Emil Kárlsen

Sámi music is the musical expression of the Indigenous Sámi people of Sápmi (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia’s Kola Peninsula). At its heart is the joik (North Sámi: luohti; South Sámi: vuelie; Skolt Sámi: leu’dd; Inari Sámi: livđe) — a vocally driven tradition in which a person, place, animal, spirit, or moment is evoked rather than described. Joiks use short, motif-like phrases, vocables, flexible meter, and modal or pentatonic pitch collections. Traditional accompaniment includes the Sámi frame drum (goavddis), wooden or bone idiophones, the fadno (an angelica-stem reed flute), and, in later periods, Scandinavian fiddles and Jew’s harp. Since the late 20th century, Sámi artists have fused joik with jazz, rock, pop, ambient, and electronic production, creating a contemporary Sámi sound that travels easily between the festival stage, film/TV, and concert hall while keeping a clear line back to the ancestral voice.