Þursaflokkurinn (English: the group of

hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, appearing in English 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 Nigh ...

s), often written in a simplified way ("Thursaflokkurinn"), were an Icelandic

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

group that was mainly active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Similar to the Dutch band

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

, Þursaflokkurinn combined rock music with influences of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, 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 rock 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 gro ...

work of, for instance, the Swedish band Samla Mammas Manna. Since their foundation in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

in 1978, the group consisted of Egill Ólafsson (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, keyboards) and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist Þórður Arnason,

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

ist Rúnar Vilbergsson,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Tómas Magnús Tómasson and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

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 horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

and

jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...

. 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 The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(played by the newly recruited keyboarder Karl Sighvatsson) and the

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

. 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 Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

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 music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

. The acoustic instruments were nearly completely substituted by

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s; keyboarder Karl Sighvatsson 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 Sighvatsson, 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 ki ...

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 Icelandic rock music groups Icelandic progressive rock groups