Tuesday, 05.03.2019
The next day the sun is shining from a clear blue sky. It is just the best weather one could wish for. After strolling through the city for a while I take the bus to the ferry terminal Gamlarætt. Exactly when we arrive the ferry “Teistin” makes its way into the small harbour. Note: The Faroese manage what we in Germany are incapable of: Timing different transportation systems. With the “Teistin” I head to Skopun on Sandoy. The waves are pretty high and although I usually don’t get seasick easily, this time I am happy when we finally arrive at the harbour of Skopun. From there I’m starting my hike along the road to the summit of Knúkur. With an altitude of 369 m it is the highest mountain of the island (which is, by the way, the flattest island of the Faroes).
Around 2 km after Skopun a field path branches off from the road. On this I head upwards in serpentines. Until now it is a very easy “mountain hike”. Only the last few hundred meters I have to walk over the field and – of course – climb over a sheep fence. From the summit you have a fantastic view. In the south you can see lined up like pearls on a string Skúgvoy, Stóra Dímun and Lítla Dímun. From west to east you can see Mykines, Vágar, Koltur, Hestur, Streymoy, Eysturoy and Nólsoy. Deep below lies Skopun, looking like a toy city. Even from up here you can see the giant post box that once was the biggest in the world in the village. I was sweating on my way up here, now the wind is blowing so cold that it feels as if my fingers are freezing. I would love to enjoy the view and sun here longer, but it is just too cold and windy.
The way back to Skopun is very relaxing – well, it’s just going downwards. In Skopun I have to find out they deconstructed the public toilet with the scenic name Pisshúsið – now I have to wait until the ferry arrives. Until this will happen I take a short stroll through the village, meeting Faroese dogs and people. It’s very useful you can see Gamlarætt from Skopun, so you can see when the ferry is starting there and you know when you have to go down to the harbour.
On this evening, at 21:00, we start into our personal music week. In the bar Hvonn, located in the basement of the hotel Tórshavn, a folk concert will take place. Here I meet for the first time some of the other journalists who have been invited to the FMA. Besides the music it’s also nice to chat with colleagues from Germany, Denmark and Greenland. Besides that, I meet my friends Finnur Hansen (who is going to play as well later that evening) and Uni Debess who came over for a beer and enjoy the music.
The introduction is made by Kristian Blak, the central person in the Faroese music scene, then a group of young girls starts playing. In the beginning they, especially the one playing the bass, seem to be very timid. Each one of them is introducing a song with a few words and during their gig they become more and more secure. Especially for a Bulgarian Polka during which the four girls also sing (in Bulgarian!) they receive a lot of applause. In the end, they even have to play an encore. It seems they didn’t expect that, so they just play the Polka again and the audience loves it as much as the first time they played it.
They are followed by another group of girls, obviously together with their teacher. They are accompanied by Kristian Blak on piano. He didn’t have a stool at hand so he just uses - despite being more than 70 years old – a small table as stool replacement. They play some more folksongs, some of them composed by Kristian Blak, for example „Álvastakkur“.
Then Janus Trúgvason and band is playing. First, without band, as during the first few songs it is only him, accompanying himself on guitar. Not before the fourth song the rest of the band is joining him. Finnur Hansen is sitting at the worn out piano that at least on the outside must have seen better times. But somehow most pianos on the Faroes look as if they survived at least several wars. Also the four-piece-band is playing – true to the motto of the evening – folksongs. Among them “Grindavísan”, the only song I – thanks to TÝR – already know.
When the four are done there is another band playing, that wasn’t even announced. But spontaneous happens often on the Faroe Islands. I don’t watch them though, I am just too tired for that today. I chat with Kristian Blak and the newly met workmates. They all arrived today and are therefore pretty tired and so we soon head to the hotel together. It’s a good thing we don’t have to get up early tomorrow.
