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eriellesudario · 5 years

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Why I like Hatrið mun sigra by Hatari

I’m currently in conflict with a few people in the Eurovision community (mostly on Facebook) due to one reason – I like and enjoy Hatrið mun sigra by Hatari.

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I understand that everyone has different taste in music but if there is a common argument to why people don’t like this song, it’s because of either of the following:

Constant screaming – it will put people off

The message of the song – too much hate + they’re bad rolemodel

It also have been revealed recently that the scores they’ve received during the national selection were somewhat near to double compared to what others have got.

There is a reason why I like the song – and no, it’s not only because it’s very different, but it’s the meaning behind the lyrics and the way it’s performed, as well as looking at the current political climate in various countries.

Who is Hatari?

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Before we go to the nitty gritty, we need to know who the band members are. Hatari consists of 3 band members: Klemens Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldson, and Einar Stéfansson. They’ve released 1 EP (Neysluvara) – which contains 4 songs, and one single (Spillingardans)

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According to twitter user @leanderkills, the lead singer- Matthias, was a journalist for RÙV.

I don’t know if the journalism aspect of his career played a role in his songwriting and performance but for me, it makes sense to why the song was written the way it was.

So I guess one dumb reason why I like Hatari – they’re the Icelandic version of MCR! Except rather than writing songs that help deal with mental health, they write songs that describes our corrupt society.

What is the song about?

Hatrið mun sigra is very open to interpretation. A lot of people who are against Hatari just view the song as “giant screaming fest” that promotes hate and it shouldn’t be performed on the Eurovision stage.

But I’d like to differ – I see this song as a realistic commentary on our society. A song that’s unapologetic and just says it how it is. But also saying that the incoming ‘hate and war’ is a good thing as it will unite us all – in a sense.

One of my favourite lines goes as follows:

Hatrið mun sigra (Hate will prevail) Evrópa hrynja. (Europe will crumble) Vefur lyga. (Caught in its web of lies) Rísið úr öskunni. (Rise from the ashes) Sameinuð sem eitt. (United we shall be)

I’d see this line as way of saying that the world we live in is filled with hate and corruption – HOWEVER… we will arise from the warfare that all this hate as brought and become a newer society – more united than before.

Now compare that to our current society. USA elections where it caused more division (based on my observation), Russia vs Ukraine, Palestine vs Israel…

Even in past events like the World Wars, People Power Revolution in the Philippines, and probably so many other events of rebellion/revolutions…

Our entire society is filled with hate and people uniting to put an end to it, and in doing so – creating a newer society (until the cycle repeats itself).

Hatari expresses this message in a more… extreme way – more in a way of a power balance. The ‘screaming’ represents a dictator/leader who is rallying people to join his cause. The falsetto part that’s done by Klemens represents some weird sense of ‘hope’.

Every translation I’ve found of the chorus pretty much says the same thing –

Allt sem ég sá. (All that I saw) Runnu niður tár. (Tear begin to fall) Allt sem ég gaf. (All that I gave) Eitt sinn gaf. (Once gave) Ég gaf þér allt. (I gave it all for you)

“I gave everything to you” – like they’re doing this for us. Like it’s for our own good or something around those lines. My views on that line is how after seeing the world we live in, they want to do something about it. All this conflict was all for us.

Yes, this song is not as ‘pacifist’ and may have some political undertones in them, BUT AT LEAST IT’S SUBTLE!!! But you know what song ALSO has some political undertones (and it’s very very obvious) – Ukraine 2016.

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Past Icelandic Entries

Past entries in Iceland has been a rollercoaster. Some songs made it to the finals like “Coming Home”, “Is it true?”, and “No prejudice”. Some fan faves like “Hear Them Calling” were robbed to be in the final. And there were songs that… we’re not that good (IMO).

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Iceland hasn’t made it to the finals since 2014 and a lot of their songs have either been constant low-key power ballads. They’re good but not enough to make it to the finals.

If Iceland wants to stand out in the contest, they need to take a risk. One of the appeals of Hatari is that they provide the ‘risk’ Iceland needs to qualify to the grand finals. They have sex-appeal, the genre post-industrial/electronic and the message of the song is contrasts to what the majority is being sent.

The reason Hatari became the fan favourite is that, out of all 10 songs that competed in Songvakeppnin – Hatari stood out from the rest. Their music reminded fans of ‘Lordi’ and ‘AWS’ but in a more twisted way.

To me, this song is ‘Occidentali’s Karma’ but darker and sinister.

“But Hatari are bad people/role models”

Please watch this video underneath and tell me again if they’re bad people.

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One of my Icelandic online friends have told me that Hatari is an “art group” and this whole thing is an “instalment”. They’re giant hypocrites btw! They claim to be ‘anti-capitalist’ yet they do ‘capitalistic things’.

Here’s the thing – there aren’t that many bands and artists out there that talk about the issues of society or the individual. Only a handful like My Chemical Romance and Muse were able to use their talents to appeal towards those who needed it the most or tell their views of the current situation using music.

Most songs that are shown on mainstream radio are either about love, loss, or sex. Yes, it’s a good escape but there are times I’d like to hear something different, something that’s more realistic and appealing to how I view my life. I have friends who enjoy MCR for the same reason as well – that their music reflects our current life.

Hatari does this by composing songs with darker undertones on what society has become and whether you agree to it or not, you have to admit – it does hold some sort of truth.

Hatari is the opposite of a Eurovision entry

Hatrið mun sigra is a song that not only reflects our current society but defies what Eurovision likes to promote. Yes, the idea of Eurovision was to calm the masses after World War 2 and most of the songs are either about Love and Peace (and in some cases, loss), but we can’t keep sugarcoating what our world has become.

One of the common things I’ve heard whilst I was a journalism student was the term “the media feeds the masses” – which means whatever the media gives, we the people just accept it as fact as it’s the ‘journalists’ job to tell us what’s happening in our society’. However, we are all aware of fake news and how it affects elections. According to Vox – there is this thing called the ‘October surprise’ and it’s a way to sway people on how they vote during elections

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Hatari’s intension as a band is to bring to light the dark sides of our current society. That not everything is all ‘rainbows and butterflies’. Yes, it’s not the ‘ideal song’ that we want to hear in a song contest and some may see it as a ‘political entry that should be disqualified’ but it really isn’t. It’s just a reflection on what our world has become.

I love Hatari’s song because it aligns to how I’m seeing the world and the society we live in. I love my dark and edgy music (like MCR, Far Away Stables, and Muse). And the message and music style attracts my demographic – the “Woke” Generation – those who are self aware on the issues and want to fight for change.

Music is subjective. People will have their own taste.

According to the r/eurovision sub reddit, some fans have noticed that it’s a divide between the older and younger demographic in regards to their thoughts of this song. I just think that for once, Iceland is taking a risk and we finally have an entry that’s unique. And the fact that it got double the points in Songvakeppnin and the amount of love it’s been given through YouTube comments, Reddit, and Twitter – I just know that it has a chance it could make it to the finals.

Will Hatrið mun sigra win Eurovision – maybe?

But will it reach Top 10 – I sure damn hope so.

So love or hate the song – in the end… Hate will prevail. Their song holds some truth into what kind of world we live in. You can say it’s a ‘political protests’ but I believe it’s a reflection on the world we live in and that we have the power to change things.

I am glad Iceland is taking a risk and I do hope this song does very well in Tel Aviv. Love or hate the song – in the end, hate will prevail…

Before the hate wins – remember to loveMatthías Tryggvi Haraldson

#hatari #2019 #opinion #review #eurovision #Youtube

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smileymoth · 5 years

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Hatari: Visualising the end of the world may be a healing process.

by Jaane Tomps. Published 19th September 2019 on Müürileht.

Anti-capitalistic performance art group Hatari has often turned their communication with media into a joke, but according to the founder of the group, Matthías Haraldsson, this conversation includes 0% humour.

[So here it is. I tried to translate it as correctly and as true to the base text as I could. If there are any grammatical errors or weird phrasings; my apologies, English isn't my first language. :] The interview has been translated from Estonian to English and because Tumblr hates everyone, links don’t show up in the tags, aka I can’t link the original.

Interview is under the cut!]

Hatari, who represented Iceland this year during Eurovision have certainly been one of the more controversial participants this year, yet they haven't finished with Europe. Haraldsson, who caused a lot of politic-trouble when waving around the Palestinian flags in Israel, said that destroying capitalism is going according to plan ─ they just can't lose hope now!

How far are you with the plan to destroy capitalism?

"Everything's going according to plan. We just destroyed some capitalists in the Netherlands and soon, of course Estonia, and other northern countries, will be waiting for us. We're doing well, but next year we will try turn up the tempo a lot more. We are hoping to give out an album soon and as you probably already know, we're heading for a bigger European tour. Due to Klemens just turning into a father for the second time, we can't be as efficient as we'd like; we have to learn how to fuse destroying capitalism with our own family lives. "

The situation in the world is pretty bad, has it made reaching your goals harder?

It really has, indeed. The climate collapse is one of the bigger ordeals, with which humanity has had to deal with and I think that the governments should be more active in those fields. We can't always put all the pressure on individuals, even if they can do a lot by themselves. The situation isn't to be praised right now, but we stay hopeful and trustful to our plan.

Do you enjoy the attention you received after the Eurovision song contest or would you rather leave it all behind?

