Music and the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant: Style, Aesthetics, and Environmental Politics in Iceland

• Published in: Popular Music and Society
• Main Author: Størvold, Tore
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Kárahnjúkar; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/65862; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-68072; https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2018.1469390

This article bridges ecocriticism and popular music analysis in a close reading of three examples that respond musically to environmental debates in Iceland during the period 2006–2009. Political-environmental tensions in Iceland reached a heated level in the mid 2000s with the construction of the Kárahnjúkar hydropower project, which elicited a string of artistic and musical responses. While considering Valgeir Sigurðsson’s “Grýlukvæði,” Björk’s “Náttúra,” and Sigur Rós’s “Vaka,” this article argues that incorporating textual analysis and interpretation is key in forging an ecocritical study of popular music.