The Road to Midgard--Sigur Ros homecoming DVD Heima

I've probably been a fan of things Norse ever since I got a copy of D'Aulaire's Norse Myths from the library as a child, reading about Odin, Thor, Loki, and the Frost Giants. And my heritage is at least in part Finnish/Swedish. I read later on about the Vikings and the Norse settlement westward. I was completely awed by the cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's album Porcupine.

My fascination with Iceland really took off with the Sugarcubes, when I saw the video "Cold Sweat". Went down to Tower Records on a mission. I've been to Iceland twice, but I'll reserve that discussion for another time. Just wanted to make a few comments about the great band Sigur Ros and their Dvd Heima. I think they are one of the more creative bands around, and the Dvd is a lot bigger than merely a music Dvd. The band had completed a world tour and returned back to Iceland. Most of the people in the country reside in Reykyavik, the capital, and most of the country is remote and sparsely populated. The middle of the country is mostly uninhabited. As a gesture of gratitude, they decided to do free concerts all over the island, from small halls, churches, to big outdoor venues. Sometimes they played in front of a handful of people in a remote area, and in other cases they played to thousands.

I picked up the album Agaetis Byrgun by the band a few years earlier and was really taken by it. I had heard that Radiohead were fans of there music and actually had them headline their European Tour. Mellow and spiritual, sometime deafeningly noisy, in some ways like a minimalist classical album, and album I like to listen to on a Sunday morning. The singer Jonssi's voice was otherworldly but beautiful, singing in his self created version of Icelandic. I still am surprised that a band like this has found such a great  amount of popularity worldwide. But I think that it is a good thing.The band was augmented by the string quartet Amiina to good affect. I saw them play in New York shortly after the World Trade Center attacks, and it was a very moving concert for me. They are an excellent live band, and I had no idea that Jonssi got sounds out of his guitar at times by using a violin bow on the strings---and during the concert there were moments when the music was filling-rattlingly loud. Due to the recent shocking events, I didn't really feel like even going to the show, but I persevered and went south. I think the emotional nature of the music combining with the visual effects that were used as a backdrop toward the end of the show made the evening into a cathartic experience that will remain with me.

Heima is an excellent movie. The cinematography and sound is pristine, and the musical performances are varied. If you have an interest in Iceland and its people, you can get a real insight into the culture by seeing the film. And the countryside is absolutely gorgeous and strange. In many places it seemed that everyone in town came to see the shows, from infants to seniors. And it is interesting to hear what the band has to say, including their takes on dealing with the business end of the music industry. They really seem to be genuine artists who are making music because that is who they are, and are more interested in doing what they think is great, rather than pandering to the whims of the public.The documentary was definitely well thought out and not just thrown together. There are great scenes when a local marching band parades down the street and finally ends up joining the band on stage. They play at a once populated area where there was a canning factory which in now abandoned. They perform outdoors while children fly red kites in a bright blue sky. And a second disk is included that has straight filmed versions of musical performances.As much as I like concert Dvds "the last waltz" by the Band, or X's "Live at the Whiskey", I think that there is welcome place for music Dvds of this nature. If you are a fan of the band, it is definitely a movie you need to see.