kjartan & credo in cork
left to right: choral arranger john o’ brien, conductor robert ziegler and kjartan sveinsson. photo by clare keogh)
as mentioned a few months back – “credo” by kjartan sveinsson was performed in cork, ireland, on the 29th of july as part of “the reich effect” season. kjartan’s piece performed by the rté orchestra and voice effect choir, closed the friday night bill of jonny greenwood’s doghouse, 2 pieces by nico muhly and one by reich’s eight lines, to a tear-stained standing ovation. (thanks to mary hickson for a great event)
the irish times has an overview of the 5 day “the reich effect” season as well as an interview with kjartan from before the event.
heima released digitally with exclusive extras
in 2006, sigur rós toured iceland on a homecoming tour – this tour became the film heima and was released in 2007. now the digital version of ‘heima’ is available from sigur-ros.co.uk with exclusive extras never seen before. the film (with 5.1 audio), the entire set of extras as well as five exclusive videos not in the original dvd release. details and ordering info is available on sigur-ros.co.uk/heima.
film scored by kjartan at cannes film festival
an icelandic / danish film called “volcano”, directed by rúnar rúnarsson will get its premiere at cannes film festival today in france. the music to the movie was scored by kjartan. information on the film is available at the website of the icelandic film centre
update: variety magazine posted an overview of the film here.
performances by kjartan in austria and ireland
kjartan sveinsson will be taking part in two performances over the next few months – the first in austria in june and the second in ireland in july.
“take me here by the dishwasher” – vienna, austria. june 8th.
kjartan composed the soundtrack to the piece “take me here by the dishwasher” by icelandic artist ragnar kjartansson. on the 8th of june, kjaran will be performing at the bawag contemporary art museum in vienna as part of the “ragnar kjartansson and all star band” – some information about that event can be found here. the installation is in place in the until the 26th of june (with the music performed by other musicians).
on the 15th of june in the same museum, there is a “a tribute to kjartan sveinsson” movie night where there will be screenings of 3 movies to which he has supplied music; “in the dark“, “last farm” and “plastic bag“.
“credo” – cork, ireland. july 29th
as part of “the reich effect” season in the cork city proms in cork, ireland, “credo” will be performed by the rté concert orchestra along with “doghouse” by jonny greenwood from radiohead. the event takes place in the city hall and tickets are available now here. kjartan will be in attendance for the event.
(additional: news about kjartans soundtrack for the icelandic film “volcano” here)
music used in the “human planet” promo
the sigur rós song ‘sæglópur’ from takk is being featured as the official music for the trailer videos for the upcoming broadcast of human planet, a new discovery channel program in the united states about people’s ability to thrive in our planet’s most extreme environments.
kjartan in bbc radio 4′s volcano
kjartan sveinsson will appear in the bbc radio 4 programme jules verne’s volcano next thursday (the 14th of april) at 11:30am. the programme is a sound portrait of iceland, investigating one of iceland’s more literary but no less famous volcanoes, snæfellsjökull (the glacier that contains the passage to the centre of the earth in verne’s 1864 classic). the programme is been made by acclaimed nature sound recordist chris watson who, among other things, has worked on david attenborough docs and provided the glacial cracking sounds for our own ‘heima’.
the programme will be available on the bbc iplayer for 7 days after broadcast.
kjartan chatting with chris watson. photo by rose de larrabeiti
sveinsson + kjartansson art event in denmark
kjartan has written music for acclaimed icelandic artist ragnar kjartansson‘s installation at charlottenborg palace in denmark this saturday (march 5). the piece features 10 acoustic guitarists playing new music kjartan has written for a period of 8 hours from 12 noon til 8pm. the music features 8 interwoven pieces that form a rolling and repetitive loop, with players dropping in and out for cigarette and booze breaks as the fancy takes them.
this event is part of the wider palace party series of events planned for the day.
update:
ragnar kjartansson with music by kjartan sveinsson (2011). photo: anders sune berg
new sigur rós store opens
so after what seems like an eternity, we have a brand new official sigur rós store now open here on 18 seconds before sunrise! the big idea being that you can come to us first for anything sigur rós related both past and present. we will try to keep it updated and will continue to think of new exciting things to add along the way.
in addition to all the other goodies on the store we have some extremely limited edition solid silver pendants to commemorate 10 years of ágætis byrjun.
we’ve also added a handful of hard to get your hands on ba ba ti ki di do 12″ vinyl which we found in the vaults and even fewer of the sæglópur e.p on vinyl that was discovered in the same dark, dusty confines. we’ll keep looking to see what else crops up.
so if you can’t think of what you get your loved ones for christmas maybe you can fine something here? or maybe you just want to treat yourself.
i know we haven’t given you much notice but please don’t forget to get your orders in asap to make christmas shipping deadlines:
sunday 5th december
south & central america, caribbean, africa, middle east, far east, asia, new zealand and australiathursday 9th december
japan, usa, canada and eastern europesunday 12th december
western europemonday 20th december
uk – first class
credo & riceboy sleeps concert stream and photos
last week, two sigur rós side projects were performed for the first time live at the church of st paul the apostle in new york city: the contemporary classical piece ‘credo’ by kjartan and six songs from the jónsi & alex record ‘riceboy sleeps’. the works were performed by the latvian national choir and the wordless music orchestra. jónsi & alex joined the groups onstage for the ‘riceboy sleeps’ concert, jónsi occasionally lending a little bit of his voice to the performance.
the performance was broadcast on wqxr’s contemporary classical internet radio station q2. please find a direct link below to the on-demand audio stream.
