Heima-Skagi invites artists it believes in, not just stars

The Heima-Skagi music festival chooses performers because its organisers believe in them, regardless of how well known they are, director Ólafur Páll Gunnarsson told mbl.is. The festival will be held in Akranes on Saturday, October 31.

“Some are known across the country, while few people, or perhaps no one, have heard of others,” Gunnarsson said. He said he thinks throughout the year about whom to invite, without asking who is most popular or would sell the most tickets.

This year’s performers include Á móti sól, Krummi, Jónas Sig, Sveitin, formerly the Akranes School Band, and Karólína Orradóttir. On musical styles, Gunnarsson said a friend had recently told him that the need to define things was one of humanity’s greatest afflictions. “Music is just music. If it’s enjoyable, it doesn’t matter how it’s defined,” he said.

Akranes’s education and culture council has awarded Heima-Skagi the town’s 2026 cultural award for its outstanding contribution to local cultural life. The decision was announced at the opening ceremony of Vökudagar, Akranes’s town festival.