Nature and Nation: National Identity and Environmentalism in Icelandic Popular Music Video and Music Documentary

Abstract

Many Icelandic musicians have claimed that the Icelandic popular music scene has helped create a new Icelandic identity since the nation gained independence in 1944. This paper examines the character of that identity and its relationship to wider societal concerns in contemporary Iceland, in particular environmental politics and the conflation of nation with nature. This analysis reveals the ways in which popular music and its moving image are shaped by, and the varied responses they offer to, nationalism and globalisation.

Keywords:

• Nationalism
• Nature
• Popular Music
• Iceland

Notes

1. Björk, 23 June 2008. ‘Náttúra-Reykjavík-28 June 2008’. http://www.bjork.com/ (last accessed 29 June 2008).

2. ‘Statistics Iceland’, 2008. http://www.statice.is/ (last accessed 30 October 2008). At the time of writing the Icelandic banks had been nationalised as part of the global economic crisis.

3. The Cod Wars (known in Icelandic as Þorskastrídin (‘the cod wars’), or Landhelgisstrídin (‘the wars for the territorial waters’)) were a series of disputes between Iceland and the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 1970s over fishing rights in the North Atlantic.

4. During the independence movement the distinctiveness and historical continuity of the Icelandic language was emphasised, and the sagas and folktales helped create a sense of shared cultural identity for the nation. The sagas also provided a means to map and lay claim to lands in which there was little visible sign of the past 1000 years of human habitation.

5. ‘Statistics Iceland’, 2008. http://www.statice.is/ (last accessed 30 October 2008).

6. Hallgrímur Helgason, author of the novel 101 Reykjavík (1996), credits Björk for an increase in the self-esteem of Icelanders: ‘My generation was brought up feeling that we were out of place, a nation of losers, too small and provincial. I mean, we didn't even have beer until 1989 and the first Icelandic pizza was baked in 1990. In my youth the word “red wine” had an exotic ring to it, a bit like “balsamic vinegar” has here today. We really didn't feel proud of our country. But now everything has changed. All thanks to Björk, I guess. We've gained our self-esteem and our self-respect, a generation has grown up that is more internationally thinking’ (quoted in Robert Jackson, 2004, ‘Hallgrímur Helgason’, The Reykjavík Grapevine. www.grapevine.is (last accessed 1 April 2008)).

7. Sonya Procenko, 2000. ‘Iceland balks at island freebie for Björk’. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/iceland-balks-at-island-freebie-for-bjork-724765.html (last accessed 1 April 2008).

8. ‘Iceland Discoveries’, Your Official Travel Guide to Iceland. http://www.icetourist.is/displayer.asp?cat_id=481 (last accessed 29 October 2008).

9. IMX, 2007. ‘About Icelandic Music Export’. http://www.icelandmusic.is/About-IMX/ (last accessed 1 July 2008).

10. ‘MTV's Greatest Video Ever’, 2008. http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/438188-greatest-video-ever (last accessed 30 October 2008).

11. ‘Gold and Platinum’, Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php (last accessed 30 October 2008).

12. John Best, 15 September 2007. ‘Sigur Ros Heima Production Notes, John Best’. http://www.heimafilm.com/ (last accessed 23 June 2008).

13. Rob Fern, 1997. ‘Björk, don't run’, Mixmag, 122–125. http://www.ebweb.at/ortner/tia/97/mixmag9709/mixmag9709.html (last accessed 27 August 2007).

14. Rhubarb is a vegetable that grows easily in Iceland and was therefore valued as a traditional supplement to the diet of lamb and fish. It also appears as a title and a visual image in music videos. For example, in the animated music video of ‘Rhubarbidoo’ (2007) by Múm, the rhubarb stems are creatures that sing and dance.

15. The music video ‘Jóga’ (1997) can be viewed online at http://bjork.com/videos/ (last accessed 2 February 2009).

16. Björk quoted in Ken Micallef, 1997, ‘Home is Where the Heart Is’, Raygun. http://ebweb.at/ortner/tia/97/raygun9709/raygun9709.html (last accessed 23 August 2007).

17. Björk (1997) quoted in ‘Homogenic’. http://unit.bjork.com/specials/albums/homogenic/ (last accessed 27 January 2009).

18. John Best, 15 September 2007. ‘Sigur Ros Heima Production Notes, John Best’. http://www.heimafilm.com/ (last accessed 23 June 2008).

19. The idea of landscape and space appears in many other musical contexts, but for discussion of this in audio-visual contexts see Mera (2006).

20. I have omitted the name of the producer due to the possibly derogatory implications of the comment.

21. Since the 1990s feature films have presented less of an opposition between country and city, and while the city is still shown as a place of corruption, it is presented on its own terms rather than in comparison to an idealized rural life. Country and city are no longer presented as a choice between two lives, but as a contrast between past and present.

22. Gunnar Örn Tynes, ‘Summer Make Good’ interview, Toazted. http://www.toazted.com/interview/341/Mum.html (last accessed 30 October 2008).

23. Josephine DeMuth, January 2006. ‘Saving Iceland interview with Björk’, from Saving Iceland. www.savingiceland.org (last accessed 1 April 2008).

24. Pro-dam groups focused on undermining constructions of the land as aesthetically pleasing. For example, the government-sponsored documentary ‘Iceland in a New Light’, broadcast on state television in 2003, described the highlands as “bleak and desolate” (Magnason 2006, 252), and filmmaker Omar Ragnarsson was told that his own documentary portrayal of the wilderness was “too beautiful”. Haukur Magnusson ‘A witness to the execution: an interview with Olafur Ragnasson’, The Reykjavik Grapevine. http://www.grapevine.is/Author/ReadArticle/A-Witness-to-the-Execution (last accessed 26 February 2009).

25. The involvement of popular music in political causes can be seen as part of a history of political activism and protest within Western rock music (Street 1986).

26. Björk quoted in Evelyn McDonnell, 1997, ‘Björk - The Saga of Iceland's Fierce Faerie’, Request. http://www.ebweb.at/ortner/tia/97/request9712/request9712.html (last accessed 20 August 2007).

27. Björk, 23 June 2008. ‘Náttúra - Reykjavík - 28 June 2008’. http://www.bjork.com/ (last accessed 29 June 2008).

28. For example, all the proceeds from the single ‘Náttúra’ go to the Náttúra campaign.

29. ‘Náttúra.info’. http://bjork.com/news/?id=866;year=2008#news (last accessed 28 January 2009).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicola Dibben

Nicola Dibben is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Sheffield. Her research into music, mind and culture has been published in over 25 book chapters and journal articles and she is the author of two books: Björk (Equinox Press, 2009) and Music and Mind in Everyday Life (Forthcoming Oxford University Press). She is also joint co-ordinating editor of the journal Popular Music.