''Gula Gula'' is an album by the
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 ...
singer
Mari Boine
Mari Boine (born Mari Brit Randi Boine, 8 November 1956) is a Norwegian Sámi singer. She combined traditional Sámi joik singing with rock. In 2008, she became a professor of musicology at Nesna University College.
Biography
Mari Boine was ...
, recorded in 1989 and released on the
Iđut
Iđut AS is a Norwegian publisher of books and music, based in Ikkaldas, Porsanger kommune, Troms og Finnmark, Norway.
The company publishes novels, children's books, text books and school books, general literature, music and films. It also has ...
and Virgin labels. It provided her breakthrough, making her internationally famous; it was followed by numerous other albums. It won a
Norwegian Grammy award in 1989.
Boine appeared on the album as "Mari Boine Persen", her Norwegian name; on later albums she used her Sámi name only.
The album was further released in 1991 by
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
(91631) and in 1993 by
Real World Records
Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at ...
(62312). An extended CD with bonus tracks was released by EmArcy/Universal (0177812) in 2000.
Approach
The album is rooted in
Mari Boine
Mari Boine (born Mari Brit Randi Boine, 8 November 1956) is a Norwegian Sámi singer. She combined traditional Sámi joik singing with rock. In 2008, she became a professor of musicology at Nesna University College.
Biography
Mari Boine was ...
's experience of being in a despised minority; the song "Oppskrift for Herrefolk" ("Recipe for a Master Race") is sung in Norwegian, unlike the rest of the songs which are in Northern Sami. It speaks directly of "discrimination and hate", and recommends ways of oppressing a minority: "Use bible and booze and bayonet"; "Use articles of law against ancient rights".
Other songs tell of the beauty and wildness of Sápmi (Lapland). The title track asks the listener to remember "that the earth is our mother". Boine described in an interview with ''Norwegian American'' how the songs came about:
Boine sings in an adaptation of traditional Sámi style,
using the "
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. ...
" voice, with a range of accompanying instruments and percussion from indigenous traditions from around the world.
The instruments used include drum, guitar, electric bass clarinet,
dozo n'koni,
gangan,
udu
The udu is a plosive aerophone (in this case implosive) and an idiophone of the Igbo of Nigeria. In the Igbo language, ''ùdù'' means 'vessel'. Actually being a water jug with an additional hole, it was played by Igbo women for ceremonial uses ...
,
darbuka
The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...
, tambourine,
seed rattles, cymbal, clarinet, piano,
frame drum
A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments, and perhaps the first drum to be invented. It has a single drumhead that is usually made of rawhide, but man-made mat ...
,
saz, drone drum,
hammered dulcimer
The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...
,
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
,
overtone flute
An overtone flute is a type of a flute that is designed to play in the upper harmonics, typically well above the two or three harmonics that are the practical limit for most woodwind instruments.
An overtone flute has either no tone holes,Maclag ...
, bells, bass,
quena
The quena (hispanicized spelling of Quechua ''qina'', sometimes also written ''kena'' in English) is the traditional flute of the Andes. Traditionally made of cane or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole, and is open on both ends or th ...
,
charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...
and
antara
Antara is an Indonesian news agency organized as a statutory corporation. It is the country's national news agency, supplying news reports to many domestic media organizations. It is the only organization authorized to distribute news material ...
.
Track listing
All tracks are composed and performed by Mari Boine. All are in the
Northern Sámi language
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
, except as indicated.
