The Folk Music Festival in Siglufjörður
Five days in July in one of Iceland's northernmost towns: Icelandic and Nordic folk music, music from further away, and workshops anyone can join.
Þjóðlagahátíðin á Siglufirði, the Folk Music Festival in Siglufjörður, was first held in the summer of 2000. It begins on the first Wednesday of July and runs for five days.
Icelandic and Nordic folk music is at the centre of it, with music from further away and traditional dances beside it. Up to eighteen concerts are spread through the town: in Siglufjarðarkirkja, the parish church, in the Boathouse at the Herring Era Museum, in Rauðka, and in the Folk Music Centre. New works have often had their first performance there. Not all of it is folk. In 2026 there was jazz as well, and the festival closed with Sinfóníuhljómsveit unga fólksins, the Icelandic Youth Symphony Orchestra, playing Khachaturian and Mussorgsky.
Alongside the concerts there are workshops in music and in crafts. The Folk Music Academy is a course on Icelandic and foreign folk music, held in the church loft and open to anyone, and it can count towards a university degree.
The festival is organised by the society behind the Folk Music Centre, which is named for the Rev. Bjarni Þorsteinsson, and Gunnsteinn Ólafsson has been its artistic director from the start. In 2005 it received the first Eyrarrósin ever awarded.
The 2027 festival is from 7 to 11 July. Its site is siglofestival.com.