Ragnar Ólafsson – Basilika, Wechselburg and Projekt 46, Zwickau; October 21st, 2023

The second day of my mini-weekend tour with Ragnar brought me first a beautiful memorial service at the Basilika in Wechselburg and later that day a lovely concert in Zwickau. The first one was really moving ad the second one just a lot of fun. I felt honored and lucky to be able to see both.

Leaving Limbach-Oberfrohna in the morning I took a bus trip to Wechselburg, where I had planned to spend the time until the memorial service at a restaurant. Unfortunately said restaurant was closed and there really wasn’t another option. Luckily the weather was great so I took a long walk until the others arrived. Conny had brought her whole family to sing with her. 🙂

The occasion was a memorial service for the relatives and friends of people who had died at the local hospice in the past year. The basilica was beautifully decorated with candles as the pews slowly filled with people. I stayed at the back, not to interfere with the service. It was a mixture of speeches and music, remembering loved ones.

The service started with a bell ringing and ‘Heyr, hymna smiður’ – it sounded gorgeous. Someone from the hospice gave a little speech greeting everyone and talking about why we had gathered there. One of the local clerics spoke about grief and told a story about a woman he had accompanied until she died.

Ragnar and Conny sang a beautiful version of ‘Deva’ together and I thought of my dad. The whole service made me thing of him, but especially this song. :´(
Someone from the hospice talked about life and loss and they read of all the names of those who had died, lighting a candle for each one of them. In between Conny and her family sang beautiful choir pieces. I was moved to tears.

After all the candles where lit, a friend of Conny’s family played Duduk for us. Then, Conny introduced ‘Örlög’ and told the story of how it was written. Raggi instructed everyone on the sing-along and it worked great. The sound was wonderful. There was a brief speech about memories we shared with our loved ones and Ragnar and Conny played ‘Minor Scratch’ for us. <3 Then he continued on his own with ‘Walls’.

A prayer was said for those we lost and the service ended with ‘Hallelujah’ and then one last choir piece, sang by Conny’s Family and Ragnar. It was the perfect ending to a moving service. 🙂

Afterwards they offered coffee, tea and cake outside, but we had to leave, because there was another concert ahead of us. First I got invited to Conny’s place for a great dinner. Then we said goodbye and headed to Zwickau, where we arrived just after 6 in the evening. My hotel was around the corner from the venue so I checked in quickly and went straight back.

The concert was organized by the same people, who had taken care of the gig at Kunstplantage the previous year. This time we were at a local community space/cáfe that reminded me of a venue I’d been to in Poland, Lupa in Puszczykowo. There were not that many people around, but the vibes were great and the setlist selection was awesome.

Ragnar introduced himself and started with ‘Warsaw’. it has been his starting song for a while now and really works well. He talked a bit about all his bands and projects in Iceland. There was even some new information for me – I didn’t know he played jazz. After speaking about his latest road trip, we got to hear ‘Homeless’ – I already love the song, especially the powerful chorus. 🙂 It’s reminiscent of ‘Bravery’.

He invited Conny to the stage and spoke about her knowing his songs better than he does and how they have special versions of some songs. He introduced ‘Deva’ as the song for the dark times in life when you need hope. It is definitely a good song to hold on to. Next up was ‘Bald Eagles’, one of Conny’s favorites, because it made her think of being free during the pandemic. We heard that it was about the bald eagles flying by the river and a sense of freedom. Their version was wonderful, with great harmonies.

Another song not usually played was ‘Photograph’, one of my favorites. He plays it so rarely, he had to ask for the first line. It was truly special to get to hear it. <3 Trying out the stomp box, he joked that his life and love life got better after he got it and asked Marta to confirm so she yelled “More stomp box” which made us all laugh. This lead to ‘Bravery’.

‘Hugsanir’ followed and I loved hearing the song in two languages in one day – I can never decide which one I like better. 🙂 The piano came into play for ‘Örlög’ and he told us it means “Schicksal” in German. We agreed to sing along and he told us three complicated words in Icelandic, joking we’d have to sing those, or “lalala” with a Björk accent. 😉 It sounded lovely, even without said accent. while at the piano, he continues with ‘Water’. It’s such a great song, I don’t think it will ever feel anything but special. <3

Ragnar talked about being caught in a storm on the Mississippi and how loud and dramatic that was with everything looking like armageddon the next day. They were stuck for a bit because of he debris and that da ‘Paper Crane’ came to life. Conny joined him for playing it. Such a cool song. From a song he never plays to one that gets played every night – ‘Petals’. After a false start and some retuning it worked beautifully and to my surprise the song morphed into ‘Hallelujah’. This time it was a long version, not only the two verses they had sung at the Basilika in the afternoon. 🙂

We heard about a sunny day on the river with sangria and weed, but a blue note flew by and turned into ‘Message’. I’m really grateful for the Blues visiting this afternoon, because it is such an amazing song. Last song in the set was of course ‘Dragonfly’, lemur costume and all. 🙂

As an encore, Ragnar gave us ‘Muddy Waters’ and included the true story of the song. That’s always fun, but I’m not going to tell you. 😉 That ended the show on a high note. What a great day it had been. We talked a bit and then said goodbye. Onwards to the final show!

Setlist

Warsaw
Homeless
Deva
Bald Eagles
Photograph
Bravery
Hugsanir
Örlög
Water
Paper Crane
Petals
Hallelujah
Message
Dragonfly

Muddy Waters