The place where the word „stunning“ was first defined. PIC Sara Bjork
Let us take an inventory. Rotten shark meat? Check. Whale-hunting? Check. Acid potato liquid? Check. Dangerous volcanoes? Check. Expensive everything? Check. Bad banking? Check. Inbred peoples? Check.
Yup, that would sum up Iceland pretty well if need be. But that would be pretty one-sided. We do actually do some things right even if our most precious thing, the unique nature, is only falling foul on our watch too.[blockquote type=”blockquote_line” align=”right”]Yeah, on the whole we are just like you folks out there[/blockquote]
But for the sake of argument let us take another POSITIVE inventory too: Great musicians? Check. Fantastically peculiar? Check. Harmony with elves? Check. Extremely helpful? Check. Magnificent Sagas? Check. Excellent weather? Ehhh….
Yeah, on the whole we are just like you folks out there. People as different as there is in your community. People as stupid as you´ll find in your home town and people as smart as found in offices on top floors in Macau. We have great many things to offer and great many faults to hide.
We know most of you know about the hunting of whales by now. We know most of you realize we absolutely devour rotten food (on occasion) and we know you know all about the treasures found in the air,sea and on this land of ours.
But we are betting you have not a clue about Rímur.
Rímur, or simply Rimur, is Icelandic for rhyme. Except it is not that simple. Rather its epic. Within Rimur there are Rimnahaettir, Rimur meters, which consist of two to four lines per each stanza. They also rhyme and alliterate and allowed variations from the norm number in the hundreds.
In reality, we are doing a poor job of explaining this phenomena. But Icelandic musicians to the rescue. A recent local rap song, yeah bear with us here, incorporated Rímur by one of Iceland´s best known poet Steindor Andersen. Thus to get a feel for Iceland Rímur listen to the vocals and you´ll get a sense of what the heck this is. The second video is also Rímur by Andersen but this time with the well known and wonderful band Sigur Rós.
Then promise to tell all your friends Icelanders do more than just eat rotten shark 😉
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