Elina Maria Katarina Barruk (born 1994) is a Swedish Sámi singer, songwriter and pianist, who sings in the Ume Sámi language, now spoken by less than a dozen native speakers. She believes her songs will help to revitalize the language. In September 2015, she released her first album, ''Báruos'', and continues to perform in concerts inspired by traditional

yoik 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. ...

music from the province of

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), known in English as West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in the north of Sweden, bordering Ångermanland, Lapland, North Bothnia, and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is known for the cheese named after the provi ...

Biography

Born on 5 December 1994 in

Storuman Storuman ( sma, Luspie, Ume Sami: ''Lusspie'') is a locality and the seat of Storuman Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 2,207 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated by the Ume River, at the southeastern end of ...

, Elina Maria Katarina Barruk has a mother who plays the piano and a father, Henrik Barruk, who yoiks and works on Sámi language preservation. Since early childhood, she aspired to become a musician herself. When she was 16, she moved to

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Ume� ...

where she joined the music arts programme at Midgårdsskolan. There she formed a band with Elias Häreskog (bass), Mattias Nygren (percussion) and Emmy Westing (piano). As Ume Sámi was spoken at home, she has also come to recognize the importance of helping the language to be used more widely. She wrote the songs for ''Báruos'', her first album, in the Ume language. Working with the Norwegian yoiker

Frode Fjellheim Frode Fjellheim (born 27 August 1959 in Mussere) is a Southern Saami yoiker and musician (piano and synthesizer) from Norway. He is best known for his band Transjoik and as the composer of the 2002 song "Eatnemen Vuelie", which was later adapted ...

, she has developed tracks varying from yoik to

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

and jazz. In addition to her involvement in music, Barruk works as a Sámi teacher in Umeå and Storuman. She also teaches at the Algguogåhtie Association which since 2009 has received substantial grants to support Ume Sámi. In both 2016 and 2018, Barruk starred at Norway's Varanger Festival in Vadsø where she has many fans. Singing in Ume Sámi, she explained that only two members of her generation spoke the language, she and her brother. In January 2019, she sang in Ume Sámi at UNESCO's launch of the

International Year of Indigenous Languages The International Year of Indigenous Languages was a United Nations observance in 2019 that aimed to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between languag ...

Awards

Katarina Barruk was honoured with the Young Artist of the Year award at the 2012

Riddu Riđđu Riddu Riđđu is an annual Sámi music and culture festival held in Olmmáivággi (Manndalen) in the Gáivuotna (Kåfjord) municipality in Norway. The goal of the festival is to bring forward both Sámi culture and that of other indigenous peopl ...

Sámi festival. The following year, she won the Youth Prize at Umeå's Sámi Week.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barruk, Katarina 1994 births Living people People from Storuman Municipality Swedish Sámi musicians 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers