Heyr Himna Smiður

Composed by Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (1938-2013)
Words by Kolbeinn Tumason (1173-1208)
Anthony Savidge - Bass
Mikolaj Debowski - Tenor
Emma Rowlandson-O'Hara - Alto
Mikhai Vergara - Soprano
Video: Lucian Film - / l8film
Website: shawstreetcollective.ca
Facebook: / shawstreetcollective
Lyrics:
(Icelandic)
Heyr, himna smiður,
hvers skáldið biður.
Komi mjúk til mín
miskunnin þín.
Því heit eg á þig,
þú hefur skaptan mig.
Eg er þrællinn þinn,
þú ert drottinn minn.
Guð, heit eg á þig,
að þú græðir mig.
Minnst þú, mildingur, mín,
mest þurfum þín.
Ryð þú, röðla gramur,
ríklyndur og framur,
hölds hverri sorg
úr hjartaborg.
Gæt þú, mildingur, mín,
mest þurfum þín,
helzt hverja stund
á hölda grund.
Send þú, meyjar mögur,
málsefnin fögur,
öll er hjálp af þér,
í hjarta mér.
(English)
Hear, smith of heavens.
The poet seeketh.
In thy still small voice
Mayest thou show grace.
As I call on thee,
Thou my creator.
I am thy servant,
Thou art my true Lord.
God, I call on thee;
For thee to heal me.
Bid me, prince of peace,
Thou my supreme need.
Ever I need thee,
Generous and great,
O’er all human woe,
City of thy heart.
Guard me, my savior.
Ever I need thee,
Through ev’ry moment
In this world so wide.
Virgin-born, send me
Noble motives now.
Aid cometh from thee,
To my deepest heart.

[@MaitlandJones]

I am am a grown man, but this song makes me cry like a little girl. That was a beautiful performance.

[@jgamefreak20]

I wish I could like this a hundred times over! absolutely beautiful.

[@MrSuperstebbi]

Well done, love the emotion. Greetings from Egilsstadir Iceland

[@haraldnordmann6632]

Stunning performance, greetings from Norway

[@jaysox97]

Breathtakingly beautiful. Thank you!

[@dabycle]

My god this is beautiful guys! It's awesome what some people can do with their voices.

[@orusmateo]

I'll be returning to this regularly: how sublimely solemn! I'm excited to see more from the SSC

[@fudtub]

Beautiful!! Bravi!!! Emma Rowlandson-O'Hara ... i love you :)

[@thegerbil6486]

Beautiful !

[@miomiomio56]

Absolutely stunning, I can't stop listening and tearing up to this

[@1zwitser]

so amazing!! wow this is beautiful...i am from Holland and i love this...thank you!

[@mondaffe2443]

Very beautiful.

Love it

[@Mylifeisathursday]

Fantastic work!

[@Clapfootgames1]

Holy This is beautiful!

[@wickedest-witch]

This is very beautifully done! And as an Icelander, I can confirm that you're doing very well with the Icelandic pronunciation! :)

[@ShawStreetCollective]

***** Thanks for your kind words! Very glad to hear that. Learning the pronunciations took some serious coaching.

[@snorrigylfason9747]

This is so beautiful

[@manollo1767]

Amazing! Good job!

[@armanraakeshhsingh8761]

Loved it ☺

[@miomiomio56]

This is absolutely beautiful it actually made me tear up a bit

[@petemason3336]

Bugger all the intellectual nonscence, try just listening, fall head deep into the sound. That's not hipster, it's pure hippy, and I love it :).

[@DreamWalkerDX]

Great !

[@MrGarib12]

This is so beautiful!

[@marcoluccini3272]

+ 10!!

[@fotophool]

Well done! There are quite a few performances of this these days and you have one of the absolute best - great tone and blend, sweet location, but especially tremendous musicianship.

[@1zwitser]

so beautiful...greetings from the Netherlands

[@Dakhaos-ou812]

6 years ago i was looking for hard rock and heavy metal on youtube. ..And i missed this. ( I say this as an excuse for the stinging tears in my eyes)

[@BeatpathSoundDesign]

Awesome A capella :)

[@orgeirh.nielsson7075]

Beautiful!!! And our Icelandic is very good

[@begood8989]

haunting

[@ducatiist]

and four angles sang the hymn of hope

[@snaebra]

Very beautiful. And nice Icelandic pronounciation!

[@petemason3336]

Hard to sing the bass in this, good job dude

[@petemason3336]

Icelandic is a mixture of gaelic, celtic and the base germanic languages. Add the mind blowing choral harmonies. but what makes me smile is that everyone misses the point. This is an 800 year old poem :P

good Icelandic, good work

[@TheJustinlim93]

Where was this filmed? Beautiful rendition!

[@ShawStreetCollective]

+Justin Lim Thanks so much! Filmed in the Trinity College chapel in Toronto.

[@jassin2669]

:)

[@roadsonline9352]

May I marry an Icelander -USA

[@michaelmartin2367]

aesome. its a shame no one told them how to spell the ''u'' correctly. And the last two lines were a bit awkward ;) yeah i know unneccessary smartass corerections

[@love-feeling-better]

What a stunning rendition of this ancient hymn. (It's a shame no one told you how to spell 'awesome', 'unnecessary' and 'corrections'. Good try though, smartass.)

[@ziggyziggyz1756]

There is no real male vocal.

[@Metal-Possum]

I'm not too sure if someone outside of Iceland should be dabbling with this, especially after Astidir achieved such success. If every man and his dog attempts it, sooner or later it's going to wear thin. It'll only take one failed yet commercially-focused recording (ala Rebecca Black) to completely destroy it. I'm not saying that you've destroyed it, I would just prefer it to be kept amongst Icelandic folk, just as "The Aristocrats" is kept amongst only the most talented comedians.

[@draupnir9748]

Alex Paulsen Hymns about God will never wear thin and will never lose there power, neither it is icelandic, swahili or chinese, etc. etc. I'm dutch but I can tell you, this song strucked me very hard. I didn't knew the meaning what was sung and since I knew what it all means I want to learn it. God speaks in all languages you know..

[@joshuakellogg4429]

That is the most xeophobic and racist thing I've ever read about a spiritual poem.

[@buihrafnjonuson8414]

It's not really completely exactly about a christian god per say. It's a pagan guy pleading to a christian god to take care of him after his passing (bishop sent men to execute him for being a pagan). He was the last Goði in Iceland and he spent his last moments composing this beautiful plea.

[@AcridCrowd]

it's existed for potentially 1100 years, I'm sure it'll be fine

[@DjOrlowski]

terrible cover!

[@koosriedijk3872]

Apparently you are the only one thinking this way. Maybe you refer to the pronunciation? I cann't Judge that I am not Icelandic, but the voices and the performance and the careful treatment of the song are extremely good.

[@Haukurmarr]

This is not icelandic. Look for someone who actually sings this in Icelandic and is from Iceland. This is like americans trying to sing a french song. Just doesn't work. You need to hear each word spoken and the accent before you sing it.