Gleanings - Menningarnótt 2023

Menningarnótt - Reykjavík Culture Night - Culture Night 2023

On Saturday (August 19th) it was Culture Night again in Reykjavík – and we went, this time with Child 3 and Child 4, and Child 3's girlfriend. The weather was wonderful, and I enjoyed it. Last year, it was quite cold and, above all, windy at Menningarnótt. The Culture Night and the beautiful weather obviously attracted a lot of people to the city; it was really packed in Reykjavík!

We started with a quick detour to Hallgrímskirkja , where the Neskirkja Parish Choir from the Reykjavík district of Vesturbær was singing under the direction of organist Steingrímur Þórhallsson. They sing "Ó blessuð vertu sumarsól." The audience was expressly encouraged to sing along, and lyrics were also distributed—so we could have joined in if we had been able to.

At the same time, there were also other stations in the church, for example a table for children where they could color in the Hallgrímskirkja as a coloring page, or this installation, which dealt with Bible passages on the subject of "water."

We then continued from the church, down Skólavörðustígur Street. At this corner, we encountered this "strange bird" approaching us: three men with a mighty bird. To the delight of the children, the bird could even gently "snake" with its beak.

We also passed the shop of the Handprjónasamband Íslands —the "Hand Knitting Society of Iceland." The society was founded in November 1977 by a group of Icelanders, mostly women. The goal was to generate income from knitting and selling classic "Icelandic sweaters" ( lopapeysur )—society members usually knit such sweaters, jackets, and other woolen items by hand at home, and the society then sells the knitwear in the shop.

In front of the shop, they handed out printed jute bags to celebrate the association's 45th anniversary. I was delighted to receive one of the bags—now I have the perfect storage for my current knitting project! Yay!

We continued walking through the crowd down the "Rainbow Street"...

... and first to the water to the Harpa concert hall.

In front of the concert hall, there was a boat carving session for children from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. - beautiful wooden boats were eagerly crafted and then immediately tried out in the water basin in front of Harpa!

It was really busy here!

There was also a concert for children here - unfortunately, I didn't understand much, except for the one time when it was about delicious sweets on Nammidagur (on Saturdays, when sweets are traditionally sold in the shop at reduced prices).

Swangah , a Faroese rap group, was also playing in one of Harpa's concert halls. The band consists of several young men who all grew up in the same neighborhood of Tórshavn, and the band's name refers to this place name (Svanga). I would have thought the rap would be in English and Icelandic and would have difficulty understanding them – but if it's a Faroese band, I'll put it down to the fact that I only ever understood a few words!

I still think the Harpa building is definitely the most beautiful glasshouse in the world and I always enjoy coming here!

After that, our kids needed to be fed, so we took a short break at Ingólfstorg and ate some filled flatbreads. Not completely filling for our hungry sons, but definitely delicious!

We continued through the Hljómskálagarður at Tjörnin, with a large stage, live music and many food stalls and bouncy castles etc. for children.

Afterwards, we let ourselves drift through the streets, listening to what was happening everywhere. Various bands and groups were playing in front of enthusiastic audiences, on the streets, on various stages... simply beautiful!

Finally, we went to Arnarhóll for the big concert by the radio station RÁS 2.

The concert featured Icelandic rock band HAM , among others. The man on stage here is Óttarr Proppé – definitely a versatile individual. He performed as a backing singer with the band Pollapönk at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, where they finished 15th in the grand final. He also served for many years as a city councilor in Reykjavík, later as chairman of the " Björt framtíð " (= " Bright Future ") party, and for a time even as Iceland's Minister of Health . (When I imagine Jens Spahn or Karl Lauterbach on stage like that...!)

When we arrived at the hill, Aron Can , an Icelandic hip-hop artist, was playing. His father runs several kebab restaurants in the capital area, and his son released his first song in 2016 and has been signed to Sony Music since 2018.

Later, Klara Elíasdóttir and the girl group Nylon, as well as Valdímar , performed. Around 11 p.m., the concert reached its "home stretch"...

...and around a quarter past eleven, the long-awaited final fireworks display began. Simply fantastic! We were happy that we all made it through, even though we were starting to get really tired after such an intense day...

Heard a lot, experienced a lot, met a lot of people - and had a great atmosphere all day long!

[Translated from here.]