Life Onboard LAST UPDATE  July 18, 2009
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June 17, 2009 Andri Snær Magnason – Understanding Contemporary Icelandic Culture
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Andri explains to participants the history of Iceland and the elements of folklore that are still strongly embedded within the culture.
From Bergen, Norway, until his hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland, Andri Snær Magnason joined Peace Boat as part of its onboard Environmental School to discuss issues of environmentalism and cultural identity. As an Icelandic national, Andri is passionate about the preservation of his country's cultural heritage and identity for future generations, yet doesn’t go so far as to call himself patriotic - rather he is concerned with creating and preserving his sense of identity, intrinsically linked with his native country.

Concise yet relaxed and pensive, Andri is a creative thinker who enjoys ‘floating around finding niches to fit into…I like to explore areas where I would not normally fit… something I would maybe not be able to do in any other country outside of Iceland,’ referring to the small population of Iceland and the ability to embark on new endeavours that one is not necessarily qualified to undertake. Yet despite his laconic and modest demeanour, Andri is a focused man of many talents who strongly values the heritage of his nation and its preservation for future generations, a focus which has caused him to initiate and lead a multitude of projects and activities.
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Andri joins in the activities during Peace Boat’s onboard Earth Day festival, giving Peace Boat Communication Coordinator Adam Mahowald a henna tattoo. Earth Day is a celebration of environmental awareness and sustainable lifestyle alternatives.

In recent years, Iceland’s huge potential for energy production via the exploit of its vast hydroelectric and geothermal resources has been realised by the world’s largest aluminium producing companies, resulting in the mass degradation of Iceland’s hitherto pristine highlands. Conversely, the development and investment bought to the long impoverished island nation converted it into one of the most prosperous nations in the world before the financial crisis struck late last year. The current situation facing Iceland has polarised the population as they consider the irreversible change their environment faces due to foreign exploitation. Andri is one of the people at the vanguard of the movement against the construction of the aluminium smelters, and his book Dreamland - a Self Help Manual for a Frightened Nation, demonstrates and discusses these issues. Speaking to participants about the situation, Andri commented that ‘We (the Icelandic people) have everything we need already - energy, hot water, food. But even if we triple the energy production in Iceland, will we be any richer? Any happier? We need to progress as a society, but we need to be smart about it and add what we can to society’ at the same time.
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Andri addresses Peace Boat’s international team in an English language session that included the Baltic region International Students, onboard Peace Boat from Sweden until Iceland.

Born into a family of doctors, surgeons and nurses, Andri too embarked on a life of medicine. However, after one semester of study he withdrew from his course to concentrate on his favourite past time - writing short stories. After gaining some success publishing a satirical parody about an Icelandic budget supermarket chain, Andri was inspired to continue publishing his work, and next released the illustrated children’s book The Story of the Blue Planet. Andri wrote this book not as a children’s book, but rather as literature, inspired by Scandinanvian authors and the folk tales of his own culture. The origin of this book began shortly after the birth of Andri’s first child when he began to think deeply about the issues around him but felt frustrated by his thoughts. He therefore channelled these thoughts into his book Blue Planet, now published in over twelve languages and even produced as a musical in Canada, Finland, Pakistan and Iceland. Andri writes all his work in Icelandic, a pure language that has changed little over the past 1000 years, and he draws on many aspects of Icelandic folklore and history for the inspiration to create his contemporary work.
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Also onboard with Andri was his son Hlynur and his best friend, Baldvin. The two twelve-years old enjoyed life onboard immensely, participating in a range of activities and performing music at every opportunity. Pictured are the duo giving an environmental message to the Baltic International Student initiative ‘Eco-TV’. The messages will be used in the students’ future campaigns for sustainable development.
Andri has also worked towards the preservation and reintegration of traditional Icelandic music into society. Andri knows little of music, however while at university he found archives of recordings of traditional Icelandic folk songs that he thought had been lost forever. Andri believes that cultural musical heritage of Iceland should be accessible to the public so that it might inspire. So, together with the recording archive institute, he began collaborating with contemporary artists who were so impressed with what they heard they have since incorporated elements of this traditional music into their work. Andri has since worked with internationally renowned alternative musicians such as Björk, Múm and Sigur Rós, as well as Icelandic composers and film makers.

Andri explained that ‘as a small nation there is an added responsibility on the populace to revive or maintain the culture and tradition and also to preserve the language. We need to use creative and positive energy in order to preserve the culture as an act of progressive participation, or else it will be lost forever and the future generations will be none the wiser of the beauty that we lost.’ Andri feels similarly about the destruction of the environment, that the virgin territory of the highlands and the cultural importance and creativity that they inspire will be lost for future generations.
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As a child, Andri grew up in the US and was regaled with tales of his homeland, instilling him with a sense of awe for the Iceland’s heritage that has stayed with him ever since.
This is the second time Andri has come onboard Peace Boat, both times with his eldest son Hlynur. He would like to rejoin Peace Boat with his entire family at some time in the future even though he finds his time onboard Peace Boat ‘hard work’. Andri says he finds the experience onboard Peace Boat ‘very rewarding and effective,’ and he enjoys learning about Japanese culture and making Japanese friends, as does Hlynur. He thinks that all initiative is effective and necessary, and thinks that making friends, is not only fun, but also makes you a richer person. Andri feels that Peace Boat is an ‘important organization that has to be and has to grow.’

Although Andri feels that the fight for the preservation of the remaining virgin highlands of Iceland is an important one from which he will never step out of completely, after disembarking Peace Boat he plans to go into semi-isolation so that he can finish his next children’s book. In the near future he hopes to visit Japan for the first time to discuss his first two books which have been published to great success in Japanese, whilst also reuniting with some of the Japanese friends he has made onboard Peace Boat.

Andri Magnason’s Home Page: www.simnet.is/andri/index.php"http://www.simnet.is/andri/index.php