WATCH: Band leaves passersby stunned by bringing an 800-year-old Icelandic song back to life

[Judi Lynn]

WATCH: Band leaves passersby stunned by bringing an 800-year-old Icelandic song back to life

Bethania Palma Markus
14 Aug 2015 at 13:03 ET


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Árstíðir sings Heyr himna smiður (Screenshot/YouTube)
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The eclectic Icelandic band Árstíðir is currently touring the United States, but they may be best known for stopping rushing commuters cold in their tracks with a demonstration of ancient Icelandic music.

Five band members sang the Icelandic hymn, Heyr himna smiður, which was written by chieftan Kolbeinn Tumason 1208, reportedly on his deathbed, at the cusp of the most violent and tumultuous time in Icelandic history.

The newly-Christianized region would soon break out in inter-clan warfare and decades after the hymn was written, fall to Norway.

The song is a poem asking for guidance and peace in the face of looming warfare.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/watch-band-leaves-passersby-stunned-by-bringing-an-800-year-old-icelandic-song-back-to-life/

[Cleita]

1. Sounds a lot like Gregorian chant. eom

[Judi Lynn]

2. It really does, doesn't it? n/t

[thecrow]

3. Great acoustics...

Sounds amazing!
Anybody speak Icelandic here?

[MrMickeysMom]

5. Bjork! Where ARE you?

Wasn't that wonderful? No wonder she taps into the other-worldly qualities of song.

[haikugal]

4. Hauntingly beautiful...Thanks! nt

[Hulk]

6. There are some beautiful musical performances like this in Europe as well...

We were recently in Munich, Germany, and we came across a group of four young men that were harmonizing in some strange tongue that was absolutely beautiful. A crowd would gather and listen to them, dropping money into their hat; and it was some of the strangest music I had ever heard. I don't think it was a language, but rather they seemed to be in a trance, and devoted to harmonizing their voices to construct some truly beautiful sounds.

Love music...no matter what ('cept maybe country crying).

[diabeticman]

7. Gave me chills and moved my wife to tears.

[blackspade]

8. Incredible.

It almost brought me to tears.

[Hoppy]

9. Less like Gregorian and more like early polyphony. Montverde and that time period.

[3catwoman3]

10. I didn't understand a word, but...

...it didn't matter. That was beautiful.

One of our younger son's college soccer teammates grew up in Iceland until he was 9. I will have to send this to him.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Sounds like it's something from "Lord of the Rings".

[secondvariety]

12. What a wonderful post. Thank you.

Here's an English translation-the words are as beautiful as the melody.

[tabasco]

13. Beautiful. n/t