post rocking new wave is the new future! I had seen them twice before (Airwaves & Eurosonic) and the first thing I noticed was a change in the line-up. In the process of the Fufanu-evolution the third man of the band who joined in 2013, drummer Frosti Gnarr, had left the stage.  After Frosti left the band returned to it's original line-up with Kaktus and Gudlaugur. However, live they are joined by a bass-player, an electronics/keyboard-player and a new drummer. Frosti's replacement on stage made the looks and sound of Fufanu even better. Although the venue was less crowded then during the Low Roar-performance these guys rocked! The sound was good, Kaktus was definitely the best singer and frontman of the night. Or at least the most convincing. I can hardly wait until their debut-album comes out. In an earlier interview they mentioned all the music was recorded, it only had to be mixed and mastered. Exciting times ahead. These Icelandic guys are really gonna be big!

Next?
Unfortunately after the performance by Fufanu the Icelandic night came to an end. But nothing to worry about. Low Roar is gonna return for the Motel Mozaique-festival in Rotterdam in april. It would surprise me if Fufanu isn't gonna pop up in at least 1 or 2 (Dutch) festivals in the near future. And I suggest to watch out for new activities by the Nordic Delight Festival-staff. Rumor has it they are preparing for a Danish Delight-night. Or was it Swedish? It actually doesn't really matter which Nordic country they'll pick. It is gonna be another great night. I can assure you!


More pictures can be found here.