ÃÂrn ElÃÂas Guðmundsson, known professionally as Mugison, is an Icelandic musician.
Growing up in Africa, Guðmundsson had a pet monkey as a child, in 1977.
Mugison and his father, Guðmundur Kristjánsson, founded the annual Aldrei fór ég suður ('I Never Went South') music festival in 2004. It was named after the Bubbi Morthens song of the same name. Notably, the festival has never charged an entry fee and performing bands are not paid.
Mugison released his debut album Lonely Mountain in 2003 through Accidental Records. In 2004 he soundtracked the drama film Niceland. His second album, Mugimama Is This Monkey Music?, was released in 2004 in North America by Mike Patton's label IPECAC Records. Mugison played 200 gigs in 2005 to promote the album, including supporting Fantômas in London at the HMV forum and playing Roskilde festival. He also shared stages with José González and Hot Chip. Continuing his soundtrack work, Mugison scored the thriller film A Little Trip To Heaven in 2005.
In 2006, Mugison founded the record label Mugiboogie. He performed at the G-festival in the Faroe Islands and SPOT Festival, performing for the first time with a live band.
In 2007, he released his third studio album Mugiboogie with JamesMuddd. Mugison wanted the album to sound timeless, so that one could not identify when it was recorded. The idea was for it to sound similar to a 'Best Of' compilation. The album leans more into rock influences than MugisonâÂÂs previous electronic work, drawing particular inspiration from George Harrison. Following the release of Mugiboogie in Europe on his own label and Ipecac Records in North America, booking agent William Morris approached him to represent his touring interests in North America. Mugiboogie sold over 10,000 records in Iceland alone, without radio support.
Gig highlights in 2008 promoting his third studio album with JamesMuddd include:
In 2009, Mugison released his album A Reminder, which contained songs which had been modified over the years. He sold it through his website and toured in Iceland with .
Mugison was invited to an Amnesty International charity event whereby he played all 5 boroughs of New York in one day.
In 2011, he released his fourth and most successful studio album to date Haglél. The album sold in excess of 30,000 during 2011. Recorded entirely in Icelandic and using simple two-track soundcard, the album was casually recorded with friends in various houses and homemade studios. Due to the phenomenal success of the record, Mugison was able to pay off various debts. As a way to show gratitude to people that bought his album, he did three free concerts in ReykjavÃÂk at Harpa in December 2011. He performed the three concerts in a day, and they were all at maximum capacity. The middle performance was filmed live to air on RUV and transpired to be the highest rated TV show on RUV during 2011. Mugison also travelled around the country and performed free concerts in Seyðisfjörður, Vestmannaeyjar, Bolungarvik and Akureyri, where he did 2 concerts.
All Mugison's albums are handmade. Creating 30,000 of them became a full-time job for some of his friends and family.
On all albums, Mugison worked with Pétur Ben (who co-wrote Murr Murr) who is responsible for string arrangements on many of the songs, and also played guitar. His partner Rúna was featured on every album; while his friend Biggi mixed and mastered all albums. Gudni Finnsson and Arnar Gislason respectively played bass and drums, both live and in the studio, since 2006.
Guðmundsson got the nickname "Mugison" while on holiday visiting his father, Muggi (Muggur), in Malaysia. His father is a karaoke singer, and as the crowds at the karaoke bars in the small fishing villages they were touring had problems pronouncing his name, they came to call him "Mugison". Mugison is the Icelandic naming convention for the surname of someone who is "the son of Muggi".