Music | ‘Piano prince of Iceland’ debuts in town

Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, Ólafur Arnalds, will mark his debut show in Macau tomorrow as part of the 29th Macau International Music Festival. Arnalds, who is sometimes referred to as the “piano prince of Iceland”, mixes classical music with pop and electronic elements, and says that he is equally inspired by classical and pop music.
“I have always been interested in classical music, but I have a broad taste in music. Sometimes I listen to pop and I’m influenced to write classical; other times it’s the reverse,” said Arnalds.
“We make up genres in our heads as a way to talk about music. They are not physical. We can take them away [and once we do], it becomes easier to mix different types of music.”
Ólafur Arnalds’ music is considered experimental and technically minimalistic. When quizzed about the reasons for the lack of musical technicality in his work, he said, “I didn’t study piano so I don’t have any technique to write or play complicated music, so I write simple music.” Despite this, he said that he prefers “not knowing too much” because it means he doesn’t “think too much.”
“I don’t recommend that people don’t study music – you need to have some knowledge – but thinking too much can hinder the creative process.”
According to Arnalds, the show will last “around 70 minutes” and will consist of about 15 songs. The set list will feature hits mainly from his older albums, with one or two from his latest, entitled “For Now I Am Winter”. The pieces from the first of his albums will also include vocals, which are usually absent from his largely instrumental works.
“I usually prefer music without vocals, but it was interesting to try it out. In the end we decided to treat the voice [vocals] as just another instrument in the orchestra.”
The artist’s show is now sold out, but Arnalds will perform again in the Pearl River Delta region in Hong Kong during the Clockenflap Festival on November 29. He will play there as member of the experimental techno duo Kiasmos, together with Janus Rasmussen.
Macau is the first stop on his world tour lasting until mid-December, and one of only four Greater China performances. The others will be held in Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong.
He revealed that he has visited China three times before, but never Macau, stating: “I’m very curious about Macau as I’ve never been here before. I didn’t know what to expect.” After some reflection he joked, “Macau is really funny because it looks just like Europe, but it’s full of Chinese people.” Staff Reporter