The duet BSÍ professes to be singularly interested in traffic culture. Undeniably an unusual inspiration for music, this manifesto is reflected both in the duet’s name, which refers to the Reykjavík bus centre, and the energetic, hypnotic drumming of Sigurlaug Thorarensen, one half of the duo with Julius Rothlaender. Despite a paucity of opportunities to perform in the past few months, the duo has not been idle and has concentrated on eating lots of candy and writing enough material to record a second album, just waiting to be released.

gugusar ,which is the stage name of Guðlaug Sóley Höskuldsdóttir, first entered the scene in last year’s Músíktilraunir, where she won the title “rafheili tilraunanna”. At the tender age of sixteen, she has never been busier than during the pandemic, which is natural, since she is so new to music that she hardly knows any other reality. Guðlaug has described her composition work as a way to escape reality and destress. Many of us would probably like to escape with her these days and through her music, we get to enter the bubble for a time.

JóiPé & Króli exploded onto the scene in 2017 with a bang that echoed across all media almost before they were fully formed. They have released almost 40 songs since, developing an intensely personal pop world, rooted in hip-hop. This spring they released the album In the midst of a nuclear winter - in the midst of a pandemic - a diverse, fragmented and ambitious album, set to secure their place once and for all in Icelandic music history.

Most would agree that many of the most entertaining lyrics and coolest grooves of the last couple of years have come from the cornucopia of Moses Hightower. It is far from empty, as proven by their newest album, Lyftutónlist. The album was released at mid-September and follow-up has suffered from - you guessed it - Covid-19. It’s time to rectify this.

After eight years in hibernation, Sykur released its third album, JÁTAKK, last year. The album was premiered at Iceland Airwaves 2019; Sykur has not performed since. It was a sweet sensation, seeing them finally perform “Lost Song” - a song that had been lost on the band’s hard disks for almost 15 years - and the mystical hit “Svefneyjar”.

Sykur - Iceland Airwaves: Live from Reykjavík — Off-venue

Sykur

KUSK x Óviti

Superserious

Iceland Airwaves

Una Torfa

RuGl

Árný Margrét

Bríet

Inspector Spacetime

Hipsumhaps

Herra Hnetusmjör

GDRN

JóiPé & Króli

Huginn

Június Meyvant

Tómas Welding

gugusar

Young Karin

Moses Hightower

Kælan mikla

East of My Youth

Dj. flugvél og geimskip

Between Mountains

BSÍ

Vök

Krassasig

Una Schram

Axel Flóvent

Birnir

Auður

Off-venue

We take corporate responsibility and its role in the Icelandic community seriously. Part of that is supporting young and aspiring musicians. The acts presented here are only a few examples of the flourishing music scene in Iceland.

Iceland Airwaves has for years been a great addition to Icelandic culture and an important platform for Icelandic musicians. We are proud to be among the festival’s main sponsors.