8/14/2019 Life is a Time of Learning by Eirkur Orri lafsson, English script

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Life is a Time of Learning/Lrdmstmi vin er

by Eirkur Orri lafssonLength 15:40

Original language: IcelandicConsultance: Tim Hinman

This piece was produced as part of the radiofeature/documentary projectRANA.RANA is funded through EUs Lifelong learning program. More informationabout the RANA project can be found on http://www.this.is/rana

A mans voice, singing: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not allsleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye

Jn: I've been so lucky. It's a psalmestry I got when I was eleven.11.10.1962, Aalgtu 19, lafsfjrur, born in 1951, Jn orsteinsson(laughs). This was the favorite hymn of Plna (turns more pages) fromSystibr...There are so many things to give thanks for.There are sounendingly many things to give thanks for...Here are one, two, three, four,five, six, seven doors. I guess its not much more than one and a half squaremeter, this entrance lobby. This cabinet, this file cabinet, which is of course

my score cabinet, dates back to 1893...it hold many good things (sound ofsheet music)... So...these are the domestic facilities at Sluisstraat. At Mr.orsteinssons.Many people think I went abroad to study singing, but thatwas never the plan (laughs), I was going to study psychological nursing andgo back to work at Kleppur (an institution for the mentally ill in Reykjavk). Iliked this job so terribly much. And I belonged very much in the nursing job.

Music starts

And then this pops out like thunder from a clear sky...It was an incredibleexperience - singing at Bayreuth...the acoustics there are incomparable....incomparable. The orchestra pit is designed like a grand piano. Veryinteresting. And again, you can never fully thank for this experience...yes...

Sound of wind and seagulls

There were I think four of them who were called "Mrs" when I was growingup. The doctor's wife, the pastor's wife, the savings bank manager's wife,and my grandmother, Mrs. Emma (laughs). My great-grandfather, who Iremember, was named Jn orsteinsson. He was a smith, a true craftsmanin everything, both wood and iron. Grandfather was a blacksmith, as well,

Jn Frmannsson. He was...he was, I think, the best man I've ever known inmy life. My goodness, how grandfather Jn was a good man. I miss him

very much. Always. I think about him every day, remarkable. Yes. And, hewas a big singer, he sang in the church choir in lafsfjrur for more than60 years. He had what you call "absolut gehr", or absolute pitch. I started

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going to church with him when I was about four or five years old. And uh,was raised to a big extent with him on the church loft.

Sound of church bells

(laughs) When I think about the church loft at home, I always think aboutthe same hymn. Or the same hymns, really. And they are "Son of god, ourloved one is" or..or..."the life is a time of learning". I'm standing on the leftside of the organ, where the alto is. We've just stood up, after Kristinn, thefather of Sigursveinn D. and Dddi and Sigga from Grashorn has read theprayer and lifted his head up and give us a sign so that we can start playing.And Auur has begun playing. I'm standing between - Next to Auur standsBirna...then there's Lra orsteinsdttir, then me, then Jn Antons.

Music begins

Cousin Jnsi, Jn sgeirsson, they were sons of brothers, my dad andhim...bass singer, good voice...excellent voice. I remember Sigrur

orsteinsdttir ... Freygerur, her sister..."Freyja", Freyja orsteins..And thenthe daughter of Sigrur, Lovsa, she's still in the choir, I think...Anuntarnished, good voice...Jn Ellert Sigurplsson...(laughing) yes, his mothershould be the first to be named, Fjla Vglundsdttir.Margrt...lafsdttir..Brynhildur Einarsdttir..These were the women in thesoprano, Eva Vilhelmsdttir..Gurn Jnsdttir, daughter of Jn Ellert...andHrafnhildur Einarsdttir and Brynja. They come in later. In the alto, theresBirna Bjrnsdttir..They would stand rather tightly together, and sometimesId land in between them (Jna Antonsdttir) And they swayed a little backand forth (Lra orsteinsdttir) and Id do it with them [laughs]. Lney

Jnasdttir..(yes)..Svana Jnsdttir...Sigurbjrg engilsdttir fromSkeggjabrekka..And Auur, Auur Jnsdttir. Sigurlna was her

name...called Lilla..Sigurlna Axelsdttir. Magns Magnsson. SigursveinnMagnsson..headmaster of the music school..And rn Magnsson, pianist.

