Blúskompaníð

The Band That Brought the Blues to Iceland

Blúskompaníð is the oldest blues band in Iceland and the group that carried the music into the country's scene. It was formed around 1967, when guitarist Magnús Eiríksson and drummer Erlendur Svavarsson left the band Pónik to play blues. By 1968 bassist Jón Garðar Elísson had joined, completing the core trio.

An early line-up also included Sigurður Rúnar Jónsson, known as "Diddi fiðla", on organ and violin, though he soon departed. The band has always worked with a flexible roster, recruiting players as need and availability allowed — a habit that turned it into a training ground for generations of Icelandic musicians.

A rolling cast of Icelandic musicians

Over the decades the band has included Pálmi Gunnarsson on bass, Bubbi Morthens, Ellen Kristjánsdóttir and Hrund Ósk Árnadóttir on vocals, Kristján Kristjánsson (KK) and Sigurður Sigurðsson on harmonica, and guitarists Baldur Már Arngrímsson, Stefán Már Magnússon, Kristján Edelstein, Þorsteinn Magnússon and Tryggvi J. Hübner. The drum stool passed through many hands after Erlendur Svavarsson moved abroad in the mid-1970s.

Recordings and venues

The band never released a full-length album of its own, but its music appeared on the compilations Pop festival '70 (1970) and Kæra Höfn (1997). It was closely tied to the Blue Note blues club, which its members helped run at the Klûburinn venue, and played regularly at Glaumbær, Klûburinn and Silfurtunglið.

Blúskompaníð remains active and has continued to appear at the Reykjavík Blues Festival, carrying a lineage that began with Magnús Eiríksson, who died on 9 January 2026.