Born in 1944, Þórir Baldursson (known also as Thor) grew up playing keys before notching some huge songwriting, arranging, and production credits later in life. He transitioned gradually from jazz to disco, with studio work that included ABBA, BONEY M, Elton John, and Grace Jones.   “I Feel Love” is now a signature song in Donna Summer’s oeuvre and became commonplace sample fodder for ‘90s dance cuts, even Blondie and Madonna tapped its monster break for late-in-the-game dance-pop revivalism.

The documentary include both new and old interviews with Thor and his many colleagues in Iceland and abroad, as well as numerous examples from 1957 to the present day. Thor went on a month-long concert tour to Finland in the early 1970s, but fate so arranged that he worked abroad for the next years. 

It started in the Nordic countries but went from there to Germany and ended its expansion in the United States, and most of the episodes are spent reminiscing about Thor’s twelve eventful years abroad. Among the performers who appear in the full-length documentary “THE MAN WHO LOVES MUSIC” and are connected to Thor in one way or another are the Savanna Trio, Dátar, Hljómar, Heiðursmenn, Ævintýri, Þrjú á palli, Nilsmen, Nina Lizell, Lee Hazlewood, María Baldursdóttir, Abba, Amon Duul, Frank Farian, Boney M, Rolling Stones, Georgio Moroder, Donna Summer, Twiggy, Tom Moulton, Grace Jones, Elton John, Pete Bellotte, Gaz, Salsoul Records, Joe, Ken and Stan Cayre, Munich Machine, Grandmaster Flash, Metropolis, La Bionda, Melba Moore, Cerrone, songwriters, arrangers, record producers, studio owners, relatives, old friends and many more.

When Thor had established himself in Munich in 1973, it was not long before he reached the heart of the city’s music scene. One of the people Thor worked closely with was the Italian recording director and songwriter Giorgio Moroder, who established the American singer Donna Summer. Thor has composed a large number of songs, arranged, played and participated in music in one way or another almost all his life and is highly respected in his profession.

Thor on his upbringing and introduction to music:

“I was surrounded with music from early childhood. My father played accordion in local bands on most weekends. By the time I was eight years old, I was starting to perform on accordion. About the age of ten I was starting to accompany my father at local dances playing the piano.”

Early on, it was revealed that Thor had great talent in the field of music, but he had become a professional player at dances before he had his sacrament. “The music has always taken good care of me, so I was able to buy the confirmation suit myself, shoes and everything,” says Thor in an interview. But was there no doubt that such a small boy was playing ball for drunken people? “No no, it all depends on how you are decorated,” says Thor and adds that the singer in the band was also ar his age and they were shocked at all the over-drunk people. Thor has composed or arranged many of the most beautiful songs in Icelandic history, do you have a favorite song? “I can’t make up between the songs, I’m usually just very happy with these Icelandic songs that have come a long way.” He moved to Sweden in 1970 and to Munich, Germany in 1972, where he worked as a musician. He later moved to the United States, but spent most of his time in Munich. “I lived abroad from 1970 to 1990, but in the meantime I came home for three years.” He says that the music scene in Iceland has changed considerably, but for the better. “There are so many young, talented people who have come from the music schools. There is a lot of growth in this country, “Thor adds. He adds that he considers music education very important. “People with talents need to expand their talents by going to school.”  In addition to playing, Thor works as a teacher at the FÍH Music School in Reykjavík and says he gets a lot out of teaching. He has exposed and played on albums for an incredible number of artists. “It’s as if I fell into a river and wandered from one bank to another. But yes, when you think back, this is an eventful and incredible career. But the music has always taken care of me, as I have always had it in the forefront, number one. “

“I Feel Love,” produced by the great Giorgio Moroder swept Europe, eventually hitting the US and charted on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer. The throbbing disco smash was an enormous breakthrough for its arranger, a little known songwriter out of Iceland named Þórir Baldursson.

When Thor came to Munich in Germany, he met the Italian songwriter and recording director Giorgio Moroder when he worked as a session musician for the various Artists. “When I moved to Munich, Jojo, as we called Giorgio, was not a giant name. He had had one hit though and used the money that came out of him to set up the studio Musicland, “says Thor That studio was hugely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra and Iron Maiden to name a few.

