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Mandolin Mondays #385 w/ Special Guest Guðmundur Atli Pétursson

Rating: 1 votes, 5.00 average.
This week on Mandolin Mondays we're joined by Icelandic mandolinist Guðmundur Atli Pétursson of the band Brek playing an original untitled composition on his 2010 Andrew Mowry mandolin.



Guðmundur has worked with the bluegrass band Illgresi, as well as participating in various projects such as playing musical instruments on recordings and concerts with Baggalút, Brother Grass, Krumma and others. Now he plays with the new Icelandic folk band Brek. They released their first album in June 2021, and the album was selected for album of the year in folk and word music at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2022.

Being from a place with so few mandolinists, here's a word from Guðmundur about his musical journey, "We don’t really have many mandolin players in Iceland, there are a number of mandolin owners though, guitarists who own mandolins. I really think I am the only one playing just mandolin here in Iceland, at least publicly. A funny thing is being so far away from the bluegrass and americana, acoustic scene and kind of watching, learning and enjoying from afar I think my playing style becomes something of it’s own when I don’t have access to other mandolin players and jams in real life. At least that is what I hear when I meet players from the US that live and breath bluegrass. They say something like: “wow you’ve got a great sound, a different sound.” Then I just say, “What, that ain’t no part of nothin” haha.

But seriously, it is a shame how few players there are here because the interest for the music is.
I was a part of the only Icelandic bluegrass band (Illgresi) some years ago, and when we were active and playing gigs we really found out that this interest exists.

This tune is a work in progress, an old idea I found on my phone memos that one day will be a fully grown song. Let’s call it “Untitled No 4.” I thought it was fun to just run through that for Mandolin Mondays. If it becomes a BREK song one day then this clip will be fun to look back at later.

My mandolin is handcrafted for me by Andrew Mowry in Bend, Oregon. It was made in 2010 (100% by hand, before CNC and stuff) and is no.62, completed 7/7/ 2010. It has an Engelman spruce top and big leaf maple back and sides. EVO fretwire, 10” fretboard radius, waverly tuners and a James tailpiece. Varnish finish, mother of pearl fern inlay on the headstock. Reverse binding on the headstock so that the black line of the binding matches the neck binding. I love it! It was so much pleasure working with Andrew on the details of the mando while he was building it. He really took the time discussing details and sending pictures back and forth, doing his best to meet my ideas."

You can check out Andrew Mowry's other work here if you're interested: https://www.mowrystrings.com/

Be sure to connect with Guðmundur at the links below for more info about his music:

https://www.brek.is/
https://www.facebook.com/brekband
https://www.instagram.com/brekband/
https://www.tiktok.com/@brekband
https://www.youtube.com/@brekband

And as always, tune in next week for more Mandolin Mondays! Until then...

Happy Picking!
David

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Comments

  1. grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
    Excellent.

    It is often the case that, if you are geographically isolated, your style or playing takes a life of its own despite of the probably noticable influences.
  2. MontanaMatt's Avatar
    CNC is older than 2010…maybe not for Andrew…
    Lovely song!
  3. Alfons's Avatar
    Nice ideas - I think that "work in progress" has legs. Sounds very nice, and you're certainly getting some great tone from that Mowry.
  4. Dagger Gordon's Avatar
    Lovely sound from that mandolin. It's always interesting to see musicians from parts of the world we don't hear from enough.