Ken Hensley telist millum legendurnar í altjóða rocktónleiki. Hann var í 1970’unum partur av Uriah Heep, sum gekk sína sigursgongd kring heimin – eisini her í Føroyum, her føroyingar veruliga tóku bólkin til sín.

Í gjárkvøldið doyði Ken Hensley 75 ára gamal í heimi sínum í Spania. Sum tað skilst á familjuni, var tað óvæntað, at hann skuldi doyggja nú. Hann var í gongd við at gera innspæla soloútgávu.  

Ken Hensley dugdi at spæla alskyns ljóðføri. Í Uriah Heep spældi hann ljómborð og sang. Hann var eisini við til at skriva fleiri av kendu sangunum hjá Uriah Heep – eitt nú »Lady in Black«, »Easy Livin’« og »Stealin’«.

Tá ið Summar Festivalurin varð hildin fyrstu ferð í 2004, fekk Ken Hensley ein týðandi leiklut. Hann var høvuðsnavn á fyrsta festivalinum, og stórur áhugi var at uppliva hann í Føroyum á fyrsta sinni. Eitt hugnaligt tiltak var eisini í Altantis, har Ken Hensley greiddi fólki frá um sína sangskriving, spældi nakrar sangir og segði onkrar søgur úr gomlum døgum.

Framførslan hjá Ken Hensley og bólki hansara var fyrsta stóra rockkonsertin á Vágsbø, og hon var framúr góð. Hensley spældi nógvar av klassikarunum, sum hann var við at skriva og spæla í Uriah Heep, og móttøkan frá føroyingum var sera góð. 

Ferðin í Føroyum gjørdi stórt inntrykk á ken Hensley, sum eftir ferðina skrivaði ferðafrásøgn á heimasíðu sínari:

Ken Hensley in the Faroe Islands

When you’ve been just about everywhere it is always exciting to go to a place for the first time. Before we started talking about this event, the last time I remember hearing the name of the Faroe Islands was on a radio weather broadcast when I was a kid in England!

The islands (and there are 18 of them, although not all of them are inhabited) are clustered almost directly north of Scorland, above the Orkneys and the Shetlands but their position in the gulfstream means the weather is nowhere near as harsh as it can be in northern Scotland. They are Danish territory although they have their own language which is roughly similar to Icelandic. I don’t speak either of them so it was a relief to find that almost everyone spoke good English.

We flew from Alicante to Copenhagen and from there to the main island and our first look at it was as we came in to land. The weather was fine and clear and it looked spectacular. Our first shock (well, mine anyway as I was dressed for the 40 degree weather in Alicante) was that it was a bit chilly!! Sunny but quite nippy….

The views from the van were really wonderful, crystal clear waters (it wasn’t hard to imagine the Viking ships sailing here) surrounded by mountains covered now in green but…..no trees!! This was a first for me so I had to ask…… there are 50,000 people on these islands and 80,000 sheep. The sheep eat the trees before they can grow so they don’t bother planting any (file under “useless information”).

Our hosts were warm and friendly and we were to find this to be pretty much the case throughout our stay. Everyone treated us so well. They appeared to be a happy and healthy race of people, proud and defensive of their “independence” and they simply couldn’t do enough for us. Their economy and employment are seriously dependent on their fish exports (Cod, Salmon, Mackerel and Herring) and we got to see some Salmon rings as we drove around.

The islands are very isolated and it’s hard for me to imagine living there but I do know that we will go back and try to spend some time hiking and enjoying the difference.

Klaksvik is a fishing village, pure and simple, population more or less 5,000 and it’s full of picture postcard views…quite lovely.

But it was time for a little work and I prepared for the “workshop” which was to be a small gathering of (lucky?) souls who wanted to pick my brain about song-writing, songs etc. and I was happy to do that.

It was held at a small theatre called “Atlantis” and I had my borrowed acoustic guitar, an acoustic piano and they had also set up the Hammond though I had no plans to use it!! Apparently they had other ideas!

With about 90 or so people in front of me I chatted, played, shared and laughed for about an hour and a half until it was time to go…. after signing autographs that is. I like doing this kind of thing and it did give me a chance to “connect” in a different way.

There is NO crime in these islands!! ZERO!! When was the last time you left the keys in the car? Deliberately I mean! Makes you think doesn’t it?

Up in time for breakfast. The mist from the sea had travelled up the fjord and was covering most of the mountains. A hard view to explain and I forgot my camera too but I’ll be sending Rod some pictures anyway.

This was the first time Klaksvik had staged a festival but, in general terms, one hardly noticed. The organisation was enthusiastic and energetic and their lack of experience only showed in a few deatiled areas.

We would have 45 minutes before our show to adjust things so we made a plan and left it at that so we could enjoy the local brews and some excellent lobster, salmon and cod accompanied by more of their wonderful hospitality. I was again reminded how lucky I am to have a bunch of guys with me who are respectful and polite, an appropriate response to such kindness and it made for a very friendly and genial atmosphere in which to spend a couple of days.

Archie had become our friend very quickly and he invited us to his house after lunch. I wanted to see some of his art and he and his wife wanted us to sample some local delicacies so we tasted dried whale meat, dried cod and whale blubber among other things. It’s a grand privilege to be invited into someone’s house no matter where you are or who it is so we were very appreciative of this time but we had to run as it was time for us to get ready for the show.

They estimated there were about 3000 people and they had come from all over the islands so it was a strong and enthusiastic crowd that were up from the very beginning and going nuts by the time we hit our final song, Lady in Black. Stephan had done a great job out front and you only had to see the audience reaction to know that!! Everyone had a great, great time and I really enjoyed myself. The random, surprise pyrotechnics made the stage experience even more interesting and I would think that, by the time they run their next festival this will be an event not to be missed.

A great experience in a great place and with great people. To the band, Tommy, Alvaro and Fabian, to Stephan for stepping in to run sound, to Archie, Eli, “Winterbottom”, Eydun and all the wonderful people we met I can only say a heartfelt thank you!! I hope you’ll invite us again sometime.

God bless,
Ken