Jón Hallur Stefánsson

Mansöngvar – unplugged

Mansöngvar is an ancient Old Norse word for love poems and love songs. It is also the title of Jón Hallur Stefánsson’s 2025 double LP, which was named singer-songwriter album of the year by Morgunbladid, Iceland’s largest newspaper.

For this intimate unplugged concert, the piano takes center stage. Jón plays and sings a selection of the songs, with cellist Anja Zdyb Lillemæhlum accompanying him along the way. The songs are in Icelandic, but throughout the concert Jón Hallur talks about the lyrics and experiments a little more with translation.

Jón Hallur lives in Svaneke and has his musical roots in folk, art rock, punk and Reykjavík’s underground scene of the 1970s. He has also experimented with rock and pop, and his work as a writer and poet shines through.

Writing about the songs on Mansöngvar, Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen of Morgunblaðið highlights the lyrics, the vignettes of everyday life and Jón Hallur’s subdued, gentle and slightly rough voice. He describes the songs as melodic and wistful, comparing their mood to American indie music of the 1990s.

The double LP Mansöngvar will be available to buy at the concert. On the record, Jón Hallur is accompanied by, among others, his brother Hermann on bass and guitar, his son Dagur on theremin, Bragi Ólafsson, former bassist with Sugar Cubes, cellist Gyða Valtýsdóttir of Múm, and drummer Ólafur Björn Ólafsson, known for his work with Sigur Rós among others, who also produced the record.