Today we had the opportunity to interview Gissur Páll who is taking part in tomorrow’s Icelandic first semi final for Eurovision. Gissur will be singing “Von” tomorrow as he competes with four other acts to make it to the final on February 15.
Here is our interview with Gissur:
First off congratulations on being selected to take part in the Icelandic Eurovision selection process. How do you feel about Saturday night?
Thank you – I feel excited and humble at the same time. It is always rewarding to have the chance to perform in front of my fellow Icelanders at RUV, the National Broadcasting Service.
When was it that you realised you wanted to be singer?
As a member of a splendid children’s choir at my elementary school, under the guidance of Thorunn Bjornsdottir, I first experienced the joy of singing. Shortly after that, at the age of 12, I auditioned for the the leading role of Oliver Twist at the National Theater of Iceland. I got selected to take on the role and reflecting on that experience I later realised that I had a passion for working on stage.
I read that you came third at Flaviano Labo out of 123 competitors, what was that moment like?
That was right after my years at the Conservatorio di Bologna in Italy – I was young and had relatively little professional experience, so it was a great honor and a very joyful moment.
In 2010 you released your first solo album, which I must say is brilliant, what was the motivation behind recording the album?
Thank you 🙂 I wanted to join together the cultures of my home country and my “adoptive country” of Italy. At the same time I wanted to give people an insight into the passionate singing culture of Italy, which is in my opinion very elegant but simple at the same time. The CD includes 12 songs in total, both Italian and Icelandic, played by a string orchestra. Later this year I will be publishing a new CD, so please stay tuned!
Now going back to your participation in the Icelandic selection, what was it that made you submit a song into the competition?
It happened quite quickly, I didn’t really know that the song was meant for the contest – the song is written by the very talented song writer Johann Helgason who has received several gold and platinum records for his music. He asked me if I wanted to record a demo of his song, one thing led to another and here we are today.
Your song is called “Von”, can you tell us more about it?
Von means hope in Icelandic. The lyrics of the song include a line saying that hope surrounds everything that I care for. For me it is me wife and daughters that bring me hope and give me strength when things are tough. We hope that the song brings the same feeling and strength to the listener!
Something that everyone noticed last year at Eurovision was how amazing Icelandic sounds, Eythor Ingi and “Eg a lif” was the first song sung in Icelandic since 1997. If you win the Icelandic selection, would you keep the song in Icelandic?
Það er góð spurning! We will just have to see what we do if the people of Iceland decide to send us all the way to Copenhagen.
How do you think it would feel for you if you win the Icelandic selection and represent Iceland in Copenhagen?
I would be very proud to have the chance to perform on behalf of Iceland. I hope I would be able to represent the positive and outwards looking attitude that characterises Icelandic people – that is probably why so many Icelanders are interested in the Eurovision song contest, it is most certainly a great chance to get to know our neighbors in Europe.
Finally, do you have anything you’d like to say to the readers of Eurovoix.com?
Book your ticket to Iceland tomorrow, buy a prepaid phone and please select our song in the contest! No, I’m just kidding, I give my warmest regards from the cool weather here in Reykjavik!
We’d like to say good luck to Gissur and thank you to Ragnar Thorvardarson for making the interview possible.
