The Faroe Islands Podcast

The Faroe Islands will witness a total solar eclipse in just one month, but this isn't the first time an eclipse like this has been visible in the Faroes. This week, we talk to three Faroese women who have childhood memories of the 1954 solar eclipse. While it has been widely reported that all the hotel rooms have been booked in the Faroes for years, there are still some places to stay. To learn m...

This week, we're back on the island of Skuvoy and we're looking for birds. We'll learn about the great skua, and head out to a skua breeding colony to help identify and measure baby chicks. Note: This show was recorded in heavy wind conditions. Adjust your ears accordingly.

This week, we travel to the island of Skuvoy. We're there to spend the day with a field biologist who's studying the birds Skuvoy is named after. We'll take a choppy boat ride, then stroll through the islands only village before preparing to head up into the hills outside the village.   Reminder: There's still time to sign up for the Nordic Obsession Tour this July. To learn more just head over to...

This week, we look back at last July's Faroe Pride march. It has been two years since Faroe Pride drew massive (by Faroese standards) crowds to Torshavn to march in favor of LGBT rights. This year, the crowds are a bit bigger, but has the atmosphere turned... routine? And if so, is that a good or a bad thing? We'll hear some sound from the march, then talk to Eiler Fagraklett about the march and w...

This week, we visit the Faroe House in central Copenhagen. The house helps provide services for the thousands of Faroese people living in Denmark's capitol. We'll talk to the homes director, then we'll head off to Torshavn and see if a grinding billboard motor can tell us anything about the Faroese economy.

This Christmas Eve, we're listning to a conversation we had with Heri Simonsen on December 24, 2009. We talk about Christmas in the Faroe Islands and New Year's celebrations as well.   Merry Christmas to you and the people you love.

This week, Heri Simonsen talks with Hungarian journalist Gaor Lantos. They talk about football (soccer) and how sports can be good advertisement for a country. Then we'll travel to the heart of Torshavn and feel a little like Omega Man.

This week, we talk to American journalist and masters student Miranda Metheny about her research on how the Faroese are portrayed in international media, and how the Faroese present themselves to the rest of the world. The results may surprise you. Then we'll watch as the Norrona, the massive ferry that connects the Faroes with Iceland and Dermark, glides out of the harbor.

The Faroe Islands is a place where hitchhiking is both safe, legal, and socially acceptable. So this week, we give it a whirl. We'll hitch from Torshavn to Gota. It's normally about a 45 minute drive, and that's about how long this podcast goes. But happiness is a journey, not a destination, right?

This week, a short report on the historic upset in the Euro 2016 qualifying match between Greece and the Faroe Islands national football (soccer) team. The Faroe Islands won the match and, depending on how you measure it, the match may be the biggest upset in international football history. We'll talk a little about the match and how people in the Faroe Islands reacted to it.

This week's show is our entry for this year's Hear Say Festival in Ireland. It details a run in we had with a feisty turkey last year.

This week, our coverage of Day 3 of the 2014 G! Festival. We'll hear some music from Marius, Ave, and Confect. We'll sing along on the beach and then evacuate from an oncoming flood. It's another soggy, late night at the coolest music festival in the world.

This week, we talk to Birgir Kruse and Eiler Fagraklett about the short story, "Manor." It was written 130 years ago by a German man considered the world's first gay activist. "Manor" is a vampire story set in the Faroe Islands. We'll talk about how this work finally got translated into Faroese and about the groundbreaking life if its author.

This week, a tribute to our good friend Jennifer Henke. She was one of the first guests on this podcast back in 2009, and she also participated in our first Nordic Obsession Tour this past summer. This show includes highlights from her several appearances on the podcast. UPDATE: Jennifer Henke passed away on December 27, 2014, about two months after this show posted. She was 68 years old.

This week, a debate between Hans Hermansen and Pete Bethune on the contentious subject of Faroese whaling. The debate is hosted by our own Heri Simonsen and was aired live on Ras 2. It is our hope that forums like this will help interested listeners on both sides of the issue to better understand what people on the other side of the divide think.

This week, we sample music from day two of this year's G! Festival. We'll hear music from Allan Tausen, Eivor, Lover Lover, Swangah, and ORKA. Then we steal food from Eivor's grandma. Really.

This week we listen in on a Q&A session Sea Shepherd leaders did at a democracy festival in the Faroe Islands. Sea Shepherd volunteers spent the summer "monitoring" beaches in the Faroes in an attempt to prevent any whale hunts from taking place.    At this forum, SS volunteers attempted to explain their views to a crowd that, at times, was quite hostile.

This week, we recap some of the action on the first day of this summer's G! Festival. We'll also talk to Greta Svabo Bech about her recent successes, including being nominated for a Grammy and getting an invitation to play this year's Iceland Airwaves festival.

This week we talk to Woody Wright, an American gospel country singer who peformed in the Faroe Islands this summer. Then we'll offer a former apology to a hotel.

This week, we talk about the new Faroese Academy of the Arts. Two of the school's directors talk to us about their plan to bring high-level art instruction to the Faroe Islands. Then we'll visit a nearby village and think of a friend.

This week, we talk to two Danish filmmakers about their documentary on Nordic music. The pair spent much of July talking to Faroese musicians and trying to figure out what defines the so-called Nordic sound. While their project isn't finished yet, they're already got some fascinating insights about Faroese music and the people who create it. Then we head out to windmills that generate electricity...

This week, Heri Simonsen interviews podcast host Matthew Workman for a special Olavsoka edition of his radio program. They'll talk about the national holiday, the recent Nordic Obsession Tour Workman led, and Heri even asks some questions about a certain group of activists calling the Faroes home this summer.

This week, part two of our conversation with conservationist Pete Bethune. He founded Earthrace Conservation and hatched a plan to send hundreds of activists to the Faroes to interfere with whale hunts. He eventually abandoned the plan when he determined it would be counter-productive to his goals of ending Faroese whaling. In the second half of our conversation, Bethune talks about why he objects...

This week, part one of our conversation with Pete Bethune. Bethune is a conservationist and animal rights activist. A couple of years ago, Bethune was preparing to assemble a group of 150 activists to patrol the beaches of the Faroe Islands and disrupt any whale hunts. But when Bethune traveled to the Faroe Islands to do some advance work, he abandoned those plans, even though he still strongly op...

This week, we talk to the brewmaster for Faroe Beer. The brewery started in 1888, and alcohol was banned in the Faroe Islands about a dozen years later. But Faroe Beer is still around and they're back to brewing one of their signature beers.