Let me take you back on a journey to 1993…
I was thirteen years old.
I was in the 8th grade.
Grunge was in full swing (only two short years had gone by since the
releases of Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger,
Nirvana’s Nevermind, and of course
Pearl Jam’s iconic album, Ten). I
was on the cusp of entering high school with only one year left in elementary
school. My thoughts were likely
dominated by what I was going to wear to grad (even though it was months away),
if the boy I liked would ask me to grad (even though it was months away), and
what high school was going to be like (even though it was months away). That’s the mind of a teenager!
This is a picture of me in the 8th grade.
You can see the evidence of Grunge.
And weird stuffed animals.
Also, back in ’93, we had this strange and wonderful thing called
MuchMusic. Yes, I know it still exists
today but it is definitely not the same from my childhood and adolescence. For all you super young folk out there, MuchMusic
used to play music videos. Like, all the
time. That was its purpose! With the advent of YouTube in 2005, MuchMusic
turned into a weird channel for strange teen-based reality shows. I remember waiting for hours for my favourite
video so I could bask in its awesomeness for the 3-5 minutes. There was a real joy in it because of the
waiting. We don’t have to wait for
anything anymore; you can watch the same video on YouTube seventy-eight times
in a row.
And then, there it was: Bjork’s video for Big Time
Sensuality. Bjork had released other
songs and videos before this one but it was THIS video (and how it made me
feel) that would be burned in my memory to this day. I was…Enchanted. That is the perfect word to describe it. Bjork was, and still is, enchanting. I wanted to know everything about her! Who is she??
Where is she from?? How did she
get her hair like that?? I spent many hours trying to get my hair like hers in
that video. Here, let me refresh your
memory:
And that’s the moment my obsession with Bjork and Iceland
began. I started reading books and encyclopaedias
about Iceland (this was before the Internet, my friends). I would wait for hours (while doing homework
and chores, etc) just to push the record button on my VCR for whichever amazing
video of hers would air. I couldn’t get
enough. That was when my dream of going
to Iceland was born – in 1993, nineteen years ago. Another dream came true in 1998 when I saw
Bjork live at The Warehouse (currently The Koolhaus). I still cannot believe I saw her on the
Homogenic tour. Homogenic is actually my favourite album of all time.
Iceland is tucked away in its own little world in the North
Atlantic Ocean. Getting there was not
easy nor was it financially achievable for a very long time…Not until their
economy collapsed in 2008 and Iceland Air started to fly out of Toronto at very reasonable rates. I remember seeing ads in the subway and
having heart palpitations. The dream was
slowly becoming possible! I was set to
go the summer of 2010 but certain events in my personal life prevented me from
going. I’m actually very happy I didn’t go
then – the whole experience would have been tainted by the bad memories of that
time, and what I would later learn about that time period as well. It wasn’t the right time for me to go and my
intuition guided me to stay.
In August of 2012, my dream of nineteen years came
true. I could cry right now just
thinking about it. Sometimes I wonder if
it even happened; if I only dreamt it as I had done for so long. Well, I know for sure it happened because I
have 1000 pictures to prove it! And, for
the first time, I kept a daily journal of my travels to share with you! On previous journeys I have attempted to
write daily but failed miserably, and as a result my memories have faded
significantly. I couldn’t let that
happen to my dream. This time I succeeded
and I’m excited to share it with you and to relive my trip all over again!
Might I add how sad I am to be only writing about Iceland at
this moment as one of the coolest music festivals is currently in session? IcelandAirwaves is happening right now! I'll be speaking much more about the indie music in Iceland in later posts. I
wish I were there. But I always wish I am...
Stay tuned as I post Iceland:
Day One!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Roopa
P.S. Perhaps this will prompt you to go!
P.S. Perhaps this will prompt you to go!
