Hinn Íslenski Þursaflokkur

There is not much on them on the Web. Apart from this page, there are two-and-a-half pages:

• An article in the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. To read their entry, click here.
• A recent page on MySpace that looks pretty official. To go there, click here.
• Egill Ólafsson's (Þursaflokkur's frontman and main songwriter) home page is here.

In a futile attempt to make up for a lack of general resources, this page will provide a discography, as well as pointers to places where you can buy their music.

Discography:

Official Þursaflokkur albums:

• Hinn Íslenzki Þursaflokkur (1978)
  • (or: Hinn Islenski Thursaflokkur)
• Þursabit (1979)
  • (or: Thursabit)
• Á hljómleikum (1980) - Live album
  • (or: A hljomleikum)
• Gæti eins verið (1982)
  • (or: Gaeti eins verid)
• Nútíminn - Bestu lög Þursaflokksins 1978-1982 (2000) - "Best of..."
  • (or: Nutiminn)

• Hinn Íslenzki Þursaflokkur (2008)
  • A 30th anniversary 5 CD box set containing remastered versions of the above albums, plus "Ókomin forneskjan", a fifth album containing previousy unreleased studio tracks as well as some live tracks.
• Í Höllinni á Þorra 2008 (2008)
  • A live CD /DVD pair containing an audio & video recording of their 30th anniversary concert in early 2008. The band is hera augmented by the Caput chamber orchestra.

Other albums they have contributed to:

• Grettir - A Musical (1981) - Songwriting and backing band
• Rokk í Reykjavík (1982) - One live song
  • Rock in Reykjavik - A documentary soundtrack
• Okkar á milli (1982) - Movie soundtrack
• Ókomin forneskjan (1983?) - Unreleased fifth album
  • Some songs probably appeared later on Egill Ólafsson's first two solo albums
• Minningartónleikar um Karl J. Sighvatsson (1992) - Three live songs
  • Memorial concert for Karl J. Sighvatsson

Egill Ólafsson solo albums:

• Tifa tifa (1991)
• Blátt blátt (1992)
• Angelus novus (2001)
• Brot... Músík úr leikhúsinu (2003) - Compilation of theatre music
  • (Fragments... Music from the theatre)
• Miskunn dalfiska (2006)

How to buy:

These albums are becoming hard to get in physical CD form.They can't be found anymore in online CD stores in Iceland, and are getting to be a rare find in Icelandic CD shops, except for maybe "Nútíminn", the "Best of..." compilation from 2000. The live albums seems to be completely out of print.

The only place I know of where you can buy their CDs online is Syn-Phonic music in the U.S.A. The direct link to Thursaflokkur's albums is here (listed as "HINN ISLENZKI PURSAFLOKKUR").

You can get all their official albums and some of the other albums in download form from IcelandicMusic.com. The direct link to Thursaflokkur's albums is here, and the direct link to Egill Ólafsson's albums is here.

Reunions:

After its 1982 demise, the band has officially reunited on occasion for one-off performances.

• In 1992 they played a few songs at a memorial concert for Karl Sighvatsson, their former organ player, that was killed in a car crash in 1991.
  • The concert, including their set, was released on CD - see discography
• In 2000 at "Reykjavík Music Festival"
• On the 23rd of February 2008 they will play a 30th anniversary concert, supported by the Caput chamber orchestra for a semi-symphonic concert. See the Thursaflokkur's new MySpace site.