Giorgio Moroder would later become one of the hottest recording directors and songwriters in the world, but he first got on the map for his collaboration with Donna Summer, of which Thor was a part from the beginning and arranged many of her major hits. “Our first acquaintance is that she was a backing vocalist in several projects for Jojo.” from that real demo, with drums and such. I went to the studio and even sang these songs, this led to the record company Casablanca buying the idea. “

Casablanca Records was known for a lot of extravagance at all parties and spending big money on all the business around it, how did this glamorous life go with it? “I’m not a very big party man. I was always working, it was the greatest pleasure I got out of this. To be in a good hotel room where everything is superb, to have my gadgets and be able to work there, that’s how I felt best, “ He is now 78 years old and no longer takes on many music projects, but one role has now taken over his life. “It’s being a grandfather. There is nothing better than that. Studio 54 and hanging out with Elton John is just a hill next to it. “

Thor was also apart of another leading-edge arrangement, the oft-sampled “Sing Sing” by Gaz, which of course contained the foundational skeletal shakers that later became Baltimore club music’s backbone. Along with “Amen Brother” and “Apache,” “Sing Sing’s” break was a staple in early Grandmaster Flash routines and subsequently lifted by everybody from RZA to Kylie Minogue. Thor has a wide experience of producing music as composer, songwriter, record producer, singing, mixing, expose and playing musical instruments for others in studio recordings and being in bands.

“I made scratch vocal tracks for Grace on some of the songs on ‘Muse’ for her to learn the melodies. Tom took the liberty to use my scratch on “Suffer” in the mix. I didn’t know about till it was released! At first I hated it. I thought it sounded too campy, but I’m ok with it now. Grace was incredible. She had a lot of humour and looked absolutely stunning.”

Thor sang all the new songs as a guide for Grace, so it would be easier for her to learn the melody, but his singing should never end on the album. The staff of the studio, on the other hand, all agreed that Thor’s angry and powerful singing with his harsh Icelandic pronunciation should be included in the song Suffer, as he was a fun contrast to the singer’s voice. Thor’s main collaborator in the making of the album, Tom Moulton, made the decision without letting Thor know that the song would be a duet of Thor and Grace and it came as a complete surprise to Thor when the album came out that his voice sounded in this great song.

On the SalSoul era and working with SalSoul as a company: “Very good memories. They treated me nice. I didn’t work directly with the SalSoul Orchestra but I worked for the SalSoul company. Our relationship was always pleasant. The owners Joe and Kenny Carie were super nice guys. My friend Tom Moulton, who produced Grace Jones, made things run smoothly.” SalSoul Orchestra tracks has been sampled in rap songs such as 50 Cent’s “Candyshop”, Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” and more artists like Dimitri from Paris etc. Madonna used samples in “Vogue” of the tracks, the inclusion of which was later the subject of a lawsuit, ended in Madonna’s favour.On the emergence of-disco and hearing his worldwide hit and now often sampled track, “SingSing” with Gaz: “Yes, I liked disco right away. The jazz and R&B elements appealed to me. It still appeals to me in rap music. And yes I’ve heard “Sing Sing” used and sampled, but that is all. Wish I would see some money for it. The industry is sadly crowded with thieves!”

INTERPRETATION / SCRIPTWRITER & DIRECTOR’S VIEW

The main character of the film is Mr. Þórir Baldursson… aka… THOR, who is now 80 years old. Today Thor is now chiefly retired and fixing old Hammond organs instruments in his spare time. He takes one totally in pieces and show us how it works. His mission is to travel through the documentary and go to old places, where the sound of the future music “DISCO” happened nearly fifty years ago. He will find his old friends and colleagues from the music business. They perhaps, will form a new band and create few songs as well holding the last concert together. 

On the other hand we will follow Thor music carrier from early age when he was a child in Keflavik and starting to accompany his father at local dances playing the piano, then ten years old when music picked him up and did a musician out of him. He started his first band 12 years old. We will go through his remarkable career. We will search archives of old newsreel footage, music videos, interviews and TV shows and concerts from the internet, music studios, libraries and TV stations around Europe and US for material of Þórir Baldursson’s bands, his musical achievements, his creations and the beginning of Disco which leads the spectators to the beginning of Break, Rap and Hip Hop music that was once experimental. Individuals in interviews that will be produced are mostly all from the older generation. Therefore they has more juicy story to tell and more knowledge about the period we’re dealing with. They will as well push his biography, his story further as narrators and spice the fantasy of the music genesis of that time, which developed the asphalt for the musical departure and entertainment captures that came after. It will be a script. It will be partly documentary and partly feature. We will try to follow the storytelling of the script as guide in all processes. We will also go off schedule to capture what’s happening spontaneously.

