Further Information

Bergmál fjallanna is the debut album by composer, pianist and vocalist Sigurdís Tryggvadóttir. The jazz album features nine vocal and instrumental pieces, most of them composed by Sigurdís. It also includes five Icelandic poems featured on the album, along with their English translations.

Sigurdís is joined by drummer Péter Horváth and double bassist Mariusz Praśniewski. The album will be released as a limited edition of 200 copies on 180-gram vinyl. Each copy is unique, individually numbered from 1–200. All the main stages of creating the album are now complete, with only the final preparations and production remaining.

That is what this crowdfunding campaign is for.

Inspired by nature

I grew up on a farm in Northwest Iceland. After living in Denmark for the past nine years, the distance from Iceland has given me a new perspective and a stronger connection to my roots and where I come from. Nature, its contrasting forces, and the changing seasons have been a source of inspiration and form a thread throughout the album.

Here you can listen to a short clip of Vor:

The mountains are a defining part of the landscape where I grew up, and they are the inspiration behind the piece Bergmál. Among them, I often feel very small in relation to nature, yet at the same time part of something much larger than myself.

The mountains hold echoes of the past

After moving away from Iceland, I began to think more about the Icelandic language and notice how rich and expressive it is. The word bergmál is a good example. It can be split into berg and mál, meaning mountain and language — as if the mountains had a language of their own. When a sound travels between the mountains and returns to you, it almost feels as though they are part of the conversation, answering you. To me, these mountains also hold echoes of the past, and some of those echoes have found their way into this album.

Jónas Tryggvason (1916-1983)

Jónas was a composer and poet, as well as my grandfather’s brother. He passed away a decade before I was born, so we never met, but we are connected through the place we both called home, our family, and a shared passion for artistic creation. Jónas began losing his sight at a young age, and in his deeply personal poems, which I have set to music, Icelandic nature intertwines with the joys and sorrows of life, light and darkness, dreams and reality.

Here you can listen to a short clip of Draumur undir Dimmuborg:

Icelandic poems in English translations

The album also includes two songs by Jónas, set to poems by two of Iceland’s most beloved poets, Davíð Stefánsson and Þorsteinn Valdimarsson. It also features a song by Jófríður Ákadóttir, set to a poem by Davíð.

The five poems featured on the album have been translated into English by Elin Thordarson. Both the original Icelandic poems and their English translations are included with the vinyl.

Recording Bergmál fjallanna

The album was recorded over two days at Mars Music Studio in Denmark in November 2025. On the album, I play piano and sing, alongside Mariusz Praśniewski on double bass and Péter Horváth on drums.

Canadian pianist, composer and four-time Juno Award winner David Braid produced the album. He was with us in the studio and later edited the recordings and mixed the album. Peter Hellesøe engineered the recording sessions and later mastered the album.

From left: Péter Horváth, Mariusz Praśniewski, me, David Braid and Peter Hellesøe.

Design

The design of the release was created by Frederik Schultz Madsen and Julie Brandt. Among their sources of inspiration was the book Tónar í tómstundum, published by the Bólstaðarhlíðarhreppur Men’s Choir in 1985. Jónas’s music has been part of the choir’s history, and the book includes several of his songs and choral arrangements. My grandfather conducted the choir for 35 years, and the book was handwritten by their third brother, Guðmundur Tryggvason.

Independent release

I am releasing Bergmál fjallanna independently and have managed the project from the first idea to the finished album. I have put countless hours of work into the project, and there has been a lot to learn along the way when doing something like this for the first time.

Now only the final and most costly stage remains: producing the vinyl. Every contribution makes a difference and helps me bring the album to life. If you don’t own a record player but would still like to support the release, you can contribute without choosing a reward. The contribution is set at a minimum amount, but you are of course welcome to contribute more.

If you have read all the way to the end, thank you for taking the time to learn about the project. And if you decide to support it, I am incredibly grateful for your contribution.