- How did you get the role as Miriam from The Prince of Egypt ? Did many women audition ?
At the time of The Prince of Egypt, it was very rare that people would auditioned for roles in musicals unless they had a BA acting degree and the same rule applied in dubbing. I remember Steinunn Ólína (the dubbing director) calling me and asking me if I could audition for the role, they had trouble finding someone for the role that DreamWorks would approve of, and apparently all the usual candidates had been tried already. Apparently there was a certain
timbre in the voice they were looking for.
timbre in the voice they were looking for.
- Did you audition for both the speaking & singing parts ?
To be honest with you I can't remember whether it was spoken or if I would only do the singing and not the speaking, but that might have been my own demand. I personally would never agree to do a role applying my singing voice only, so that may have been the reason.
- How did the the recording session go ? Did they take a long time ?
No haha, this was done very fast. They were working on a deadline - there had been delays because of the high demands of DreamWorks and I remember finishing what I thought was just a first run-through when they said "Great! - that's it, thank you!"
- How was it working with the dubbing director Steinunn Ólína ?
I have worked with Steinunn Ólína in various other project and she is always great to work with - fun, quick and effective.
- Was it difficult singing "When You Believe (Af Þinni Trú)" ?
This is actually not an easy song to sing, it is delicate as it has a big range. Icelandic is also a bit tricky, there are so many vowels and sometimes the most difficult ones are on the highest notes - but you know, you just do it and trust the director to know whether it is good enough.
- Where you and Selma Björnsdóttir together when you sang "When You Believe" ?
Or did you two sing it individually and your voices where mixed up later ?
Selma had already sang her lines when I did my recording and we were never in the studio together. We however had known each other for a long time and we even sang together in the children's choir of our home town as kids - this is typical in Iceland, so small and everyone knows everyone.
- Do you like the Icelandic lyrics of "Af Þinni Trú" ?
I think the Icelandic translation is ok, it could be more vocally pleasing with less harsh sounds but I also know that this was not an easy task because of DreamWorks and the delicacy of the story that the movie is based on. The script had gone through numbesr of committees and needed to be approved by leaders of many different religions, the topic is delicate and explosive if not handled right. So I think that the task wasn't easy either for the translator.
- Do you like the Icelandic dubbing of The Prince of Egypt ?
I am very content with the Icelandic dubbing of the Prince of Egypt. It is a great movie and we have many of our best actors there.
- Have you ever been in any dubbings since The Prince of Egypt ?
I have sung in soprano ensembles in many Disney movies since but I don't remember being auditioned again for another role, I think they still hold these roles for actors mainly.
- What do you think of Icelandic dubbings in general ?
I think that they are very good in general although I must say that sometimes I feel that the singing is compromised too much for the acting. I don't think that singers are often auditioned for roles which is a shame, I think that many of them are in fact great actors and most of those who have been through vocal studies have finished courses in acting as part of that.
- What are you doing nowadays ?
Well I graduated from Royal Academy of Music in 2004 where I did my postgraduate studies in classical singing. Consequently I worked as a singer in London for 2 years and in 2006 I moved back to Iceland and worked here as a singer and freelance as a radio host at the Icelandic State Radio Channel 1. In 2012 I started developping the concept of a music app for kids and early last year I founded the company Rosamosi with a computer engineer from Iceland Hilmar Thor Birgisson of which I am the chief executive officer (CEO). Earlier this year our dream was realised when we launched our first app Mussila - Musical Monster Adventure, an app that teaches the basics of music through fun and adventurous challenges and currently we are preparing the launch of our next app; the Mussila DJ.
I continue singing though and I have a CD prepared for recording. However my job at Rosamosi is very demanding so the singing has to be a spare time activity for now. Meanwhile I do the occasional home recording and add it on my youtube channel. The latest one is a bit of a twist on on Bill Wither's "Ain't no sunshine", a little distance from Miriam - and a few years down the road.
I continue singing though and I have a CD prepared for recording. However my job at Rosamosi is very demanding so the singing has to be a spare time activity for now. Meanwhile I do the occasional home recording and add it on my youtube channel. The latest one is a bit of a twist on on Bill Wither's "Ain't no sunshine", a little distance from Miriam - and a few years down the road.
