Brothers Jón Jónsson and Friðrik Dór have released two songs together this summer; both are official songs for one of the largest annual music events in Iceland; Þjóðhátíð. Every year an artist, or a group of artists, get the job of writing an original song for the festival. This year, the job went to the brothers, and they decided they might as well write TWO new songs. They normally don’t make music together, so people eagerly awaited the releases!
Þjóðhátíð/The National Festival
First though; What is Þjóðhátíð? It is a four day festival that takes place on Heimaey, the largest of the Westman Islands. It is organized every year, during the weekend before the first Monday in August. The main focus of the festival is music, and there’s everything from big stage concerts to the most massive singalong you can imagine! On the Sunday night there’s a singalong event that gathers up to 16.000 people in the valley.
Þjóðhátíð song(s) 2018
One of the songs, “Á sama tíma, á sama stað (At the same time, at the same place” is a rather traditional song for the Hational festival. It’s pleasant, easy to sing along to, has great harmonies and comfy lyrics about “friendship and love and all things fuzzy and warm”. This is, undoubtedly, the more official of the two songs.
The other one, “Heimaey“, named after the island where the festival takes place, is a very different and rather unusual song. And not only as a National festival song, but also for the brothers. It’s a hiphop song, which isn’t really any of their styles, as they don’t normally include much rap in their songs.
Jón and Friðrik Dór in Söngvakeppnin
Both Friðrik Dór and Jón have been active on the Icelandic music scene for years. A lot of people, both in Iceland and elsewhere, have wondered whetherthey would ever take part in Söngvakeppnin. And in 2015, if finally happened, at least for one of them. Friðrik Dór finished second with “Í siðasta skipti/Once Again“. Even though he didn’t win the Icelandic ticket to Eurovision, he was still on stage in Vienna. After the Icelandic final, he was selected to go to Vienna as one of María Ólafs’ backing singers.
Big brother Jón has still to compete in Söngvakeppnin. However, he’s no stranger to the Söngvakeppnin stage, as he hosted this year’s edition alongside veteran Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir. Many now believe that he might be exactly what Iceland needs to get back into the Eurovision final. His music, mainly RnB influenced pop, would very likely work well for audiences all over Europe, and his vocals are rock solid. The idea that he might take part with his brother has also been discussed. This, however, is probably not too likely, at least not in 2019, as Friðrik Dór is heading to Italy to study interior design.
Þjóðhátíð theme songs 2014/2016
This is not the first time Jón and Friðrik Dór have written songs for Þjóðhátíð. Already back in 2014, Jón wrote “Ljúft að vera til (Good to Be Alive)”. Friðrik Dór was part of the team behind 2016’s “Ástin á sér stað“.
Do you think a song like “Á sama tíma, Á sama stað” or “Heimaey” could be a good song for Iceland at Eurovision? And would you like to see Friðrik Dór or Jón take part in Söngvakeppnin in the future?
