Björk and Rosalía Preview New Song to Help Fight Fish Farming in Iceland

Anti-Fish Farming

The song will arrive in full later this month, but the pair has offered a one-minute preview in the meantime

Björk and Rosalía are standing up for what they believe is right with a new collaborative charity single. The record, set for release in full later this month, will help fight fish farming in Iceland. “People at the fjord Seyðisfjörður have stood up and protested against fish farming starting there,” Björk shared in a statement and video accompanying the one-minute preview of the song. “We would like to donate sales of the song to help with their legal fees and hopefully it can be an exemplary case for others.”

The brief preview loops Björk and Rosalía ’s silky harmonies as they sing: “Is that the right thing to do? Oh, I just don’t know.” The pair collaborated on the “Diablo & Atopos” remix released earlier this year.

[embedded content]

According to the government of Iceland, the country’s aquaculture market, particularly fish farming, dates back more than a century. It also notes that, until recently, the industry has had a hard time moving forward. In Björk’s statement, she essentially expressed that Iceland better off without a path in that direction.

“Iceland has the biggest untouched nature in Europe and still today it has its sheep roaming free in the mountains in the summers, its fish has swum free in our lakes, rivers and fjords,” she explained. “So when Icelandic and Norwegian business men started buying fish farms in the majority of our fjords, it was a big shock and rose up as the main topic this summer. We don’t understand how they had been able to do this for a decade with almost no regulations stopping them.”

Trending

Björk added: “This has already had devastating effect on wildlife and the farmed fish are suffering in horrid health conditions and since a lot of them have escaped, they have started changing the DNA in the Icelandic salmon to the worse and could eventually lead to its extinction.” In 2017, the total production of farmed fish in was nearly 21,000 tonnes, or over 46 million pounds.

“There is still a chance to [save] the last wild salmon of the north,” the singer continued. “Our group would like to dare these business men to retract their farms. We would also like to help invent and set strict regulations into Iceland’s legal system to guard nature. The majority of the nation already agrees with us, so this protest is about putting the will of the people into our rule-systems.”