Þursaflokkurinn (English: the
hobgoblin
A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nig ...
s), often written in a simplified way ("Thursaflokkurinn"), were an Icelandic
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
group that was mainly active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Similar to the Dutch band
Focus
Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to:
Arts
* Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film
*''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore
* ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...
, Þursaflokkurinn combined rock music with influences of
classical music and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, enhancing their sound by adding elements of
Scandinavian folk music and sometimes eccentric vocals resembling the
Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by English avant-rock group H ...
work of, for instance, the Swedish band
Samla Mammas Manna.
Since their foundation in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
in 1978, the group consisted of Egill Ólafsson (
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
) and
acoustic guitar,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
ist Þórður Arnason,
bassoonist Rúnar Vilbergsson,
bassist Tómas Magnus Tómasson and
drummer Ásgeir Óskarsson.
Between 1978 and 1980, the band mainly played progressive rock with influences of
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
,
psychedelic and
jazz rock
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyb ...
.
Most of the songs are based on Icelandic folk songs; especially the
debut album includes many traditional folk tunes which have all been given a progressive rock arrangement.
The second album ''
Þursabit'' has more psychedelic influences than the 'folkier' debut album and also features more prominent keyboards, for example the
Hammond organ (played by the newly recruited keyboarder Karl Sighvatsson) and the
electric piano.
The band's 1980 tour is documented by the live album ''
Á hljómleikum'' and imports jazz influences into the band's music. A
punk rock track at the end of the album became a popular and well-known song in Iceland.
On their fourth album, ''
Gæti eins verið...'' from 1982, the band had switched style completely into playing
new wave music
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...
. The acoustic instruments were nearly completely substituted by
synthesizers; keyboarder Karl Sighvattson and bassoonist Rúnar Vilbergsson had left the band.
After some recording sessions for a new album in 1983 and 1984, the band split. One reason was that the band's success did not spread outside Iceland. Egill Ólafsson started working as a writer and was a member of the band ''Stuðmenn'' in which other Þursaflokkurinn musicians also played.
Sometimes the band met again for one-off performances, for example for the memorial for Karl Sighvattson, who died in 1991.
For the band's 30th anniversary in February 2008, all their albums were reissued in a mini-
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
-box with a
CD full of previously unissued tracks and live versions. In addition, there was a tour through Iceland in early 2008 with the small orchestra ''Capút''; a live CD-
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
was issued in late November 2008 with the title ''Hinn íslenski Þursaflokkur og Caput''.
Discography
*
Hinn íslenzki Þursaflokkur (1978)
*
Þursabit (1979)
*
Á hljómleikum (1980)
*
Gæti eins verið... (1982)
*
Nútíminn - Bestu lög Þursaflokksins 1978-1982 (best of collection) (2000)
*
Þursar (all the four albums from 1978 to 1982) (2008)
** includes:
Ókomin forneskjan (outtake collection)
*
Hinn íslenski Þursaflokkur og Caput (2008)
External links
Þursaflokkurinn - TV music show from 1979
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thursaflokkurinn
Progressive rock groups
Icelandic rock music groups