Icelandic Waves

Currently screening at the GoMA Cinematheque is a program called Icelandic Waves. The program is a series of documentaries celebrating the music culture of Iceland. I was particularly excited about this program because Sigur Ros and Bjork, both musical favourites of mine are featured. I attended the screening of Heima on Friday night. Heima is a film diary documenting a series of free concerts that Sigur Ros performed in 15 obscure locations around Iceland. They performed in deserted fish factories, national parks, ghost towns, remote community halls, the highland wilderness and even darkened caves. The film perfectly captured how the band are linked to the land and how it inspires them and is reflected in the atmospheric music they create. I love their ethereal "soundtracky" style of music mixed with the beautiful and haunting falsetto vocals of their singer. Sheer bliss. The film Heima is available on DVD, but it was nice to have an opportunity to experience it on the big screen. This coming Friday evening are the Bjork screenings. Yay!


I've been a huge fan of Bjork forever. Well, not quite forever, but since she burst onto the scene way back with the band The Sugarcubes. Even prior to The Sugarcubes, Bjork was in numerous other bands and had been performing and releasing music since she was 11 years of age. The films on Friday night will feature performances by a 16 year old Bjork with punk/jazz ensemble Tappi Tikarras and some rare Sugarcubes footage. Woohoo! As well as the amazing events that GoMA have been presenting in their Cinematheque, they continue coming up with the goods in their gallery spaces. For the first time outside Europe, exclusive to Brisbane, an exhibition of Pablo Picasso's personal collection will be at GoMA in June. I've been looking forward to this one for ages. Only 15 more days until Picasso!