| Eivør Pálsdóttir | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eivør Pálsdóttir |
| Born | 21 July 1983 |
| Origin | Faroe Islands |
| Genres | folk Rock |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Tutl |
| Associated acts | Clickhaze |
| Website | EIVOR.COM |
| Notable instruments | |
| vocals, guitar | |
Eivør Pálsdóttir (pronounced [ˈaivœɹ ˈpɔlsˌdœʰtəɹ]; born 21 July 1983 in Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands) is a Faroese singer/songwriter with a distinct voice and a wide range of interests in many kinds of music from rock, jazz, folk, pop, to European classical music. Her roots are in the Faroese ballads.
Eivør is the daughter of Sædis Eilifsdóttir and Páll Jacobsen. Usually she is only addressed by her first name Eivør, which occurs normally as the female name Eyðvør in Faroese.
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At the age of 12, Eivør traveled as the soloist of a Faroese men's choir to Italy. At 13 she had her first performance on Faroese television and won a national song contest in the same year. In 1999 at the age of 15, Eivør joined the rock band Clickhaze.
One year later in 2000 her first album Eivør Pálsdóttir was released.[1] It is a mixture of classical Faroese ballads accompanied only by guitar and bass with jazz influences and texts by famous Faroese writers, and concludes with two religious songs. The latter are sung in Danish, but all the others in Faroese. Many of the songs were written by Eivør. By this time she was already a professional musician.
In 2001 she won with her band Clickhaze the national Faroese band contest Prix Føroyar. In 2002, Eivør went to Reykjavík to study classic and jazz music. The mentor of the Faroese music scene, Kristian Blak invited her to be the lead singer of the jazz group Yggdrasil, which came out with its first album that year.
Well known as a jazz performer, she released a rock album with Clickhaze the same summer, thus proving her wide range again. Touring with Clickhaze in the Faroes, to Sweden, Denmark (Roskilde Festival), Iceland and Greenland was a great success.
After her second solo album Krákan, the perhaps most important event in her young career was the nomination for the Icelandic Music Awards in no fewer than three categories in 2003. She was awarded best singer and best performer - normally only given to Icelandic artists.
Educated as a classical vocalist, Eivør sings also with the Faroese symphony orchestra and sings solo in Kristian Blak's 2004 opera Firra.
Her latest album eivør from November 2004 together with the Canadian Bill Bourne seems be the best selling Faroese album in the U.S. and Canada ever. Bourne's companionship with acoustic guitar gave the entire project a great bit of American country music, with Eivør contributing several songs in Faroese. In Iceland it was again in the charts, and was nominated for the Icelandic Music Award - together with an album by Björk. At the Awards ceremony on 2 February 2005 in Reykjavík, neither Eivør nor Björk had success, though.
Eivør is the first person in her country to bear the title Faroese of the year. On 9 February Eivør was named Faroese of the year 2004 (ársins føroyingur 2004) for "Putting the Faroe Islands on the map in a positive way with her songs".
On 7 March 2005, the big band of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) issued its 40th anniversary album. All titles on that CD are written and sung by Eivør. Once again she was honoured in Iceland on 16 June with the national theatre award Gríma for her composing and performance in the piece Úlfhamssaga, based on the Norse sagas.
Eivør's 5th album Human Child is produced by Dónal Lunny and will be issued in both English and a Faroese version under the title Mannabarn on 18 July 2007 in the Faroes. The album was recorded throughout 2006 and early 2007 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. This was followed with an Irish tour in Summer 2007.
In 2008 Eivør collaborated with the English classical composer Gavin Bryars on Tróndur i Gøtu, a work for two voices - hers and that of Faroese bass Rúni Brattaberg - choir and chamber orchestra (Aldúbaran), based on a 10th century Faroese saga hero, which was performed in Gøtu, Faroe Islands on July 12, 2008. She has recently started to work with Gavin Bryars again on a chamber opera Anyone can see that I love you based on Marilyn Monroe, with libretto by Marilyn Bowering and produced by Avena (Canada) in which she plays the leading role. Parts of this were developed during a workshop in Banff, Canada in June 2010 and two scenes were performed there on 12 June 2010. The work is scheduled for first performances in Vancouver and Victoria in February 2012.
An update from 8 February 2010 on eivor.com revealed among other things that: "The final touches have now been laid on Eivør's upcoming album. The album will present a new side of Eivør's talent, as she moves away from the folk sound of recent years into a more experimental and raw musical style. "
Furthermore: "On the album Eivør's haunting new songs are coupled with arrangement by Faroe Islands most exciting classical composer, Tróndur Bogason, the Icelandic string quartet Kaputt, the Faroese choir Mpiri and a children's choir from Eivør's hometown of Gøta." The new album is called Larva.