Vonlenska is a constructed language created by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, in particular its lead singer Jón Þór Birgisson. The language is also commonly known by the English translation of its name, Hopelandic. It takes its name from “Von”, a song on Sigur Rós’s debut album Von where it was first used. An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose phonology, grammar and vocabulary are specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture the way natural languages do. ... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with melodic, classical and minimalist elements. ... Jón Þór Birgisson Jón Þór Birgisson or Jónsi (April 23, 1975) is a guitar player and lead singer of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. ... Von is Sigur Róss debut album, originally released in Iceland to moderate critical acclaim but relatively unnoticed abroad. ...

Vonlenska is not a real language as it lacks a consistent grammar structure, word meaning, or indeed discrete words themselves. Instead, it consists of meaningless syllables and resembles scat singing; the band’s website describes it as “a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music”.^[1] Most of the syllable strings sung by vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson are repeated many times throughout each song, and in the case of ( ), throughout the whole album. As the rest of Sigur Rós’s lyrics are sung in Icelandic, which most of their audience do not understand, an unknowing listener could easily take Vonlenska to be Icelandic and be unaware that a song’s lyrics do not have any meaning at all. Scat singing is vocalizing either wordlessly or with nonsense words and syllables as employed by jazz singers who create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using only the voice. ... For the short film of the same title, see ( ) (film). ...

After the success of Ágætis byrjun, the band became aware of fans making up their own meanings to the Icelandic lyrics. Playing along, many of the “phrases” the band have consequently employed on ( ) resemble English words and phrases, for example, “you sigh”, “you sold”, “you sigh no more”, “you sigh so long”, “you sat alone”, etc. Ágætis byrjun (An All-Right Start) is a 1999 album by Icelandic band Sigur Rós. ... For the short film of the same title, see ( ) (film). ...

Songs featuring Vonlenska

• From Von:
  • “Von”

• From Ágætis byrjun:
  • “Olsen Olsen”

• From ( ):
  • All eight songs are sung exclusively in Vonlenska

• From Takk...:
  • “Hoppípolla” (partially in Vonlenska)
  • “Sé lest”
  • “Mílanó”
  • “Gong”
  • “Andvari”

Von is Sigur Róss debut album, originally released in Iceland to moderate critical acclaim but relatively unnoticed abroad. ... Ágætis byrjun (An All-Right Start) is a 1999 album by Icelandic band Sigur Rós. ... For the short film of the same title, see ( ) (film). ... Takk. ... Hoppípolla (Icelandic for Hopping into puddles) is a song by Icelandic band Sigur Rós, released as part of their 2005 album Takk. ...

External links

• Band’s statement about the language in their FAQ section