- credo & riceboy sleeps concert stream (credo starts at 24:24, riceboy sleeps starts at 69:30)
- new york times review
- rolling stone review
slideshow from the concert & dress rehearsal:
credo & riceboy sleeps performance tonight
an update on tonights performance of ‘credo’ & ‘riceboy sleeps’ in new york city. the sold out event starts at 7:30pm in the church of st. paul the apostle. the event is sold out but the audio of the concert will be streaming live on the wqxr.org website and will be available on demand after the event. (view here for the starting time of the event in your time zone)
here is a note from the management on how the run up to the event has been:
First rehearsal with choir and orchestra in St Paul the Apostle late last night. lots of teething problems. sounds completely different when you take it out of a tiny rehearsal room. not aided by fact that, being church, everything has to be broken down for mass now and again. i guess if they weren’t stressed they wouldn’t be human. got a feeling it’s going to come together today. it’d better!
and now for some pictures:
sigur rós song in danny boyle film ’127 hours’
the sigur rós song ‘festival’ (from með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust) is featured the new film 127 hours, which opened this weekend in the united states.
the movie is directed by danny boyle (trainspotting, 28 days later, slumdog millionaire) and is about the experience of mountain climber aron ralston when he tries to save himself trapped in a utah canyon for five days. ‘festival’ is featured prominently in the film’s closing minutes.
kjartan / jonsi & alex joint event in new york city
ok, we thought we ought to give you some more details on what to expect if you have a ticket for the lincoln center / wordless music / sigur rós-affiliated event at the church of st paul the apostle in new york city on november 15.
part of the center’s ‘white light festival’, the evening has been billed under the simple banner ‘credo’ in most listings, although kjartan’s composition for choir and orchestra of that name is only one of several pieces being performed on the night. in addition you will get to experience ‘cage a swallow can’t you but you can’t swallow a cage’, kjartan’s arrangement for the human voice of canadian poet ann carson’s work as performed by the hilliard ensemble, as well as the world premier live performance of music from jonsi & alex’s ‘riceboy sleeps’ project as played by the pair with a full orchestra.
the running order of the evening is still being devised but essentially here’s what on the menu:
‘cage a swallow can’t you but you can’t swallow a cage’ – written by kjartan sveinsson. based on the sonnets of ann carson. performed by the hilliard ensemble
‘credo’ – written by kjartan sveinsson. performed by latvian choir and wordless music orchestra
‘riceboy sleeps’ – written by jon thor birgisson and alex somers. performed by jonsi and alex with the wordless music orchestra
each of these pieces is presented in public for the first time in its current form*
you can still get tickets for this event here – http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/white-light-2010-credo
anyone attending the ‘credo’ event and presenting their ticket stub for jonsi’s solo show at the hammerstein ballroom five days previously (nov 10) will be able to claim a free commemorative poster from the merch stand.
information: whitelightfestival.org / wordlessmusic.org / hilliardensemble.demon.co.uk / jonsiandalex.com
* kjartan was involved in a very different presentation of ann carson’s palindromicly-titled poetry at the whitney museum of american art last year (more info).
a very nascent treatment of ‘credo’ was performed in reykjavik in 2007.
homage or fromage? part deux
well, this has been a by-turns interesting and amusing, if ultimately slightly depressing, exercise. it’s great that so many people have been motivated to send us their local examples of sigur rós sound-a-likes; who knew there were so very many?
homage or fromage?
as some of you may know sigur rós have spent the decade since they were thrust into the spotlight saying ‘no’ to their music being used in advertising. yes, they’ve done movies, tv and given music to charity “synchs” (as it is called when you “synchronise” music to picture), but despite rumours to the contrary they have never allowed their music to be used to sell anything. and they get asked a lot. sometimes they get asked, say ‘no’ and then a few months later an ad will suddenly appear that sounds strangely familiar.
performance of ‘credo’ in new york city
on the 15th of november in new york city, a special concert will take place as part of the ‘white light festival’ and involves a performance of ‘credo’ by kjartan as well as some works from ‘riceboy sleeps’:
composer and keyboardist kjartan sveinsson of the icelandic post-rock group sigur rós will join forces with the hilliard ensemble and the latvian national chorus for an evening titled credo. they will perform three of his new works, one of which features texts by canadian poet anne carson. the evening also comprises works from riceboy sleeps, the celebrated ambient creation of jón por “jónsi” birgisson, the incandescent voice of sigur rós, and his partner alex somers. credo takes place at the church of st. paul the apostle, 60th and columbus avenue, manhattan.
