Two extensive Iceland-related cultural events ran simultaneously in two different countries, Iceland and Germany, last week from October 12-16. In Reykjavík the Iceland Airwaves music festival concluded yesterday while the Frankfurt Book Fair, where Iceland was the guest of honor, came to an end. Both events were considered a success.
Inside the Icelandic pavilion at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Photo by Bernhild Vögel.
The German media has applauded Iceland’s participation in the book fair with Frankfurter Rundschau describing the Icelandic pavilion as cozy and Frankfurter Allgemeine stating that a guest country’s participation has rarely been as successful, ruv.is reports.
The Iceland Airwaves music festival came to an end after five eventful and “sweaty” days, as Morgunbladid describes, where hundreds of Icelandic and foreign bands performed around Reykjavík, both as part of the official and off-venue programs.
The new concert and conference center Harpa, which opened on the capital’s waterfront in May, was used as a venue with John Grant performing on Saturday, much to the delight of fans. Björk also performed at Harpa, as did the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band.
Other highlights included Sinead O’Connor’s concert in the church Fríkirkjan by the Reykjavík Pond, Icelandic punk legend Ham who performed at the Reykjavík Art Museum’s Hafnarhús building and electro-pop group GusGus who also took the stage at Hafnarhús.
Click here to read more about this year’s Airwaves and here to read more about the Frankfurt Book Fair.
ESA
