Further Information

THE PROJECT

Up and down and in between – off the beaten path
A filmed concert tour

The concert Up and down and in between – off the beaten path is a unique opportunity to get to know Iceland, its national heritage and to hear stories you may not have heard before and to support a cultural event with few of its kind.

The ultimate goal of the tour will be to capture it visually and audibly.
An event taking place in spectacular locales is largely visual by itself,therefore filming and preserving the event is imperative to the project. The Finnish-Romanian filmmaker Dragos Alexandrescu is responsible for the cinematography. The cooperation with him and the project as a whole, is also a part of North Cultidude 6263, an international collaboration of artists in northern latitudes

The project entails six concerts with Icelandic folk songs, expressing what‘s most relevant to human existence at choice locations around Iceland in July 2019. These locations are:

11. July Tjarnargígur in Lakagígar (Laka kraters)
12. July Akranes lighthouse
14. July Stefánshellir cave in Hallmundarhraun
16. July Herring tank in Djúpavík
18. July Botnstjörn pond in Ásbyrgi
20. July Emelíuklappir in Grímsey

These locations are chosen with the intent of captivating a listening audience and ensuring a good perspective for cameras. Surprise guests are also expected to appear.

The goal of the project is to preserve Icelandic heritage in this natural and unique environment and create material suitable for television, insertions and music videos.

It’s invigorating to be a viewer and listener of art in nature or other unique environments. The senses sharpen and create an extraordinary experience only enhanced by the songs sung. This is a layered event, where the audience becomes one with the show.

THE SINGER

My name is Anna Jónsdóttir and I‘m an independent soprano singer from Reykjavik with the world as my playground.

It has been both a curse and a blessing to work in an environment as sparsely populated as Iceland.
A curse as career opportunities are few and our society small, as a result people are often labelled as this or that, both in art and life.
A blessing exactly because of those same issues, as its helped me to push forward and create my own projects and make my own success in unorthodox ways.

I have performed music from many different time periods and have hosted multiple solo concerts with a varied program, everything from renaissance- and folk music to the premiering of newer works.

However, Icelandic folk songs are first and foremost what keeps me occupied as time goes on and I find that precious.

If I had to put a finger on when I started performing them the way I most often do, without accompaniment, then I could trace it back to when I stayed at Music Omi in the state of New York in America, the summer of 2010. There I was asked to hold a lecture on Iceland’s musical heritage and to showcase some Icelandic songs. I only had myself and my voice and decided to describe our legacy and then sing a song as an example. Then I would repeat this to the students who partook in classes on the premises.

For this reason the Icelandic folk songs became a cornerstone of my work and heart on foreign soil. Only then I realized how much of a treasure these unique,ancient songs and texts were, the legacy of Iceland. They are different from the folk songs of other countries due to their sheer age and how they’ve remained unchanged because of Iceland’s isolation throughout the ages.

I also realized how remarkable the human voice is, even unaccompanied, and how much of an opportunity it can be to utilize it as an instrument on its own, even though the experience can be enhanced with a good environment and quality acoustics.

WHY THIS PROJECT?

The year of 2014 I released the album VAR, containing 14 Icelandic folk songs, it was recorded in a herring tank in Djúpavík and Akranes lighthouse.

You could say that album is this project‘s predecessor, following it came the desire to put the folk songs into a grander context and take them beyond traditional concert spaces, to create a new style of concert that remains inherently ancient. To invite people to come and share a moment and listen to music within an enthralling setting while taking part in the music. It is something that brings us all closer, something we could all use in a fast-moving world with little intimacy.

There is a profound beauty in the folk songs that grows as you acquaint yourself with them. It is therefore a special privilege to become part of another chapter in Iceland’s timeless musical legacy.

Performing these songs in spectacularplaces, out in nature from where they were conceived, and simultaneously frame them visually and record the event is perhaps my way of being thankful, to serve them briefly with my time here on earth.

THE FINAL RESULT AND THE CREW

As stated before, the ultimate goal of the tour is to capture the concert in harmony with nature with sound and video. There is a plan to film a documentary using that groundwork that can be shown on television and other media. It will also be used for music videos and insertions that will later be used during exhibits that cannot take place outside in nature. Instead they will offer an insight into the environment the songs originate from.

To make this happen, filmmaker and artist (Finland/Romania) Dragos Alexandrescu and sound engineer Árni Gylfason (Iceland) will be joining me. They’reassigned the hefty task of recording the concert. Dragos will then handle video processing.

YOUR IMPORTANCE

Why am I asking for your support?

I am a one-woman band and I carry the weight of this project. Funding is needed for travel, accommodations and advertising, to name a few, so the project will go as intended. We have received a grant from Finland for the price of video processing, at least partially.

When you fund this project, you will be:

· Taking part in a one of a kind project

· Putting your mark on history

· Supporting concerts hosted off the beaten path

· Supporting cultural and sociological riches

· Taking part in the creation of a timeless event in art

· Preserving and introducing a cultural legacy within a unique environment

THE DRESS

It is necessary to don an elegant dress, perhaps even of elven quality, with a velvet texture that brings the Icelandic moss to mind.

From the beginning I felt it was important to wear a custom ensamble or dress which fit the stage as well as the project and could act as a denominator for the camera while bringing the performance to another level altogether. I have enlisted designer Ingibjörg Hrönn Guðmundsdóttir to create a befitting attire.

THANK YOU

Thank you for taking the time to acquaint yourself with my project and hopefully support it.Already you have become a participant in my life and work and I look forward to offering you further insight into the ideas and yield of Up and down and in between – off the beaten path.

Thank you

ANNA SAYS

The Icelandic folk songs have empowered me and given me an opportunity to grow and thrive as an artist and a human being. They have taken me in and taken me on a journey which is a constant and ever-changing adventure. They have deepened my understanding of the Icelandic people, my ancestors and the human spirit,because in these songs everything comes back around to the experience of living.

For me it is wonderful to be able to perform this beautiful music that has no other. To step out of a conventional concert hall and onto the “floor” with the audience. Under these circumstances, where people are often required to stand,and by singing without accompaniment, a unique atmosphere is created and a close bond with listeners. I like to talk about the songs beforehand, it almost makes it so that I and the audience are more deeply affected by them.
The distinction of the locations also adds further weight to the experience. It is undeniably special to stand in an abandoned factory or a cave lit only by candlelight, that way you feel something different entirely for the event, the cultural heritage and all that once was.