11/02/12 ICELAND

The Icelandic Final was held on February 11th at Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, hosted by Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir & Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson. Before the final there were 3 semis with 5 songs. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%).

The winning song was a duet between Greta Salóme & Jón Jósep (also known as Jonsi, who represented Iceland in 2004) with the song “Mundu eftir mér” (Remember Me). The song is very dramatic and old fashioned. It has a very nice folkey quality to it, almost Celticly medieval in its tune like a Troubadour singing a madrigal on his lute. Jonsi sings whilst Greta, who also penned the song,  sings and plays the violin. The songs grows as it progresses getting ever so slightly rocker.

The performance is a little stilted although I feel with a bigger stage they might be able to move more and interact more with each other and the audience. They are also backed by 4 solid backing singers, one of which has the biggest ginger beard I have seen in a long time – they need to make more of this fact !!!

On reflection I think the song is interesting – and it will be interesting to see if they stay in Icelandic or not – but I don’t think it is a winner… possibly not even a qualifier.

SONG  - Mundu eftir mér (Remember Me)

ARTIST – Gréta Salóme & Jónsi

COMPOSER – Gréta Salóme

LANGUAGE – Icelandic