Classroom lesson · Music · 🇮🇸 Iceland

Björk and Sigur Rós - Iceland's musical magic

How a tiny country produces some of the world's most original musicians

A concert stage with dramatic lights performing Icelandic music

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Iceland has only about 390,000 people - smaller than a single big city in many countries. And yet it has produced some of the most original musicians in the world. Two of the most famous are a singer called Björk (say 'byerk') and a band called Sigur Rós (say 'sig-uhr rohs'). Their music sounds like the landscape of Iceland: wide, mysterious, and a little bit magical.

Tell me more

Björk has been making music since she was a child. She released her first album when she was 11 years old. Her music doesn't sound like anyone else - she uses unusual instruments (sometimes she sings with the noises of the wind), wears amazing handmade clothes, and her songs can be wild, quiet, or both at once.

Sigur Rós are a band who sometimes sing in a language they invented themselves. They call it 'Hopelandic' - it has no real meaning, but it sounds beautiful, like singing made of feelings. Their songs are slow and dreamy, often building up from a soft whisper to a huge sweep of sound that feels like watching a glacier melt in sunshine.

Lots of musicians from outside Iceland visit to make music, because Iceland is so quiet and the landscape is so dramatic. The country has its own music festival called Iceland Airwaves, held in Reykjavík (Iceland's capital) every November. Concerts happen in old churches, swimming pools, bookshops and even lighthouses.

Music is a part of growing up in Iceland. Lots of children learn an instrument or sing in a choir. Even small villages often have a community choir that meets each week. Icelanders sometimes say they sing through the long winter to keep the dark away.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might a quiet, dramatic landscape help musicians invent new sounds?
  2. 02If you could make up a language to sing in, what would it sound like?
  3. 03Why might people in a long, dark winter want lots of music?
Try this

Classroom activity

Listen to a short clip of Sigur Rós (your teacher can find a child-friendly one online). Without telling each other anything, draw what the music makes you see. Share your drawings - did you all see something similar?