SHOUTS - Music from the Rooftops!

A young rapper from Iceland, with family ties to Gaza, has organised a benefit concert and gotten the help from some heavy hitters from the country’s hiphop scene.

Alexander was born and raised in Iceland and has never experienced life in a war zone. However, his father is from Gaza and now the young rapper’s plan is to raise enough funds so he can travel to the Egypt-Gaza border and help family members to safety, namely his grandmother and his uncle and family.

Alexander’s family members in Gaza are not immediate family and therefore he can not apply for asylum for them on grounds of family unification in Iceland. But after seeing on the news how three Icelandic activists travelled to Egypt to retrieve families out of Gaza, because of lack of effort by the Icelandic government, he thought maybe he could do the same.

For the benefit concert, Alexander got the support of some popular members of the contemporary Icelandic hiphop scene, such as Birnir, Flóni, Krabbamane and others, who are donating their performance to the cause.

If you find yourself in Iceland this Saturday, perhaps to admire the fresh lava, you could do a lot worse then stopping by this concert and helping the Abu-Samrah family get out of harm’s way.

When: Saturday 24 February 2024
Where: IÐNÓ, Reykjavík
How much: 5,900 Icelandic kronas (42 USD, 39 EUR)
Alternative ways to support:
Icelandic ID number: 040991-2049
Account number: 0370-26-010964
IBAN: IS620370260109640409912049
SWIFT: ESJAISRE

Using the hashtag #viðerumhér (which translates to we are here) Icelandic women have come together and created a fast growing playlist showcasing the musical variety of women creators in the Icelandic music industry.

Although being famed for equality, Iceland has its problems and plenty of them. Recent studies have shown that it is far more dangerous of a place than portrayed. Women in music get pushed aside and not thought of as worthy enough as the men. Again and again big concerts or festivals get produced with no or very few women artists and they have long ago had enough.

Though it is a serious subject the women involved use humor as well; the username of the playlist is easylistening, pointing out how in Iceland it is common to think of female musicians creating only soft elevator music.