From the early beginning of the film we go to the so-called “Beatles-town of Iceland”, Keflavik, to Thor’s background where he grew up. Near the small town was US military base. Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) was a U.S. Navy station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes. The army had their own TV and Radio station. The US Armed Forces Radio, colloquially known as Yankee Radio, made more American music available to Icelandic audiences and “deeply influenced the music, fashion and attitudes of Icelandic youth in the old days. 

Music took Thor on a mission. He got to know the music scene by listening to the yankee radio from early age, such as Marlene Dietrich, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lee Levis, Elvis Presley to Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Beatles and more from the Yankee Radio. Later on he played in a band touring the base with concerts. We go from Iceland to Denmark, Finland and Sweden to Musicland Studios in Munich where Thor established himself as Studio musician and arranger, Casablanca Records which was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s, Studio 54, a former disco nightclub located on 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Launched at the peak of the disco dancing and music trend, the club became world-famous, noted for its celebrity guest lists, restrictive (and subjective) entry policies (based on one’s appearance and style), rampant club drug use, and open sexual activity in the club’s infamous balcony and basement VIP rooms. We will try to find old recordings note tracks of Thor through the years to create new mixing for the music score of the documentary. It will also be little sub-stories of the musicians or industry who he associated with. In order not to combine too many stories together, we will not go into details about the background of all the artists, but focus more on Thor, the story behind the music material, the vision, methodology and how the magic happened and clicked in the development of this music era. I know something about the material of the story and documentary since my father used to run big discotheque and concert clubs in Reykjavík for decades, which happened to be the first 19 years of my life. Some of Thor’s bands were playing there. I saw Grace Jones there as well. For the visual approach I will study the style of Thor so his vision will be reflected in the visual style of the film. 

Some scenes will be acted because situations has been very visual, but no old materials existing and it will also break the documentary up with acted scenes. The documentary is somehow thought and written as feature film, as well like fiction. The script has beginning, middle and end. The storytelling will go after his biography, his problems, triumphs and victories, how the situations were dramatically building his carrier each time. We go through his destinies and believing, what happened for the music industry he were participating in, what happened in his private life, how he’s today and what he’s doing. The documentary will show the glamour, the parties, the concerts and the shiny façade of the bands life. We’re also going to focus on showing musicians in action “their former works in studios”, the genuine works from them in the outstanding masterpieces,   in all the good and bad decisions that were made, the scams in the industry and how the music were changing because of  directions from the non-confrontational, buroceatics, auditors, lawyers, business people and its strikethrough by reason of economic crisis in the eighties. Each location will be taken into consideration when nailing down the visual style for each country/location will provoke a strong visual narration.

The script is written in English because of its international content, thou the documentary will happen perhaps with scenes on their original languages, like Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, German or English. We will make a international sound track so it can be dubbed on all languages. The part of the story is about creation of music and how it changed the sound of club music. Music is global and has no languages. It generates lot of different feelings and moods in people minds without languages. Stock footage will be used to connect to the events, so the stock footage intertwined with the working artists will also touch and teach the viewers about this era of music. For the speakers in interview I will make new and use old one as well in connection with the story which we’re telling each time. We will try to get interview with those people and professionals who were involved in that music era, which was somehow connected to Thor. Some of them have passed away. We will use old interviews in that situation if it serves the story. I will make the film crew as invisible as possible so everyone forgets about the cameras, giving us the most natural and true moments. The artists will be wired up with radio-mic ́s so we will not need sound operators as much to following them around with scary booms, it would make them to conscious of the filming. I choose to take more the approach alike wildlife photography. In some scenes I will film using long lenses and stay far from the artists. This style also gives the viewer a privileged experience of seeing something secret and authentic. I can think of Thor as one of the creating individuals that were most of the time behind the curtain (in the studio), making melodies of this important music period. 

The film has the element and style of a road movie traveling between countries. The main character takes us on a journey where the different nationalities and cultures give the flavour to the story. The spectator shares the voyage of artists trying to create a positive influence out of tragic moments as well as entertainment and music, to connect people and different cultures, thus creating with true meaning. The material which formed the beginning era of Disco, Break, Rap and HipHop deserves to be followed by storytelling of a documentary film from various different sides. His trip of discography deserves it and his efforts. Still today the era of this music are affecting people in entertaining and emotionally ways around the world. It will always be people existing that want to dance and enjoy good melodies. That’s just fantastic.

On behalf of the full- length documentary “THE MAN WHO LOVES MUSIC” and film production company; FORTY THOUSAND SEVENTY FOUR KILOMETRES EHF / Iceland.

Scriptwriter and director / Johann Sigmarsson.