
In traditional Sámi music songs (e.g.
Kvad and Leudd songs) and
joiks are important musical expressions of the
Sámi people
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 ...
and
Sámi languages
Sámi languages ( ), in English also rendered as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwestern Russia). There are, depend ...
. The Sámi also use a variety of musical instruments, some unique to the Sámi, some traditional Scandinavian, and some modern introductions.
Highly spiritual songs called
joiks (Northern Sámi: ''luohti''; Southern Sámi: ''vuolle'') are the most characteristic song type. (The same word sometimes refers to
lavlu
The music of Finland can be roughly divided into categories of folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.
The folk music of Finland belongs to a broader musical tradition, that has been common amongst B ...
or
vuelie
''Frozen: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' is the soundtrack album to Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 Frozen (2013 film), film of the same name with 8 songs written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and 22 score pieces ...
songs, though this is technically incorrect.) Joiks may have few or no lyrics, do not rhyme, and have no definite structure. They are typically about any subject of importance to the singer, and vary widely in content. In Northern areas each person often has their own joik, sometimes given to them at birth, which is seen as personal to and representative of them, like a name. Purely folk joiks have declined in popularity over the 20th century, due to the influence of pop radio and religious fundamentalism, especially
Laestadianism
Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperance ...
. Joiking first came to prominence within Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole with the 1959 release of Sven-Gosta Jonsson's "I'm a Lapp", which featured the singer singing about joiking towards heathen stones over a modern, skiffle-like beat. The first commercial recordings of joiking were performed by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää in 1968, in Finland. Valkeapää's recordings, however, differed from traditional hoiking by including both instrumentation and ambient sounds, such as barking dogs and the wind.
Nevertheless, joik performers of some fame include
Angelit (former Angelin tytöt, Girls of
Angeli),
Wimme Saari
Wimme Saari (also known as just Wimme, b. 1959, Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish elec ...
and
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää from Finnish Sápmi. Many modern singers are signed to
DAT, the premier record label in Sámi music.
The most famous Sámi singer is
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 w ...
of
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 ...
, who sings a type of minimalist
folk-rock with joik roots. Some non-Sámi artists, including
RinneRadio,
Xymox, and
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, Czesła ...
, have used joik and other Sámi styles in their music.
The Finnish
folk metal
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for examp ...
band
Sháman (now known as Korpiklaani) introduced what some call "yoik metal" in the late 1990s, drawing attention to Sámi music in the heavy metal scene. Their music incorporated Sámi elements such as yoik singing, Sámi lyrics, and shamanic drum. The vocalist has also yoiked for fellow Finnish folk metal band
Finntroll
Finntroll is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki that combines elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on '' Visor om slutet''. Finntroll's original singer, ...
. Also Finnish black metal band Barathrum (On Eerie album's first track) and Swedish black metal band Arckanum have used joik parts in couple of their songs.
In January 2008, the Sámi artist Ann Marie Anderson, singing "Ándagassii" qualified to the finals of
Melodi Grand Prix 2008, (the Norwegian national selection for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song " Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadca ...
), but she did not win. In Mars 2015 the Swedish Sámi artist Jon Henrik Fjallgren came second with his song "Jag ar fri" in the finals in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. In the October 2018 final episode of the Norwegian televised music contest
Stjernekamp, 20-year-old Sámi artist Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen was voted the winner; her final performance on the show was a yoik.
At the Eurovision Song Contest itself, joik appeared in Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with "
Sámiid ædnan", where
Mattis Hætta
Mattis Hætta (15 March 1959 – 9 November 2022) was a Norwegian Sami singer and recording artist.
In 1980, he and Sverre Kjelsberg won the 1980 Melodi Grand Prix with the entry Sámiid Ædnan and went on to represent Norway in the Eurovisio ...
performed a yoik he had composed, and 2019 thanks to 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 ...
" performed by the
KEiiNO trio representing Norway. Parts in this language joik were performed by the Saami singer and rapper
Fred Buljo
Fred-René Øvergård Buljo (born 6 February 1988), better known as simply Fred Buljo, is a Norwegian Sámi rapper and joiker. Buljo is a member of the Sámi rap duo Duolva Duottar, consisting of Buljo and Ole Mahtte Gaup, established in 2007. In ...
, who is a member of the group. The KEiiNO team won the audience vote, but after adding up the total vote of the jury (40 points) and the audience (170 points), the trio took only 6th place in the general classification of the grand final of the competition.
Musical instruments
Some sources have commented on a supposed lack of musical instruments among the Sámi, with one 1885 work noting: "They cannot claim to possess a single instrument of their own, not even the most primitive."
