Björk ++ Audur Capital

http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=40764&ew_0_a_id=317204

"Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk and Icelandic financial services provider Audur Capital have established a joint venture fund called BJÖRK, after the singer. The fund will be used to invest in seed companies in Iceland.

“It’s Audur’s idea and it’s a great honor that [the fund] is named after me,” Björk told Morgunbladid when she and Audur’s chief executives, Halla Tómasdóttir and Kristín Pétursdóttir, presented their initiative yesterday.

It is hoped that the fund will have close to ISK 2 billion (USD 17 million, EUR 12 million) in capital and that companies will be able to apply for grants from the fund next year. Audur Capital has already contributed ISK 100 million (USD 867,000, EUR 614,000) to the fund."

Björk's Father's Blog...

Here it is: :)

Björk's father Guðmundur Gunnarsson is Labour Leader in Iceland. He and his former wife, Björk's mother Hildur, are both political activists in their own rights. Hildur embarked on a hunger strike in 2002 as a protest against government plans to build power plants in Iceland.

If you read Icelandic... let me know if it's any good!

Björk looks a bit like her father:

ROLLING STONE

Rolling Stone
100 Greatest Singers Of All Time

#60 - Björk by Chris Martin

"When you land in Iceland, you feel like you're somewhere a bit magical. Maybe it's the volcanic activity, maybe it's the dried fish, but something's going on: Everyone seems to be extraordinarily beautiful, and everyone appears to be able to sing. Their singers are so far ahead of everyone else — especially Björk. Her voice is so specific and such a new color. Now that she's been around for 20 years, everyone forgets quite how extraordinary she is. She could be singing the theme from Sesame Street, and it would sound completely different to how anyone else would do it, and completely magical.

She first crossed my radar on "Big Time Sensuality," from that video where she's on the back of a flatbed truck. I really got into her on Homogenic, largely because there's so much space left for the singing. On that album, there are strings and beats, but it isn't very full musically, so she has to do all the dynamics and everything. If you really want to hear what she can do, listen to "It's Oh So Quiet," from Post: She can go from zero to 60 faster than any other vehicle in terms of singing. And then to angry.

In that movie Dancer in the Dark, she's singing as a different person and it stills sounds completely genuine. She could be an opera singer or she could be a pop singer. Dulux Paint has a catalog that has all the colors you can buy of paint, right? That is how Björk's voice is. She can do anything. In our studio, there are pictures on the wall of our favorite artists. I can see Mozart, Jay-Z, Gershwin, PJ Harvey, E.E. and Björk."

Christmas Concert!!!

Last year was the first for some interesting performances at the Nordic House (Norræna húsið) in Reykjavík. This year it happens again! During the period 1st through 23rd of December 2008, a lot of Icelanders (popular artists, poets, writers, actors, musicians, bands) are giving a performance at the Nordic House, nearby the University of Iceland. Björk's day is the 22nd of December!

Pafrticipants include: Motion boys, Sjón, Hallgrímur Helgason, Jón Ólafsson, Hildur Vala, Kristín Mjölll, Egill Ólafsson & Valgeir Guðjónsson, Sprengjuhöllin, Steinar í Djúpinu, Karl Sigurbjörnsson, Vox feminae, Högni úr Hjaltalín, Duo Stemma, Ófeigur Sigurðsson, Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Reykjavík!, Djass með Inga og Danna, Sollla & Sandra, Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir, Kira Kira, Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir, Jón Gnarr & Björk.

Every performance starts at 12:34 every day and lasts about 15-20 minutes.