To be honest, I would love to hire a duplicate of myself for concerts and tours, so I could write more. But no, the adventure and the leap we have taken, has been partially because of Eurovision, which gave us more attention. I wouldn't like to take it all back, but it is a lot of hard work and responsibility.

Has the local music scene started to treat you any differently after Eurovision?

I think so, yes, but at the same time, we have never fit into the places we've been invited to play at. We stepped up at a festival in the Netherlands and among the metal and hardcore artists stood us, that band from Eurovision. During other events, however, are we the hardcore band. We have learned to adapt. Eurovision introduced us firsthand to a lot of people and understandably, it has changed our image.

What's the story with your anger in actuality? I dare to believe that your stage-persona isn't reality...

For sure, my stage-persona is an outlet through which I meditate and manifest the anger with, which I would usually keep inside me. I usually manage to find great balance and I don't get angry a lot in my private life. I prefer to keep my emotions repressed inside me rather than speak or show them.

Which human values are overrated in your opinion?

We live in a very individualistic society. I'd say that ambitions connected with oneself, aka a person's immature ego, are overrated. I despise petty people who can't see things from an another perspective.

What is your depiction of the most fulfilling happiness?

Happiness is to be accepted and to accept others. To feel safe in a creative and an encouraging atmosphere ─ that the concepts would be respected and that it would celebrate differences. And overall, destroy capitalism in a family friendly atmosphere.

One local schoolgirl said in a video, which recently went viral, that "The world is an empty and a useless place and people should go extinct, because climate change along with every single politician sucks." Do you agree?

Yes. That concludes it perfectly. At least that's what we try to depict. Being in denial about problems doesn't do us good, but I believe that even in the most empty places, where there are the worst politicians, it is possible to find something, about which to be hopeful about. I believe that after crashing to the bottom we can only move upward, but while being hopeful we shouldn't forget to be realistic.

What do you think the end of the world is going to be like?

I'd prefer that the world didn't end. However, I do think that just visualising it can be a healing process and we should all do it.

Is Hatari's long-awaited album the end of the beginning of something?

It is both. I believe, that every end is the start of something new and the album has undoubtedly been a milestone for the creation that circles around Hatari. At the same time, it is also a big relief to get it off our shoulders, because after releasing that, we can focus our attention on something new. Those things always take time. We have been planning to release the album for months now, but we want to do it when we feel that it is completely ready. But it will come one day.

What's the overall conception of the album?

In the centre of its attention is corruption and the confrontation of it. Power and powerlessness. Individuality versus collective thinking. Hopefulness and hope. Domination and surrendering. It will bring the listener to think about death, the world, and the end of all humanity as we know of it now. It will bring people to discover their deepest fears and anguish and hopefully inspire them to dream of a better future.

How do you understand that an idea is fully complete?

You don't, actually. You could work on it forever. But at a certain point you have to say, that that's the story and if we worked on it for more, it would sound differently, but it's good even in its current shape. The end result is, sometimes, also in the hands of others, because I work on the lyrics and vocals. Klemens and Einar are the ones defining the tracks.

I liked one of the interviews, where you brought up Britney Spears as one of the inspiration sources for Hatari. In which ways does she inspire you exactly?

She's a great artist and an icon of her generation. Her lyrics overcome the word-for-word understanding of a text; it's a greater level of consciousness, where we and art are the same. And her music is also very catchy.

You'll soon be performing in Narva. How much research do you do before stepping to the stage? Are you aware of the situation in Estonia right now?

Actually, my art school teacher is from Estonia. We often discuss about the current situation and usually the locals are worried about horrifyingly similar things as everyone else. They worry about the populist rhetoric and conservative and nationalist rulers, who don't take problems with the current climate seriously. I've heard, that in Estonia's government there are climate change deniers, which is an extremely serious and a worrisome topic.

You haven't visited Estonia before, right?

I've been to Tallinn once. I sang in the choir during high school. We performed in a beautiful church. It was very cold. The old town was very beautiful and I remember the guide, who had impressive knowledge of the middle ages. I remember as well, that singing in the choir wasn't exactly my thing. My high school friends were in a jovial mood and sang Icelandic national songs disgustingly loud, while I was googling Arvo Pärt in my hotel room.

I take that you're a fan of Arvo Pärt then?

Yes, he's probably one of my most favourite composers. It would be incredible to do something together with him. We have done a collaboration with one Icelandic composer and during that time, during a concert in Reykjavík, we included him within the choir. Maybe, if I sent some texts to Arvo Pärt... We would be honoured, if he created something with us for the choir or perhaps something abstract ─ it doesn't have to be lyrical, it's his own free will. If Arvo Pärt wants to contact us, then he can always write to us on the address [email protected]. No matter which type of a collaboration he'd wish for ─ we are very open to ideas!

#hatari #clown squad #matthias tryggvi haraldson #klemens hannigan #einar steffanson #interview #mothpost #translation

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