An evening at the famous Rosenberg

Myrra Rós, Elín Ey – Café Rosenberg, Reykjavik; August 1st, 2013

In the week I spent there I learned that Reykjavik is a great city for live music. Every night you will find a bar or a few where bands or solo artist are playing, often for free. The Café Rosenberg is no exception, offering a great variety of concerts for a small entrance fee at the door. It was a place I wanted to see anyway, knowing Árstíðir have played there many times and after my friend G. recommended seeing Myrra Rós there, I figured I might as well go and check her out before seeing her supporting the guys on their fall tour. Thus, my wish for a birthday concert was fulfilled.

The Rosenberg is a nice, comfortable cafe, bigger than I had imagined. It wasn’t packed, but a nice crowd had assembled by the time Myrra and Elín walked on stage. They told us they’d switch back and forth, each playing a few of their own songs. Both only accompanied their singing with a guitar, sometimes supported by the other singing harmonies.

It was lovely music from both of them, some songs Icelandic, some English. Overall I liked Elín’s songs better than Myrra’s, but enjoyed both very much. Sometimes they explained a little what the songs were about and after asking who did not speak Icelandic, they even did it in English.

The selection of songs was good and quite varied in topics. Elín dedicated one song to her gay brothers and sisters in Russia and for one song she asked her sister on stage to help out. Myrra played one song she had written after a friend of hers was attacked and she tried to help and one lullaby she had written for her daughter. Overall they played three small sets each.

The audience was attentive and enjoying the songs. It sure was a good decision to go there and I ended up buying both of their CDs before I left.

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