Icelandic folk music: Funi

Funi (an old Icelandic word meaning Fire) are Bara Grimsdottir and Chris Foster, consummate performers of the traditional songs the northern European countries of Iceland and England. They accompany their songs using Guitar, Kantele, and the two indigenous traditional Icelandic instruments the Langspil and the Icelandic Fidla.
The mediaeval histories and languages of their two native countries are linked by the fantastic exploits of the Vikings, who colonised a large part of Britain, settled Iceland in the late 9th century and went on to explore the east coast of Canada and the USA as well as travelling and trading all over Europe and as far as the Balkans and the Middle East.
The duo Funi
Bára Grímsdóttir, traditional singer and kantele player and Chris Foster, singer and guitarist, perform Icelandic and English traditional songs and folk songs in their own arrangements.
Bára Grímsdóttir is a singer and composer who has been performing the traditional songs of Iceland for many years. She grew up surrounded by folk songs, hearing her parents and grand parents singing at the family farm Grímstunga in Vatnsdalur in the north of Iceland. When the family moved to the capital, Reykjavík, her parents became members of the Kvæðamannafélagið Iðunn, the society dedicated to preserving the old singing and poetry traditions of Iceland, and Bára was taken along to their meetings and outings.
Bára has a special interest in the old rimur and kvæðalög styles of song, but she is also knowledgeable about and performs songs in a range of other traditional forms, both secular and religious. She has performed widely with Sigurður Rúnar Jónsson and Njáll Sigurðsson and as a member of the group Embla in Europe and North America.
Chris Foster grew up in Somerset, in the Southwest of England, where he first heard and started singing traditional songs. Over the past 30 years he has performed all over Britain, Europe and North America establishing a reputation as a fine and distinctive performer of English traditional songs. Tales of romance, magic, murder, liquor, love, adultery and cross-dressing, each song is a story.
Chris is an accomplished guitarist who has the knack of producing inventive and sensitive guitar accompaniments that illuminate the songs he sings without overwhelming them. In recent years he has been increasingly in demand as an accompanist on other people’s recordings.
It was while Bára was singing at the Baring-Gould Folk Festival in Devon, England in October 2000 that she met Chris and they started to explore the possibilities of combining his open tuned style of guitar playing with the modal melodies of Bára’s Icelandic songs. The resulting combination is a spell binding mix.
Over the past 4 years Bára and Chris have performed at festivals and concerts and on radio in England, Scotland, Ireland and the USA as well as in Iceland. In June 2004 they released the acclaimed CD Funi.
Reviews
Funi concert for the Folk Society of Greater Washington, USA:
Singly, each singer is a great presenter of the music of a native island, but as a duo with great skill and musicality, they transform the music of their islands into universals.

Marius Roeting, New Folk Sounds magazine, Holland:
Funi puts the Icelandic folk music culture on the map of world music.

Chris Ridley, Cornwal Folk Directory, England:
Chris and Bara interpret the narrative traditional songs of England and Iceland with sublime artistry. Bara’s crystal clear voice and Chris’ exemplary instrumental work are a stunning combination. The music of Funi has the power to occupy the consciousness of an audience long after the last note from voice or guitar has been performed.

In 2007 Funi did a Tour in Belgium and The Netherlands:
11 Feb. 't Ey, Belsele (B) www.tey.be
12 Feb. Meneer Frits, Eindhoven (NL)
14 Feb. Icelandic Ambassador's Residence, Brussel (B)
15 Feb. Folkclub Noordwijkerhout (NL)
16 Feb. O.B.S. De Krullevaar, Zwolle (NL)
16 Feb. Papenstraattheater, Zwolle (NL)
18 Feb. Arsenaaltheater, Vlissingen (NL)

More on Funi @ www.myspace.com/funireykjavik