Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (July 4, 1924 – December 23, 1993), a native of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian

Pre-Christian

Pre-Christian may mean:*before Christianization**historical polytheism *BC**Classical Antiquity**Iron Age...

 Norse religion. The Ásatrúarfélagið ("Fellowship of Æsir

Æsir

In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...

 faith"), which he founded in 1972, and for which he acted as goði

Gothi

A goði or gothi is the Old Norse term for a priest and chieftain. Gyðja signifies a priestess.The name appears in Wulfila's Gothic language translation of the bible as gudja for "priest", but in Old Norse it is only the feminine form gyðja that perfectly corresponds to the Gothic form...

 (priest), was officially recognised as a religious body in 1973.

Sveinbjörn lived his entire life in West Iceland. From 1944 on, he was a sheep farmer while also pursuing literary interests on the side. He published a book of rímur

Rímur

In Icelandic literature, a ríma is an epic poem written in any of the so-called rímnahættir . They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza...

 in 1945, a textbook on the verse forms of rímur in 1953, two volumes of his own verse in 1957 and 1976, and edited several anthologies.

Sveinbjörn is regarded with much respect and affection amongst Ásatrú

Ásatrú

is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....

. Not only was he a well known rímur singer, or kvæðamaður, in Iceland, he also gained an audience and followers in Europe and North America. He sometimes performed at rock concerts and is the opening act in the film Rokk í Reykjavík

Rokk í Reykjavík

Rokk í Reykjavík was a documentary directed by Icelandic Friðrik Þór Friðriksson during the Icelandic winter of 1981-1982 and released for the local television the same year....

, directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson , sometimes credited as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic film director....

. Sveinbjörn can be heard singing on the bootleg

Bootleg

The term bootlegging originally came from concealing hip flasks of alcohol in the legs of boots.Bootleg or bootlegging* Bootleg , the use of illegal equipment, frequencies, or operating procedures in two-way radio...

 album "Ragnarok (A New Beginning)" by Burzum

Burzum

Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...

, on the last track of the album entitled "Havamal".
Sveinbjörn can be heard performing Ásatrú marriage rites for Genesis

Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is an English singer-songwriter, musician, writer and artist. P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution,...

 and Paula P-Orridge

Paula P-Orridge

Paula P-Orridge , also known as Alaura O'Dell, is an English musician.P-Orridge's musical career began in 1979 when she met musician and artist Genesis P-Orridge while working at a Tesco supermarket in Hackney, East London.Prior to meeting Genesis she had had some connection to the Industrial...

 (now Alaura O'Dell) on Psychic TV

Psychic TV

Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...

's LP Live in Reykjavik and on the double LP entitled Those who do not.

In 1982 Sveinbjörn released an album, Eddukvæði (Songs from The Poetic Edda), in which he recites in rímur style 75 stanzas from Hávamál

Hávamál

Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....

, Völuspá

Völuspá

Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing Odin...

 and Sigrdrífumál

Sigrdrífumál

Sigrdrífumál is the conventional title given to a section of the Poetic Edda text in Codex Regius....

. The album, on the Gramm label, included a booklet of the poems in Icelandic, with translations into English, Swedish, and German.

Additionally, former Psychic TV member David Tibet

David Tibet

David Tibet is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He had earlier collaborated with Psychic TV and 23 Skidoo...

 (né David Michael Bunting) released a CD of Sveinbjörn performing his own rímur and reciting the traditional Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

 under the title Current 93

Current 93

Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...

 presents Sveinbjörn 'Edda in two editions through the now defunct record company World Serpent Distribution

World Serpent Distribution

World Serpent Distribution was a British record label and music distribution house formed in the 1990s by David Gibson, Alan Trench and Alison Webster...

.

External links

• Háttatal In Icelandic, but probably the best modern introduction to the metrics of Rímur
  Rímur
  In Icelandic literature, a ríma is an epic poem written in any of the so-called rímnahættir . They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza...
  
  .
• In memory of Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
• Interview