# "Gula Gula" (Hør Stammødrenes Stemme/Hear the Voices of the Foremothers) - 03:40
# "Vilges Suola" (Hvite Tyv/White Thief) - 04:15
# "Balu Badjel Go Vuoittán" (Når Jeg Vinner Over Angsten/When I Win Against Fear) - 04:00
# "Du Lahka" (Near You) - 05:14
# "It Šat Duolmma Mu" (You Don't Step on Me No More) - 03:48
# "Eadnán Bákti" (Klippen – til Kvinnen/To Woman) - 03:17
# "Oppskrift for Herrefolk" (Recipe for a Master Race) - 03:54 (in
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
)
# "Duinne" (Til Deg/To You) - 06:27
Bonus tracks on 2000 CD:
# "Oarbbis Leat" (Fremmed Fugl) - 05:31
# "Čuovgi Liekkas" (Radiant Warmth) - 04:11
# "Gula Gula" Chilluminati mix - 04:48
Personnel
![Mari Boine2 Warszawa Sep2007b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Mari_Boine2_Warszawa_Sep2007b.jpg)
*
Mari Boine
Mari Boine (born Mari Brit Randi Boine, 8 November 1956) is a Norwegian Sámi singer. She combined traditional Sámi joik singing with rock. In 2008, she became a professor of musicology at Nesna University College.
Biography
Mari Boine was ...
- vocals, drum, guitar
*
Eivind Aarset
Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Andy Sheppard, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef, Django Bates, and Nils ...
- guitar
* Christer Bo Bothen - electric bass clarinet, dozo n'koni, ganga
* Unni Shael Damslora - claypot (udu), darbuka, tambourine, seed rattles, cymbal
* Tellef Kvifte - clarinet, piano
*
Roger Ludvigsen
Roger Ludvigsen (born 28 July 1965 in Alta, Norway, Alta) is a Samis, Sami guitarist, percussionist and composer from Kautokeino.
Biography
In the 1970s, he was part of Ivnniiguin, the country's first Sami-language rock band.Ale Möller
Arild Staffan Möller (born 26 March 1955), known professionally as Ale Möller, is a Swedish musician and composer.
He was born and grew up in Scania in southern Sweden and started in music as a jazz trumpeter. He lived for a while in Greece wh ...
- drone drum, hammered dulcimer, bouzouki, overtone flute
* Gjermund Silseth - bells, bass, piano
* Leiv Solberg - bass
* Carlos Zamata Quipse - quena, breath, charango, antara
Reception and legacy
The
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
review awarded the album 5 stars.
[AllMusic Review](_blank)
accessed 5 October 2020
In 2003, the musicologist Olle Edström called the album's lyrics "still highly political", but noted that the music had changed, with folk musicians from Sweden, Peru and elsewhere, making the album "World music", or more precisely in Edström's characterisation "a mixture of rock with quasi-West-African rhythms, with short phrases sung in a kind of Sami/Native North-American technique and with rather few harmonies or drone-like harmonies".
In his view, the musical forms are simple, with "the musicians playing 'ethnic' instruments such as the West African drums,
mbira
Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...
, Greek bouzouki, etc".
He describes her singing style as "a special 'ethnic' voice technique of her own" that "reminds Samish listeners in part of traditional
jojk technique and convinces European listeners that it is".
Silje F. Erdal, for Norway's ''FolkMusikk'' organisation, described the album as Boine's breakthrough, especially when
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
re-released it on his
Real World label. She noted that it was commissioned for the
Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter theatre, and that the title song "Gula Gula", with its call to "hear the voices of the tribal mothers", has an "obvious feminist message". It won a
Norwegian Grammy award (''Spellemanprisen'') in 1989.
Merlyn Driver, writing for ''Songlines'' thirty years after the album's release, comments that "If you’ve heard of just one Sámi musician, it's probably Mari Boine", and that her voice "a bewitching combination of melancholy, vulnerability and strength, has never sounded more impressive than on ''Gula Gula''".
The title song formed the first (instrumental) track of the Norwegian jazz musician
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music.
Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław ...
's 1990 album ''
I Took Up the Runes
''I Took Up the Runes'' is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek released on the ECM Records, ECM label and performed by Garbarek, Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber, Nana Vasconcelos, Manu Katché, and Bugge Wesseltoft with Ingor Ánte ...
''. The contemporary reviewer Jim Aikin called the track "especially memorable".
References
External links
* – lyrics of all tracks in English, Northern Sámi, and Norwegian
{{Authority control
1989 albums
World music albums by Norwegian artists