odin's raven magic by sigur rós and felix award winner hilmar ùrn hilmarsson was previewed at the barbican center in 2002 and premiered at reykjavík arts festival may 24th 2002, as one of its highlights. it will be performed at grande halle de la villette in paris on september 28th and 29th. the occasion is an icelandic cultural event in paris named 'islande, de glace & de feu' which will be held september 27th - october 10th.
odin's raven magic, which was produced by the reykjavík arts festival, was awarded the prize of best music piece in iceland 2002 and was nominated for the nordic council music prize 2003. the same year the piece was performed to full houses in norway at the trondheim arts festival. the performances of odin's raven magic have received rave reviews.
in addition to sigur rós performing onstage, odin's raven magic will feature l'orchestre des lauréats du conservatoire national de paris, schola cantorum, rhyme chanter steindor andersen and pàll guðmundsson of húsafell. conductor is àrni harðarson.
odin's raven magic is an icelandic poem in the ancient edda tradition, thought to have been composed in the 14th or 15th century. its anonymous author clearly had an intimate knowledge of the edda literature and mythology and alludes to a number of pagan motifs which are now lost. the poem recounts a great banquet held by the gods in valhalla. while they are absorbed in their feasting, ominous signs appear that could foretell the end of the worlds of the gods and men. odinÍs raven magic had been relegated from mainstream ancient literature ever since 1867, when norwegian scholar sophus bugge claimed it was a 17th century fabrication. this theory has since been toppled with literary and linguistic arguments, and jónas kristjànsson, probably the most renowned scholar of ancient icelandic literature today, has even hailed it as "a new edda poem".
links (odin's raven magic)
links (the edda)
audio clips
- chapter 3 [mp3 / 10.7 mb / 7:44 mins]
- chapter 4 excerpt [mp3 / 1.4 mb / 1:15 mins]
video clip
- chapter 3 [real media / 12.9 mb / 7:46 mins]