what is sigur rós?
a rock band from iceland. the members of the band are:
jón þór birgisson (nickname jónsi) - vocals, guitar, synth
kjartan sveinsson (nickname kjarri) - piano, keyboards, guitar, flute
georg hólm (nickname goggi) - bass, xylophone
orri páll dýrason (nickname erm.. orri) - drums, keyboards
has that always been the line-up?
no, the original drummer, águst, left the band to in 1999 (shortly after the recording of ágætis byrjun), in order to pursue a career in graphic design. he was replaced with orri. kjartan joined the band around 1998.
when did sigur rós form?
in august 1994, the same day jónsi's sister, sigurrós, was born (hence the band name).
what does 'sigur rós' mean?
sigur rós translates directly to 'victory rose'. sigur rós was named after jónsi's little sister, whose name is sigurrós (without a space). sigurrós is a fairly common female name in iceland.
what's that song where the bassist uses a drumstick?
this song is called hafssól and is on sigur rós's first album, von. the version they play at concerts is a revamped rendition of the song, and it has in fact been changed so drastically since it was recorded that the band plans to record this version in their studio and release it soon.
what language does jónsi sing in?
on the first three albums (von, von brigði, ágætis byrjun), jónsi sang most songs in icelandic but two of them (von and olsen olsen) were sung in 'hopelandic'. all of the vocals ( ) are however in hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska in icelandic) is the 'invented language' in which jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. it's of course not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), it's rather a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument. jónsi likens it with what singers sometimes do when they've decided on the melody but haven't written the lyrics yet. many languages were considered to be used on ( ), including english, but they decided on hopelandic. hopelandic (vonlenska) got its name from first song which jónsi sang it on, hope (von).
where can i find sigur rÑs lyrics and translations?
you won't be able to find lyrics and translations from ( ) because the vocals don't contain lyrics [see question above]. the band had planned to do official translations of ágætis byrjun in 2000 with the help of a grammarian but no progress has been made in this matter.
where can i find full versions of new songs?
live recordings of the new unreleased songs can be found on various peer to peer media such as soulseek and kazaa. loads of concerts and videos can also be found on the ftp.
there is a long silence in my copy of ( ), is this normal?
yes, that's what it's supposed to be like. the abrupt end of track 4 is followed by 36 seconds of silence, which signifies the division of the album's two halves: the "sweet" half and the "heavy" half.
where can i buy sigur rós's first two albums, von and von brigði?
you can order sigur rós's first two albums from the band's online store, called klink. please note that von brigði is not an original album, it's a remix album of von. there is, however, one original sigur rós song on it, called leit af lífi.
how old are the members of sigur rós?
jónsi is 30, born april 23rd 1975.
georg is 29, born april 6th 1976.
orri is 28, born july 4th 1977.
kjartan is 27, born january 2nd 1978.
can i use music by sigur rós in my student film?
you can use sigur rós's music as long as it won't be used for commercial purposes. if the film reaches a prominent or internationally recognised film festival, you will have to contact the management because we don't have permission to grant publishing and master rights to films screened at these kinds of large-scale events.
is there a sigur rós ftp site?
yes, the address is sigur-ros.serveftp.com. username and password: anonymous. if there are too many users you can try our ftp mirror at freebox.mistur.org (anonymous as well).
is it true that jónsi is gay?
yes.
and that he's blind in one eye?
yes.
what equipment does sigur rós use to create their unique sound?
most people are curious to know what jónsi does to make his guitar sound like it does. he uses a gibson les paul guitar and a cello bow with a lot of rosin, through a lot of reverb.
do the members of sigur rós speak english?
yes, they all speak english. georg speaks most fluently (having briefly lived in england) while jónsi has the thickest icelandic accent. most icelanders speak english.
what is englar alheimsins (angels of the universe)?
englar alheimsins is an icelandic film by friðrik þór friðriksson. the soundtrack for the film was a score by hilmar örn hilmarsson, a famous icelandic composer. the soundtrack also features two songs by sigur rós (bíum bíum bambaló and dánarfregnir og jarðarfarir). these two songs appear in the climax of the film. for more information click here. another soundtrack that sigur ros have been involved with was that for the documentary film hlemmur, about homeless people living in the main bus station in reykjavík. this instrumental electronic soundtrack will be released at some point.
where can i get the englar alheimsins film and soundtrack?
on the smekkleysa website, www.smekkleysa.net.
have sigur rós ever collaborated with mogwai?
no. there are a couple of mp3s going around named e.g. "sigur ros & mogwai - luvstory". these mp3s have nothing to do with sigur rós, nor with mogwai. they were made by the korean band 500won project whose name was put on the mp3 by someone outside the band, which resulted in sigur rós and mogwai fans spreading the mp3s around the internet.
sigur rós was named after jónsi's little sister, whose name is sigurrós (without a space). 