Björk to live-stream three orchestral performances for women's charity
Björk will live-stream three gigs next month in partnership with Iceland Airwaves Festival, to raise money for Icelandic women’s charity Kvennaathvarfið.
The musician will perform shows at Reykjavík’s Harpa Hall August 9, 15 and 23. They will be played to a live audience, which will be permitted under Iceland’s loosening lockdown laws.
The first show will see Björk peform with the Hamrahlíð Choir, the second with strings from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, and the third with the orchestra’s brass section and flute septet Viibra.
Each concert will showcase new instrumental arrangements of songs from her back catalogue, with proceeds going to Kvennaathvarfið – a charity that supports women and immigrants of different origin within Iceland.
After the show organisers will be serving food to raise funds for the charity, while viewers on live-stream will be invited to donate online.
Björk said the concerts are in honour of “folks who got hardest hit in the coronavirus, and the Black Lives Matter movement, and to honour how many Icelandic musicians I have worked with through the years.”
She continued: “My input into the feminist fight is to brag about that almost all of those arrangements are by me. Unfortunately this is something that is almost always ignored when women are arrangers”
Björk was set to tour her new orchestral project across Europe in 2020, including a headline set at Bluedot Festival in Macclesfield. The shows have since been rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, Björk’s entire back catalogue was put on sale on Bandcamp, with proceeds going to Black Lives Matter UK.
