Þorsteinn Magnússon (Stanya), is a male guitarist (not female as the name “Stanya” might suggest) “par excellence” (as many artists have said), and has been one of the the most popular guitar sessionist for many years here in Iceland. Influenced by such guitarists as Hendrix, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson, Satriani, Zappa and McLaughlin.
He was born on the 3rd of october 1955 in Akranes , a small town not very far from Reykjavík, Iceland. The first band he formed was “The Monsters” and he was ten years old at that time. (A year before he´d seen a guitar for the first time and it was love at first sight!)
Moving to Reykjavík when thirteen he was lucky to be heard playing his guitar by a person who knew some musicians and bingo! There was no return! Þorsteinn was swept into the music world of Iceland, making a good name for himself, working day and night thereafter in bands, studios, sessions and whatever called for a professional guitarist.
As time passed his name found its way into books on Icelandic rock music i.e. “Poppbókin” (author Jens Kr. Guð), “Rokksaga Íslands“(author Gestur Guðmundsson) and “Íslensk tónlist á 20. öld (Er´ekki allir í stuði?)” (author dr Gunni). That is; The “Popbook”, “Rock history of Iceland” and “Icelandic rock music in the 20th century
These are some of the bands he´s worked with: “Eik” ( ´74-´77), a progressive rock band, fusion style, “Þeyr” ( ´81-83), a new wave? band making a name in the UK, Scandinavia and Japan, ( touring Scandinavia in ´82 ), “Egill Ólafs Band” (91-92), Egill being one of Icelands most famous actors and a musical virtuos, “MX 21“, with Bubbi Morthens who is the “King” of our pop music world, “SS Sól” ( ´93 ), with Helgi Björns, singer and actor, his band being the most popular band for years. ( We might add the fact that his younger brother Jakob Smári Magnússon ( he can be found on http://www.myspace.com/jakobsmari ), bassist “número uno!” played with him in MX 21 and SS-Sól along with many album sessions. ) Also working with Pálmi Gunnars, giant of blues, jazz bass and vocals. Vinir Dóra, a big blues name both here and abroad, ( US and Canada ). Then there was a studio recording with fellow “Þeyr” member, guitarist Guðlaugur Óttars ( Godkrist! ) and the vocals of our dear “Björk”. And not to forget working with “Leo Smith“, a world famous jazz trumpetist, touring Iceland ( ´85 & ´86 ) a big part of Europe ( ´86 ) with a session on his album Human Rights and session work for the british band “Psychic TV“ with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, possessor of the Felix musical award and co-worker with “Sigurrós”. Others worth naming,: Upplyfting, KK band, Geimsteinn, Fánar, Brimkló with Björgvin “Bo” Halldórs, the ultimate ballade singer, the band Export and a few more.
In ´83 he made his first solo album, “Líf”, an experimental thing written around own poetry speculating in the eternal circles of ? It got a good rating ( 5 stars in before mentioned books on music ) and sold more copies in Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK then in Iceland. At MUTANT site the album can be found when you search google typing: "Þorsteinn Magnússon Stanya". There is altso a site: ljod.is with his poetry, in Icelandic.
Then we must mention his own band, “Stanya”, a name invented and glued to him by fellow musicians. His musical roots lie in fusion-blues-jazz-electronic-experimental and what you may call it! This band contains a mixture of top Icelandic musicians covering about 20 years and many styles for here in his country being capable of adjusting to most sorts of music makes living capable moneyvise you see!…
Þorsteinn (Stanya) also has a site at.: http://www.myspace.com/steinimagg and further information can be found on.: http://en.wikipedia.org, http://www.answers.com, http://www.tryggvihubner.is, http://www.tonlist.is, http://www.bubbi.is (spjall/tónleikarnir, bláu tónarnir, Mx 21, Skyttan) and http://www.isound/gkottarsson under “stanya”, þorsteinn magnusson, gramm records, líf, icelandic punk, elgar sisters, psychic tv and gkottarson on wikipedia.org. |
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