Today, RÚV English is in Siglufjörður, at the remarkable Herring Era Museum.
The inhabitants of Siglufjörður still talk of the two Norwegian 'occupations' of the area: the first undertaken by the Viking Thormódur Rammi around 900 AD, the second being the 1903 herring influx that built the world's most famous herring town. For years, the entire life of Siglufjörður centred around the herring catch and processing - the town's many salting stations and processing factories were a living reminder of that.
Siglufjörður was also one of the most important ports in Iceland and, on more than one occasion, herring exported from this town accounted for over 20% of the nation's total exports.
The Herring Era Museum is spread across a number of buildings, and brings to life a period of huge wealth and prosperity for this beautiful town in north Iceland.
Darren is accompanied on his visit by Daníel Pétur Daníelsson, in charge of collections at the museum.
Clips of music played:
Landleguvalsinn by Haukur Morthens
Síldarstúlkan by Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir
Sjana síldarkokkur by Svavar Lárusson and the Monty trio
Síldarstúlkurnar performed on the accordion by Grettir Björnsson
These songs are from a collection of music associated with the herring years, issued in 1992. It contains recordings of 23 of the best known and most popular songs from the herring era. The album was reissued in 2011 and is widely available, also at the Herring Museum.
Find the museum online at http://www.sild.is/en/
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The RÚV English Podcast is daily English language programming from RÚV, the national broadcaster of Iceland.
