Having been the island’s pop superstars for a whole year, Hljómar set
out to conquer the rest of the world in the summer of 1965. This was
the first, but definitely not the last, case of Icelandic pop musicians
trying to “make it” abroad.
Reynir Oddsson, a young film director, offered to make a feature
film about the band’s antics, concentrating on the Icelandic “country
dance” phenomenon. The band was convinced to foot half of the movie’s
bill. Shooting started in July 1965 and lasted for three months. All in
all, 27 hours of Hljómar playing at various places out in the country
were captured on film, with all the hippest dudes and chicks of the
times doing the go-go on the side. The movie was called Umbarumbamba,
which presumably means some kind of “South African love declaration.”