Jul 22, 2026 12:37 PM
In Memoriam: Rodney Holmes, 1966–2026
Drummer Rodney Holmes, a powerful presence behind the kit who emerged as an in-demand player on the New York scene…
Icelandic guitarist and composer Lilja leads her longtime working band at this year’s Reykjavík Jazz Festival.
(Photo: Courtesy Pétur Oddbergur for Reykjavík Jazz Festival )In Iceland, Reykjavík has a history of fostering local community. In recent years, the capital city’s commitment to sustainability efforts, civic engagement programs and cooperative food initiatives has advanced that legacy. On the performing arts scene, hyperlocal music festivals have multiplied and expanded, a number of them supported throughout the year by the Iceland Music Alliance, which operates the federal Music Fund.
This year, from Aug. 25–30, improvising artists gathered at venues throughout the city, and in nearby locations, to play and attend the Reykjavík Jazz Festival. Of the 30-plus acts that participated, several traveled to Reykjavík from mainland Europe, but the majority performed as homegrown artists, a number of whom transformed their set into a record release show.
“The Icelandic music scene is so immensely fertile, and we have so many great artist making incredible music,” said baritone saxophone player and composer Rósa Guðrún Sveinsdóttir, who premiered brand new material with her band the RGS Quintet during the festival’s Saturday afternoon program. “[It’s a] small market with a thriving music scene and every player is a part of many interesting and diverse projects. As a horn player, I have been so lucky to have had the chance of playing in so many different projects ranging from jazz, pop, rock, metal, classical and Latin music, and I think this versatility is something that gives Icelandic artists an edge.”
With so many expressions serving the festival’s collective sound, the small teams of organizers, including General Manager Pétur Heimisson, created a village of venues around town. These included Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center, a visually striking performance space that uses variable acoustics to serve the festival’s styles and instrumentations each summer; Hafnartorg Gallery and Food Hall, which provided a casual dining experience for festival goers; Hotel Holt, which houses Iceland’s largest privately owned art collection; Þingvellir National Park, a designated World Heritage Site; Austurbæjarbíó, a local beer hall and live performance space; and other spots in and around Reykjavík.
Sveinsdóttir, who drew inspiration for her festival performance arrangements from Gerry Mulligan, joins more than a dozen performers who celebrated their record releases or premiered new music at Reykjavík Jazz Festival. The range of stages provided different opportunities for showcasing new works. Before her hit at Jómfrúin, a Reykjavík mainstay for contemporary Icelandic cooking, and one of the festival’s outdoor venues, she shared her anticipation. “I’m very excited to feature this new band,” said Sveinsdóttir, who arranged some “old classics” of hers as well as some of Mulligan’s quartet tunes for the occasion. “Since this is almost a two-hour set, we get the chance to play much more music than on other venues.”
That day’s evening programming at Austurbæjarbíó featured record release events from cellist and composer Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir, leading her quintet, and guitarist and composer Lilja, leading her longtime working band. They presented music from Hljóð í ljóði and Muna, respectively, the former having turned to classic and contemporary Icelandic poets for album conception.
“I had been reading poetry for a little while, and there were a few of them where the atmosphere, the mood, of each poem was so clear to me,” said Jónsdóttir, who began constructing the album by writing a song to each poem before shifting her approach. “The melodies maybe started from a melodic theme of the text, but then wanted to go in a different way. Then my angle was to follow the atmosphere, the mood … how can you prolong a poem into a jazz song?”
During her performance, Jónsdóttir and her fellow artists presented many compositions from the album, including a bass line-driven song inspired by “The Playing Cards,” from poet Ásta Sigurðardóttir. “I had written an ostinato and I really didn’t know what do with it,” she said. “And then when I was reading her poem … I was like, ‘Oh, the bass line is from this poem — it’s the same mood as this bass line.’”
Lilja led her four-piece band after Jónsdóttir’s set. In the midst of sharing music from Muna, the bandleader, whose heritage is Icelandic and Norwegian, spoke about her time abroad, playing music with different folk artists, including gnawa artists from Morocco and raga artists from India. She then shared a song she’d written for the band’s first album, Marble, citing a life-changing experience with a Palestinian children’s choir, which received waves of cheering and applause. Lilja prefaced the song by saying, “Although this song is from our first record, I still find it very important to play.”
Earlier that week, guitarist Ásgeir Ásgeirsson celebrated the release of an album five years in the making. Also drawing inspiration from international styles and instruments, his record Crossing Borders engages artists from Tehran, Amman and Calcutta. The 19-track release came together collaboratively: “I do a demo at home and then I send it to Tehran, and then they record there,” says Ásgeirsson. “I know their tastes because they have been here, and I have been to Tehran, and the same with [the artists] in Amman and the same in India … and they’ll say, ‘Ahh, Ásgeir, are you sure about this bar? Maybe we can do this here, and maybe this texture here.’” Featuring all Icelandic artists for the festival performance, the band received a standing ovation that lasted several minutes.
While the weeklong program offered a diversity of sound, it lacked a diversity of artists. The events presented predominantly white musicians, including those from France, Germany, Norway and Poland, with no Black artists leading bands. Last year, the festival presented Cécile McLorin Salvant’s band as its headliner, but according to Heimisson, this year’s festival hadn’t the budget to book an American act. “I try to keep it as international as I can,” he said. “But the more international bands you have, it’s going to be more expensive and highly dependent on funding from government and from the city, and from private sponsors and ticket sales.”
According to Iceland Music Alliance Director María Rut Reynisdóttir, the process to secure federal funding resets year to year. “It’s always difficult for the festivals in Iceland because it’s always a clean slate,” she said. “When you apply, you never know if you’re going to get the funding. Nothing is secured. So that makes it hard for Pétur and other people organizing festivals. You have to know well ahead about how much money you have to work with.”
The application remains constant but the selection committees, comprising administrators and artists, change personnel every two to four years. Because the selection process is public and not confidential, many artists feel hesitant to serve. “The challenges are always, in smaller communities like this, that they’re highly DIY,” said Iceland Music Alliance Advisor Sigtryggur Baldursson. “And a lot of musicians don’t want to be on committees making decisions as to whether their friends get funded. The problem is people know each other [laughs].”
Though community size and funding present challenges, the Reykjavík Jazz Festival has been running for nearly 40 years, and its community of artists and presenters have no plans to slow operations. In fact, Heimisson is looking forward to expanding: “In 2024 we were listed as [among the] 35 best festivals in Europe by The Guardian. That says a lot. The budget that we are using is a small percentage of what the biggest jazz festivals have. But with the money, we have to do something special, and I think we do.” DB
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