Svavar Knútur – Hot Jazz Club, Münster; December 12th, 2023

Svavar Knútur’s concert in Münster was one of the last ones I attended in 2023 and I would not have wanted to miss it. It was a lovely evening in front of a full house, full of interesting stories and old Icelandic Christmas songs.

The trip to Münster was easy and even though I felt I had left later than usual, I was the first person to arrive at the venue. Then again, it was December and cold. 😉 Eventually, more people joined and qe were all happy when we finally got in and out of the rain. They must have sold lots of tickets, because the chairs were really close together. I got to pick a nice spot at the front though. 🙂

Svavar stepped on the stage and thanked us for coming to see him again after only 3 months. We learned that he had not planned a Christmas tour and his booker planned the shows without his knowledge, so it was a surprise. He claimed Germans were the most Christmassy people and had infected him with their love for Glühwein. 😉 He gave us a little lesson in Icelandic history about the poem ‘Hatið fer að höndum ein’ before playing the song for us. It was lovely.

We learned more about Icelandic “jól”, which doesn’t mean Christmas, but “wheel” and the weather in Northern Iceland with pink skies in the winter. The Wheel refers to the returning of light and that’s what’s celebrated. Therefore it is a holiday for everyone, not only Christian people. He claimed the next poem was written by his great great great grandfather, it was ‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’ and sung beautifully.

Svavar joked that Ward / Knútur / Townes sounds like a lawfirm, but wanted to plan a song from the project anyway. He introduced us to Icelandic mer-people, their looks and their smell. I never knew shrimp smelled like dead people. with this introduction, ‘Isn’t it funny?’ was quite funny.

After that he continued with ‘Hin fyrstu jól’ by Ingibjörg Þorbergs and told us about getting to sing with her at one point. We also heard the story about meeting the sister of the guy who wrote the poem the song was based on. It was really wonderful and something we could all learn from. Sometimes it is good to be humble. <3 It is so nice hearing him sing Christmas songs and I loved this one.

Next up was another poem by Látra-Björg, called ‘Orgar Brim’, that served as an introduction to ‘Janúar’  He wanted us to sing along and mentioned that Germans are better at singing along to an Icelandic song, or at least this particular one, than Icelanders are. well, we didn’t do too bad. 😉

We learned about Grila and her Jule cat and the legends surrounding them. The stories just served as an explanation to people dying in winter. Svavar told us her full family history. I always enjoy, how he tells us about Icelandic history. It lead to stories about playing Jule lads at Christmas parties and Schroedinger’s joke. 😉 It was followed by an old Children’s song, ‘Jólasveinar ganga um gólf’. It sounded upbeat and fun, but probably wasn’t because he mentioned it was about them being assholes.

Svavar told us that many professions were forbidden in Iceland at some point, e.g. there were no midwives or carpenters and how people were very quiet in winter. He played us part of a song about Grila that has many verses and told us about singing it for Children every year. Te lovely ‘Vetrarsól’ ended the set and brought us a nice sing along. Before sending us off for a while, he spoke about the streaming services not favoring artists singing in languages other than English and therefore he was glad to sing in Icelandic to us.

During the break I went and bought the Ward 7 Knútur / Townes album and talked to Savar a bit, since I was planning to leave straight after the show.

Set two started with ‘Medusa’, another song from the new album. I quite like this one. 🙂 He mentioned his dislike for love songs and liking breakup songs, as long as they focus on the lesson from the breakup. The song he played was about a couple he knew though, who alway fought at parties, so it is more of a “You should break up”- song. It sounds really nice, but the lyrics are somewhat harsh.

He then went back to his own album, giving us ‘Impossible’ about his aunt, who was an alcoholic. It spoke about love for a person who is hard to be around due to her illness. Together with the next one, ‘Emotional Anorexic’, it was a preview of the upcoming album Ahoy. Before playing, he spoke about repainting some of the old songs with more experience. We heard that praise is hard to come by in his family and he wrote the song with the feeling stemming from that. It is always, always great.

It was time for another Jule song, one he wrote with his oldest daughter, who is now becoming a doctor. He explained hat the song is about remembering that we are privileged and trying to pass on this blessing to others and concluded that the best thing he can do to make the world better is sing and spread a positive message ‘Höldum Jól’ sounded really sweet. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

We got a French jól song next, but translated to Icelandic. It sounded great too, but I have no idea what it is called in either language. The he spoke about ABBA and how they had influenced him, playing ‘Like an Angel passing through my room’. It’s always lovely. That ended the set, but we cheered for more.

Svavar talked about his dad, who died in an accident and since you never know when you’re going to die he always tells his children he loves them, so that will be the last thing he has said to them. He asked us to sing ‘Stille Nacht’ with him and it was beautiful. He sang in Icelandic and we did so in German. 🙂 As a finale he played an English Christmas song, but with Icelandic lyrics. It sounded very happy and we got a good clap-along going.

Setlist

Hatið fer að höndum ein
Nóttin var sú ágæt ein
Isn’t it funny?
Hin fyrstu jól
Orgar Brim
Janúar
Jólasveinar ganga um gólf
“Song about Grila”
Vetrarsól

Medusa
Your love was death to
Impossible
Emotional Anorexic
Höldum Jól
“French Christmas song”
Like an Angel passing through my room

Stille Nacht
English Christmas song

I said goodbye quickly and left for the train station to catch an earlier train than I had planned for. Sadly, Deutsche Bahn cancelled my plans to get home early and it took my about three hours instead of one. Still totally worth it.