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Voces8 Releases Recording of Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's "Heyr himna smiður"

Jul. 15, 2021

The acclaimed vocal ensemble, Voces8 has released a recording of Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's Islandic hymn, Heyr himna smiður. The recording is currently available as a single on Decca Classics. It will be included in their forthcoming album "Infinity". Heyr himna smiður has been heard on the television series "The Handmaid's Tale" and in the recent Will Ferrell film “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.”

Heyr, Himna Smiður is a haunting three-minute choral hymn by 20th-century Icelandic composer, Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson. It is one of the best-known works in the Icelandic repertoire and is sung at weddings and funerals, as well as choral concerts. Setting a text written upon his deathbed by the 12th-century Icelandic chieftain Kolbeinn Tumason, it is the oldest surviving Scandinavian religious poem in existence.

The piece came to global attention when Icelandic rock band Ártsiðir sang it unannounced in a German railway station. The resultant video soon garnered over four million hits on YouTube.


(Voces8 performs Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's Heyr himna smiður)

Heyr himna smiðu is available in four a cappella versions: SATB; SSAA; SSA & TTBB, available for purchase here.

Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson
Heyr himna smiður 
for unaccompanied voices
3'

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