The Reykjavík Calling music event, featuring music emerging from both cities, premiered on the East Coast with roughly 800 attendees attending the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.

Sóley Stefánsdóttir and Dave Munro, Lay Low and Amory Sivertson, Petur Ben and Will Dailey, and Mugison and Eli “Paperboy” fused their strings together in a “unique and never seen before co-operation resulting in an inspirational and uplifting cultural experience,” according to Back Beat. The concert was held in collaboration with radio WERS.

Garret Harker, owner of the Eastern Standard Kitchen and Wine told mbl.is that the Taste of Iceland event had been well-received by both staff and guests.

“It was great working with Háokn and he gave us an insight into Icelandic culinary traditions and culture. The guests were thrilled to experience Iceland in the midst of Boston’s very own culinary traditions,” he concluded.  

The final event of the festival was a cinematic premier of two Icelandic films. Sumarlandið (“Summerland”) by director Grímur Hákonarson is an art-house comedy about an Icelandic family who makes a living from supernatural superstition. The second film premiered was the documentary Inni (“Inside”) by Vincent Morisset, in which the live music of Sigurrós melts into the spectacular Icelandic landscape. Sigurrós is one of Iceland’s most celebrated bands.

Taste of Iceland was an event organized by Iceland Naturally, a local marketing project, and was reviewed in the media by the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Metro, Patriot Ledger, WERS, and WBZ (a radio station owned by CBS) and reaches 38 states in both Canada and the United States.

Click here to see pictures from the Reykjavík Calling event.

JB