A song of Hjálmar's fourth Album entitled "IV", "Það sýnir sig" is my 130. Song of the Week. Album was released this month.The History of Hjálmar (Based on MySpace Bio)
The Icelandic band Hjálmar started back in 2004 as a reggae experiment: to mix reggae with Icelandic music roots. The band is known for its energetic & colourful live shows.
Hjálmar's original band members were Sigurður Guðmundsson, Þorsteinn Einarsson, Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson and Kristinn Snær Agnarsson from Iceland, and Petter Winnberg from Sweden.
The debut album "Hljóðlega af stað" ("A Quite Take-Off") was released in September 2004 and sold well. In the beginning of the year 2005 the band received two awards at the Icelandic Music Awards: "Best Newcomers" and "Best Rock Album". The band was also nominated for the Best Live act. Later in the year 2005 the band transformed into an Icelandic/Swedish group when Kristinn Snær left to be replaced by percussionist Nils Olof Törnqvist. Mikael Svensson simultaneously joined the group on keyboard. This was the combination of the band when it produced its second album "Hjálmar", released in September 2005 and was nominated for the "Best Pop Album" at the Icelandic Music Awards. Once again Hjálmar was also nominated for the best live act. The song, "Ég vil fá mér kærustu" ("I want a Girlfriend") was the most played song on RAS 2 of the Icelandic National Radio RUV in 2005.
The third album "Ferðasót" ("Dusty from Travelling") came out in November 2007. Although the band was still mainly playing reggae, this album showed tendency towards more aggressive music as well as strong references to Icelandic musical tradition and folk music in general. The texts were also more personal and at the Icelandic Music Awards 2007 Þorsteinn Einarsson, Hjálmar’s main text writer, got nominated as the text writer of the year.
Just shortly after the release of Ferðasót the Swedish part of the band was replaced by local drummer Helgi Svavar Helgason, and bass player Valdimar Kolbeinn Sigurjónsson.
In July 2008 Hjálmar joined forces with Swedish rapper and songwriter Timbuktu for the song "Dom hinner aldrig ikapp". The song was an instant radio hit in Iceland and was released on Timbuktu's album "En high 5 & 1 Falafel" later that year.
In May this year, Hjálmar went to Jamaica to record at the famous Harry J Studio and the Tuff Gong Studio, along with local reggae artists such as Cat Coore, Sticky, Robbie Lyn and Dean Fraser. Those recordings ended up on Hjálmar's fourth album, "IV", that was released in September 2009.
The individual members of Hjálmar are all well respected within the Icelandic music and entertainment scene and as either solo artists, text writers, producers (albums, music for TV, commercials, film and theatre) as well as playing and recording with other Icelandic artists and bands.
Hjálmar's current line-up:
Þorsteinn Einarsson:Lead vocal & Guitar
Sigurður Guðmundsson:Lead vocal & Keyboards
Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson: Guitar
Valdimar Kolbeinn Sigurjónsson: Bass
Helgi Svavar Helgason: Drums
Hjálmar @ MySpace