for more information on the evening as well as ticket information, please visit the lincoln centre website.
also, for more information on the inception of the piece ‘credo’ read our news story from 2007.
a sneak preview of the upcoming sigur rós live film
back at the end of 2008 we gave an update to the recording of the two london shows in november 2008. as we said at the time we had no idea about the timeframe, but now we’ve a little bit more to tell people.
things have been moving on apace with the film we are making of sigur rós’s final concerts in london in november 2008, and we are currently finalising two exclusive work-in-progress edits of songs from the project, direct from the computer of director vincent morisset (arcade fire’s ‘miroir noir’, etc) himself.
these two edits will be made available exclusively to fans who purchase tickets to see jónsi in concert over the next few months. further details are on jonsi.com
heima & go quiet screening
on july 31st 2010 there will be a free, outdoor double feature screening of go quiet and heima at the musicians institute in los angeles california. following the two films, there will be a q&a with the director dean deblois. you can rsvp here
the jónsi merch store is now open
the jónsi merch store is now open on jonsi.com. the shop has a selection of stuff inspired by the “go” album artwork by jónsi’s sisters lilja and inga birgisdóttir. the selection includes t-shirts, a hoodie, a tote bag, heavyweight posters, a scarf as well as jónsi’s very own raw organic chocolate. the store’s also got copies of jónsi’s limited edition album (also available in a digital format).
sigur rós win at mojo awards
last night sigur rós won “the mojo outstanding contribution to music” award at the mojo awards show in london.
phil alexander (mojo’s editor-in-chief): “sigur rós are widely recognised as men of mystery. their enigmatic presence is matched by their music. having a member of radiohead, philip selway, present this award tells you just how much fellow musicians love them. they are like a latter day pink floyd – transporting and epic. and their contribution to music can be heard and felt everywhere.”
the band were in attendance to accept the prize. you can read more about the other award winners on the mojo website.
update: now with video!
georg talks about gogoyoko
something sigur rós care deeply about is fair play in music. here is georg talking about gogoyoko – a new online music store and social network where artists receive 100% of their sales revenue and a 40% cut of gogoyoko’s advertising revenue, based on the streaming of their music.
georg: “finally there is something that actually changes things, rather than just slightly … this is taking the concept a lot further”
please help us spread the word.
thanks.
oregon school of music perform ‘ára bátur’
on the 1st of may at the university of oregon, the oregon wind enemble will perform ‘ára bátur” – the piece is being arranged by david vickerman as part of his master’s degree. for more information please visit the event page on facebook.
jónsi starts his tour
so, we may all be off on “indefinite hiatus”, “having babies”, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a little time out of our busy diaper changing schedule to wish our singer jonsi heartfelt good luck on his own first baby-steps without his *real* band for the first time in, ooh, 15 years, must be. we’ve heard the record and, honestly, some of it is quite good. ok, that’s a joke. ‘go’ is bloody marvellous. well done, strákur, always knew you had it in you, etc – although you could lay off the english; we’ve got our ‘mystique’ to think about. anyway, we believe he’s also arranged some live concerts, in fact the first one’s today apparently, in vancouver, canada, a place for which we’ve got a lot of fond memories. we’ve not seen the show, but understand it involves some quite ambitious set design, projection, lighting and what-not. anyway, do yourselves a favour and go and check him out in a town, city or burg near you and let us know that it’s good… but not that good, you know?
knus, sigur ros
for more information on the jónsi tour, visit jonsi.com/concerts
music matters
this animated short film was made by felix massie as part of the ‘music matters‘ campaign which has just launched.
music matters, which launches today, is bringing people together from across the industry for the first time, to highlight the profound value of music and to educate consumers on how to identify legitimate music services.
allowing the music to speak for itself, music matters has commissioned a series of short animated films about inspirational artists who have dedicated their lives to music and contributed to our cultural landscape. the films, including the stories of artists such as blind willie johnson, the jam, john martyn, nick cave, sigur ros, kate bush and the fron choir, will be carried on supporting artist and organisation websites, with further films scheduled for roll out later in the year.
jónsi ‘go’ limited edition now on sale
the limited edition of ‘go’ is now available to preorder over on jonsi.com. the limited edition includes, among other things, a new film called ‘go quiet’, featuring jónsi performing all the songs on the album acoustically at home in reykjavík. the limited edition is available to buy in physical or digital format.
jónsi tour pre-sale and video
a fan-only pre-sale of tickets to jónsi’s north america concerts began today at 10am (local time) tuesday the 9th of february. using the password “go”, you can find links to purchase tickets on jonsi.com/concerts
to coincide with the presale, we launched a more extensive jonsi.com, where you will also find some new media updates including jónsi’s new video “go do”.
still from jónsi’s video “go do”
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