Wednesday, 06.03.2019
As the official program is only starting at 11:00 today, there is some time left after breakfast for a short stroll through the city. The weather couldn’t be better. At 11:00 we go to Vágar via bus. Normally, when I am at the Faroe Islands, I am also the driver. Now I enjoy not to have to drive myself but just sit there and admire the landscape and nature passing by. And no matter how often you have visited the Faroes – their beauty is breathtaking again and again. In Miðvágur we meet Sølvi Símunarson for the first time. He will accompany us during this week and be our constant contact person. Our first trip is the short hike to Trælanípa, one of the best known viewing points of the country and accessible via an easy hike. We have a local guide who walks that path with us. And here again something typical Faroese happened. Originally we were supposed to have a female guide. But she is stuck on Mykines, as the helicopter, due to strong winds, could not land there. So a geography teacher from Bøur stepped in. This man is burning for geology, nature, and environment protection and it is a pleasure to listen to him. Every now and then he stops to show us some geological characteristics of the landscape.

From the beginning I think the timeframe for the hike is a bit tight. And of course everybody is stopping all the time to take pictures so we walk with a rather slow pace. So when we finally arrive at Trælanípa our guide tells us: “Unfortunately we don’t have time to go up. We have to go back, otherwise we’ll be too late.”. Well... but just sprinting up there and going fast on the way back should be possible? A minute later we’re all standing on top and enjoy the view to the lake that’s named – depending on whom you ask – Leitisvatn or Sørvágsvatn and which seems to float over the ocean. Besides that you have a fantastic view towards the neighbouring islands and even down till Suðuroy, the southernmost island. In the west we can see till Mykines. Pretty late we start the way back. “Well, then Greta has to wait” – typical Faroese. You have to get rid of German promptitude here.

Originally we were supposed to go by foot to the concert location. But as we are so late our guide is just driving us there with his car. He has to do three tours to bring all of us there. Nevertheless we arrive too late at Listastovan (art house) in Miðvágur. The building is a former prayer building that is now being used for concerts as well as adult evening classes. There is especially a lot of room for painting, the floor is covered with colourful stains, paintings are leaning towards the walls. During concerts there must always be a fire-fighter in the room, due to safety reasons. Although “you can just throw yourself out of the windows without dying”. But the acoustics in this room with a wooden barrel vault is excellent. On the Faroes, many things are handled in an easier way and more practical than for example in Germany. The Listastovan has no backstage area so they just made an agreement with a family living close by to use one of their rooms as backstage. They even cook for the playing artists. In the 2017 Faroe Music Awards the Listastovan won the prize for the best initiative – so now we can have a very close look at one of the awards.

After a short greeting by Mayor Eyðdis Hartmann Niclasen and a little snack the musical part is starting. At first Anna Sofía Jørgensen is stepping on stage. And it really is the first time she plays for a non-Faroese audience. Although she is writing songs since years she just never dared to do it. So now they just pulled her with gentle violence in front of a horde of journalists. On the guitar and also on background singing she is supported by Lea Kampmann who is also a well-known solo artist and who is nominated in this year’s FMA in the category “female singer of the year”. In the beginning Anna Sofía seems to be pretty nervous and shy. The first song she is presenting is “Smile” by Charlie Chaplin. But after that she continues with own material, among it a piece she wrote when her father was diagnosed with cancer. The outcome is a deeply moving, sad goodbye song. After three songs there’s a change and now starts Greta Svabo Bech.

Back in 2011 she was nominated for a Grammy and she still is the only Faroese musician who ever achieved that. She also plays three songs for us and is accompanying herself on guitar, keyboard and synthesizer. In socks she’s sitting on stage, looks a bit confused, pressing the wrong button every now and then, regulating the microphone – and singing fantastic. She’s starting with the heavily synthesized “Shut Up & Sing”. To every song she’s telling a short story. So she realized lately, that one of her songs got a whole new meaning thanks to the Brexit. With “Circles” one of her most known pieces she is ending her gig. And along the way she confirms one of the clichés about the Faroe Islands: She and Anna Sofía are related, cousins of which grade they don’t even know. According to Greta her mother has 80 cousins – “it is hard to keep track”.

After that we head to Kálvalíð. It is the oldest stone house of the Faroe Islands and was inhabited from medieval times until the 1960s. It became especially famous because it was the home for the widows of the priests. Among them the famous Beinta, whose literary monument was set by Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsens novel “Barbara” which made her known beyond the Faroes. We are guided through the tiny house which only contains two small rooms and a cow barn. Here we’ve been told many interesting things, for example that the building hasn’t always been standing were it is situated today. During its life it was three times deconstructed and rebuild again until it was finally build up at its current place. Inside the house you can find many historical tools, some of them are demonstrated for us. So we get a very interesting insight into what the everyday life on the Faroes looked like up until the early 20th century.

Because we wasted time everywhere (but there is so much so see and hear!) we arrive a lot later in Tórshavn than it was originally planned. Six of us decide to have a quick snack at the famous Fish & Chips at Vaglið. And while we are standing there, waiting for our food with the lovely smell of chip fat making its way into our noses we realize: We will now attend to a classical concert and smell like chips. As Nuka from Greenland says: “Always remember: You are representing your country!” I think we will manage that very well tonight...

At the classical concert my prophecy becomes true: It is much harder to find the entrance than the building itself. The concert tales place in Finsen, the former primary school in Tórshavn. We sit in the former assembly hall which is decorated with many pictures from the Sjúrðar kvæði (the ballad of Sigurd the dragonslayer), made by William Heinesen, the great Faroese author and sculptor. You won’t find pictures of this concert because it was so silent in the hall that the sound of the moving mirror in my DSLR camera would have sounded like a drumbeat. Sometimes the optics have to suffer to save the acoustics.

The first piece played was a duet for violin by Kari Bæk, after that a song for solo guitar by the Faroese composer Sunnleif Rasmussen whom we also met during this week. Due to recent occurrences the song “Danza Del Altiplano” by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer was also played. Namely Leo Brouwer turned 80 last Friday. The interpreter proudly announces that while Leo Brouwers birthday was celebrated in many countries, the Faroe Islands had been the only one in which a whole concert took place where solely songs by Leo Brouwer were played. Through this, a little piece of the Caribbean found its way to the North. But the highlight of the evening was Beethoven’s string quartette No. 4 op 18, presented in a wonderful way by the Faroese musicians.

Normally, this day would end with the concert but I head to the Blábar, a rather new jazz and blues bar, together with Kristian Blak for a short, spontaneous interview (which you soon can find here). While having a beer we talk about Kristian’s musical work. The beer is a big one and actually the evening is still young and actually I wanted to start with my text tonight. But now I am drunk and tomorrow we have to get up early. So I decide to go to sleep and go to bed early (for the only time this week).