Stefan Sand brings Greenlandic and Icelandic legends to Harpa

Danish composer Stefan Sand will conduct a work linking two legends at an Icelandic, Greenlandic and Norwegian concert in Harpa’s Norðurljós Hall at 4pm on Sunday, mbl.is reports. The programme also includes Rebekka Ingibjartsdóttir as a conductor.

Sand’s composition brings together the story of Ólafur the Strong, retold by Einar Benediktsson in Ólafs rímu Grænlendings, and the Greenlandic legend of Navaranaaq. She was said to have brought destruction upon Greenland after being exiled from her community. According to the tale, she turned Inuit against Vikings by telling each group that the other planned to kill them all. The resulting mistrust led to war.

Ólafur was an Icelander who fled to Greenland in the 15th century after killing a man. He settled among the Inuit and never returned home. The concert’s work also draws on the rímur, a long narrative poem: 20 of its 133 stanzas will be sung, including its mansöngur, written by Jórunn Viðar.

Greenlandic artists are taking part in the performance. Nuka Alice Lund, a Greenlandic drum dancer, will bring Inuit drum-dancing traditions to the concert and lead workshops during her stay in Iceland. She said she began learning the ancient tradition as an adult and has written a book, Inngerta, about the dance, its cultural history and her own experience.

Norwegian string musicians and the choir Laffi Vokalensemble have travelled to Iceland for the concert. The performers have rehearsed remotely and met in person three times. Sand described the exchange as Nordic collaboration, with the Icelandic and Greenlandic musicians due to visit their Norwegian counterparts next year. Greenlandic writer Kimmernaq Støvlbæk has written an opera libretto in Greenlandic based on the Navaranaaq legend.