They are all brothers. They had one sister called Aalbjrg Jnsdttir.Bogga ris, as shes called. Good voice, fine voice...At the organ was ofcourse Gumundur Jhannsson. Klara Arnbjrns, of course! ...I love thesepeople so much...

"Life is a time of learning - oh, my lord that...wait a minute...so that I mayplease thee....I don't remember (silence). Then there is a hymn that I neversang which didn't like. "The church of our god is an ancient house". ThenI'd always sit down. Then I'd let the people sing it, I never learned it - Ithought it was such an ugly song (laughs). It was very low, AAAAA, low forthe bass. I was never allowed to attend rehearsals, they rehearsed in theevening. Ohh no. That...I was never allowed to go to rehearsals, I learned itall...not until I became an adult, naturally. Nonono, that was entirelyforbidden, we couldn't go out in the evening, my siblings and I. No. Grandpawas cuddly, he loved to hug people, and grandpa's hug was - there wasnothing like it. He was not tall, he was portly, a stubby bellyman, he calledhimself, he sometimes called himself a tummyman. He was stout on the instature and stout in temper as well. He was merry, and keen on singing, healways sang at work, always humming.Life is a time of learning / Oh mylord knows I... How come the sentence doesn't come...(stands up).

Sound of waves and birds

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It was 1965. This would have been in May, probably. Rather than thebeginning of June. And my job was to weld into rings. When the wires wentinto the rings, they would scar them, and sometimes all the way through.And my job was to weld into the rings - it was a nastyjob. Many people gotpoisoned because of this, I don't understand why I didn't get poisoned.

I think the time was around...just over three in the morning. And I wasinside, and I had done welding (I remember this so clearly). I had finishedwelding into the rings and had cleaned the most dirt from them, and wasfiling them on the inside with a file. All of the sudden, I hear my grandpacalling "Nonni, Nonni! Come here!, he says. And I hear that something'swrong. He first said to me "I'm going outside for a minute, let's take a smallbreak." And I tell him "I'll come in a minute, after I finish this ring." And thenafter a moment, he calls out, "Nonni, Nonni!" he said. And I rush out andask if everything is okay. "Do you see what I see?" he says. "Where?" Andthen he points out to the fjord. And then I saw a sight - this must have beenaround 3:30-4:00 in the morning, yes. Then I see a sight that will neverforget. There were these mirages. The wind was completely still and we

saw Grmsey (an island in the fjord) like it was just floating right by theharbour. We saw the houses, the electric poles, everything. I'll never forgetthis. Never. He thought that he had become sick...he couldn't believe it,he'd never seen anything like this before. You could see the people, like theman walking out of his house to go down to his boat. I'll never forget this.

Yes. Yes, I can still see it. I've learned heaps of roles in my life andoratorios and then I can't remember my favorite hymn. Oh of course,(starts singing) "Life is a time of learning / oh my lord knows I can / learn allthat pleases You / Your wisdom cherish the most. Let me gather truthfultreasures / Let me blossom in wisdom and good deeds". That's the way it is.

Sound of bells

You sometimes hear older people talk about...people you thought wereolder people when you're a boy, maybe 10-12-15 years old, maybe undertwenty or so...when people grow to be fifty or a little older, that they remainchildren on the inside. I thought it was so ridiculous - but then it turns outto be exactly true! Because, of course you grow older, and I've got twoyears until I turn sixty, and you grow older and all that, but the child insideof you just continues to exist. It's so bizarre. It's a very good and pleasantfeeling. An awfully pleasant feeling. Maybe I've never even grown up! Whoknows (laughs).

Organ music

The End

2009 RANA/Eirkur Orri lafsson

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