Despite these beliefs, the Sámi employ a variety of musical instruments, several unique to them. Among these instruments are the ''
fadno'', a reedpipe made from ''
Angelica archangelica
''Angelica archangelica'', commonly known as garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several ...
'' stalks, and the
Sámi drum
A Sámi drum is a shamanic ceremonial drum used by the Sámi people of Northern Europe. Sámi ceremonial drums have two main variations, both oval-shaped: a bowl drum in which the drumhead is strapped over a burl, and a frame drum in which t ...
. Late 18th century researchers also noted two bagpipes in Lapland:
the ''sak-pipe'' and the ''
wal-pipe''.
Other Sámi instruments of wider Scandinavian usage include the
lur (a long horn trumpet),
and the ''harpu'',
a zither to the Finnish
kantele
A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithua ...
.
Willow flutes are often made from the bark of the quicken tree or mountain ash.
[Carl von Linné and Sir James Edward Smith: Lachesis lapponica. A tour in Lapland, Linnaeus (1811), Volume: 2 (p. 51).]
Modern bands use a wide variety of instruments, especially the
fiddle,
concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front.
Th ...
, and
accordion.
Gallery
Image:Wimme Saari.jpg, Wimme Saari
Wimme Saari (also known as just Wimme, b. 1959, Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish elec ...
, a Sámi joiker from Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö
Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very spars ...
Image:Sofia Jannok 20070621 Centre Culturel Suedois 5.jpg, Sámi vocalist and musician from Gällivare
Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town w ...
, Sofia Jannok
Brita Maret "Sofia" Jannok (born 15 September 1982) is a Swedish Sami artist, singer, songwriter and radio host. Several times, she has publicly taken a stance in social media against the establishment of mines on land used by Sami reindeer herd ...
, performing at the Centre Culturel Suédois in Paris, France.
Image:Mari Boine 2.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 w ...
, a Sámi vocalist and musician from Gámehisnjárga (by Kárášjohka
( se, Kárášjohka ; fkv, Kaarasjoki) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok. Other villages include Dorvonjárga, Šuoššjávri, and Váljohka.
The ...
), Finnmark
Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024.
On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
Image:Mari Boine.jpg, Mari Boine performing at the Kongsberg Jazz in 2007
Image:Turdus Musicus Lawra Somby.jpg, Lawra Somby, Sámi joiker and member of the group Adjágas, making a guest appearance with Norwegian heavy metal band Turdus Musicus
True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Turdus'' of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for "thrush". The term "thrush" is used for many other birds of the famil ...
Image:Riddu Riđđu (8).jpg, Ande Somby Ande may refer to:
*Andes
*Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment
*ANDE (Paraguay), national electric company of Paraguay
*Michael Ande (born 1944), German actor
*Ande Township (安德镇) in Pidu District, Chengdu, China
See also
* Andé
Andé ...
, Sámi vocalist and law professor at the University of Tromsø
The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...
from Sirbma, Finnmark
Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024.
On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
, performing with his band Vajas
Vajas (meaning ''echo'' in North Sámi) was a Sámi-Norwegian band with Kristin Mellem on violin and vocals, Nils Johansen on guitars, computers and synthesizers and the famous Sami ethnic yoiker Ánde Somby on vocals and yoik (or joik, a type o ...
at the 2007 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 pe ...
festival
Image:Riddu Riđđu (9).jpg, A Sámi vocalist performing at the 2007 Riddu Riđđu festival
Image:Riddu Riđđu (7).jpg, The crowd gathers to watch a rock band perform at the 2007 Riddu Riđđu festival
File:Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen, 2018.jpg, 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 Isák the DnB-stage at Grefsenkollen
See also
*
Adjágas
*
Amoc
*
Vilddas
Vilddas is a band that was formed in Tampere, Finland in 1997 by Annukka Hirvasvuopio, Mikko Vanhasalo and Marko Jouste. They play Sámi music, but their instrument selection consist of different instruments from many different cultures lik ...
*
Maxida Märak
Notes
References
*Cronshaw, Andrew. "Joiks of the Tundra". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp 255–260. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
External links
Official Angelit Webpage from a multinational student project on minority languages in Europe
More sample joiksfrom ''
Hollow Ear'' magazine
Sámi Culture Library – Yoik and Music collection of links related to Sámi music
Sámi contemporary music: Transjoik
{{Sámi navigator
Finnish music
Norwegian music
Swedish music
Russian music
Nordic music