IN THE land of ash black earth and mountains crowned in white, a contemporary music festival or a gathering of living composers from across Scandinavia seems like a curious place to find us all.

But the arrival of Nordic Music Days in Reykjavik meant the quiet capital in the Artic circle became a centre of hubbub, curiosity, and music of a wide variety of stripes, sensibilities, and desires.

The festival was founded in 1888, and since it has seen new nations gain independence — Norway in 1905 — presently independence is favoured by significant majorities in Faroe islands and Greeland.

The festival is co-ordinated by the Nordic Council of Composers, an organisation which unifies Composers’ Unions from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Faroe islands, and Greenland.

But this year was a unique year, and partly why I was lucky enough to be present at this event followed from a bold initiative by Creative Scotland, New Music Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the leadership and vision of Andy Saunders that Scotland and its resident composers would be welcomed into the Nordic fold.

But let us reflect on the event and nature of the festival. As it does not have a tried and tested template, as each host nation is left to define its shape and function and this naturally applied to Iceland.

The event ran between October 11-15 2022 and featured numerous concerts, including the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra, Siggi String Quartet, Ensemble Adapter, and Duo Harpverk to name a few.

Alongside this were numerous pop-up events for networking, as well as discussion panels which included topics like debates about Intelligent Instrument Labs’ experimentations in instrument building and two separate panels on activism within music.

The music was wildly diverse — which is probably not surprising in a festival that celebrates composers from at least seven different nations — but even among composers from the same nations, the music was still incredibly varied. I see this as one of the great strengths and something festivals ought to to strive for — nothing is more tedious than a concert/festival with “sameish” music offered by “different” composers.

The discussions were rich, and the panel on activism reflecting what I have been writing in numerous previous articles in the Morning Star — many composers and musicians are eager to change the power dynamics which make the artform unequal, however they often don’t necessarily have the tools or political wherewithal to connect the dots and bring the fight to material issues. This being said, the contributions from Idin Samimi Mofakham regarding music in Iran were illuminating.

As mentioned, I attended as part of a just over a dozen-strong Scotland delegation including Errollyn Wallen, Stuart MacRae, and Bill Sweeney to name a small handful.

We were encouraged to get to know other artists, share our own music showing what was being composed and played in Scotland.

Though this is not something of my forte, an adventure in the Artic, combined with meeting old composer friends like Tine Surel Lange and Fabian Svensson was wonderful as was being introduced to new composers — both in person, and through their music.

Saunders had this to say: “A conversation about the possibility of Scotland’s new music community join the network that runs Nordic Music Days began just before Covid-19 arrived, so it was very exciting to see a group of Scottish composers attending this year’s festival, engaging and connecting with their colleagues from across the region. Their enthusiasm and artistic curiosity and generosity was warmly welcomed, and bodes well for the possibilities of collaboration in the years ahead.”

Though, beyond adding a new stamp to my passport and seeing new sights and hearing unfamiliar music — I was particularly excited and honoured to be part of such a delegation.

I have often complained about the lack of vision for culture in Britain, it being in a nation that has abandoned all rational thinking to merely obey the whims of “divine” market forces where sensible and meaningful vision for culture is hard to achieve if not impossible.

I must also admit, I have been a stronger critic of Scotland and Wales in this matter — this criticism has solely been because the vision of culture from the independence movement in both nations can generally be reduced to culture that only enacts lazy stereotypes.

However, the endeavour to bring Scotland into the Nordic Music Days fold is probably the strongest cultural initiative in years. What is all the more impressive is it has been driven by artists in Scotland — instead of half-baked cultural policy from detached MSPs who would struggle to name a single living Scottish composer.

The strength and excitement of this comes down to this is —Scotland potentially has now an avenue to meaningfully take Scottish art out of Scotland and to share it with peers in other nations and to be heard on its own merits.

Similarly, it means Scotland can now be a place where the Nordic composers we hear in Scotland are not limited to just Sibelius, Grieg, or Nielsen, but could include Kristian Blak, Kalle Hermanni Autio, Purioor Jonsdottir, or Lisa Streich.

As the make-up of the Nordic Music Days is genuinely focused on cultural exchange the focus is on mutual understand that we can learn from each other and enrich our cultural landscape as a result of it.

There are of course limitations in terms of societal impact — but the developments which could result from this delegation are genuinely and profoundly exciting. Amid the turmoil and numerous concerns about cuts to arts funding in Britain generally and Scotland specifically, such a genuinely positive development like this exchange does make the day brighter.