Fred-René Øvergård Buljo (born 6 February 1988), better known as simply Fred Buljo, is a Norwegian

Sámi The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Rus ...

rapper and

joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europe. ...

er. Buljo is a member of the Sámi rap duo Duolva Duottar, consisting of Buljo and Ole Mahtte Gaup, established in 2007. In 2008 the group made a breakthrough when they participated in ''

Norske Talenter ''Norske Talenter'' (English: ''Norway’s Got Talent'', ''Norwegian Talents'') is a Norway, Norwegian talent show with a similar format to ''Britain's Got Talent,'' making it one of the ''Got Talent'' franchise programmes. The 16-year-old sin ...

'' and reached the final. He also is one of members of the Norwegian

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

KEiiNO, alongside

Alexandra Rotan Alexandra Rotan (born 29 June 1996) is a Norwegian singer. Rotan began her career as a child singer, becoming a superfinalist in Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2010 with the song "Det vi vil". She later joined the group Keiino in 2018, and represent ...

and

Tom Hugo Tom Hugo Hermansen (born 27 October 1979 in Kristiansand), better known as simply Tom Hugo, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and musician. He is currently living in Oslo. Career Recording artist In 2007, Hugo moved to Hamburg and started worki ...

, the group was created in late 2018 in preparation for the participation in

Melodi Grand Prix 2019 Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Spirit in the Sky (Keiino song), Spirit in the Sky" written by Tom Hugo, Tom Hugo Hermansen, Fred Buljo, Fred-René Buljo, Alexandra Rotan, Henrik Tala, Alex Olsson and Rüdi ...

., they won the contest and so were selected to represent

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the 2019 Eurovision Contest, coming in 7th in the semifinals, and 6th in the final, with the song "

Spirit in the Sky "Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in late 1969 from the album of the same name. The single became a gold record, selling two million copies f ...

". As well as being a musician, Buljo also has served in the

Sami Parliament Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

for the party

Árja Árja ("Commitment" in northern Sami) is a Norwegian Sami political party. The party was founded on 24 May 2008 in Jergul, and its leader is Láilá Susanne Vars. The ideology of the party is claimed to be based on respect for the elderly in soci ...

, first as a deputy from 2013 to 2016, and as an MP and

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...

in the period 2016–2017.

Musical career

Semi2Dress2019-039-20190516-EuroVisionary

Since then, he has toured in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and has worked both as a songwriter and as a performer. In 2019 he participated in the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

as part of the group KEiiNO and won with the song "

Political career

Buljo has also served as representative on the

Sámi Parliament of Norway sje, Sámedigge sju, Sámiediggie sma, Saemiedigkie sms, Sääʹmteʹǧǧ no, Sametinget , legislature = 9th Sámi Parliament , coa_pic = Nordsamisk_farge_symmetrisk_stor-01.svg , house_type = Unicameral , foundation ...

for the party

, first as a deputy from 2013 to 2016, and as an MP and

in the period 2016–2017.

Awards

In December 2019, Buljo beat

Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen (born 25 April 1998) is a Sami musician from Tana, Norway. In 2016 she won the Sámi Grand Prix with her original song ''Luoddaearru'', and in 2017 she won Liet International with the same song. In 2017 Isaksen started ...

with 46.3% of the votes over her 32.87% to win Ávvir's

Saami of the Year The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several America ...

Award.

Discography

As part of Duolva Duottar

Albums

* ' (2011)

Singles

* "Álggu Loahppa (The End of the Beginning)" (2016) * "Samestaten (State of Sapmi)" (2017) * "Offroad" (2017) * "Samegutt" (2017) * "Joavnna" (2017) * "Markanstallu" (2018)

As part of Keiino

Albums * "

OKTA In meteorology, an okta is a unit of measurement used to describe the amount of cloud cover at any given location such as a weather station. Sky conditions are estimated in terms of how many eighths of the sky are covered in cloud, ranging from ...

" (2020)

Singles

* "

" (2019) * “Shallow” (2019) * "Praying" (2019) *"

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

" (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buljo, Fred Living people 1988 births Norwegian Sámi musicians Norwegian musicians Norwegian Sámi politicians Norwegian Sámi people Norwegian rappers Members of the Sámi Parliament of Norway People from Kautokeino Melodi Grand Prix contestants Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2019