Traditional music
The most important musical expression of the Sami is without doubt the joik. This monotonous poetic song, similar to a long, haunting lament, was originally part of the animist religion of the Sami. The missionaries, in trying to convert the Sami to Christianity, associated it with paganism, and therefore with sin, and forbade it (they were once persecuted for their animism). Sometimes compared to Native American songs, the joik is not a song in the sense that we understand it - they have few or no words, do not rhyme, and have no definite structure - but more an attempt to express the essence of a subject in a very personal and spiritual way. The other modes of Sami songs are called lavlu/laavloe and vuelie. The laavloe is more lyrical and poetic while the vuelie
is a song about a person or an event.If in the course of the twentieth century the joik was losing the affection of the public, in recent years it has found renewed interest, with some artists offering it a new lease of life. Among the most remarkable are the Norwegian Mari Boine, who mixes joik roots with minimalist folk-rock, the Finnish Wimme Saari, who brings his own improvisations to joik, and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, also from Finland, whose joik has been used throughout his written and sung work, and whose performance during the opening of the Lillehammer Olympics is still remembered. He is also considered to be the author of the first joik recording in 1968 with his album Joikuja. Also worth mentioning are Sofia Jannok from Sweden, whose music mixes folk, pop, jazz and joik, Ánde Somby, an illustrious joiker, Adjágas, a Norwegian joik band that played at Glastonbury in 2007, and Isák, an electro-joik trio. Unsurprisingly, joik has also been much associated with another Scandinavian specialty: metal. Bands such as Sháman (now Korpiklaani) introduced "joik metal" in the late 1990s, drawing a line between heavy metal and soulful elements. All these artists are sometimes the occasion to hear typical Saami instruments such as the fadno, a flute made from angelica stems, or the rhombus, whose sound is created by swinging the instrument with a cord. These strange sounds, often quite hypnotic, have fascinated many musicians from all over the world in search of sound experiments. Other Saami instruments can be found elsewhere in Scandinavia, such as the lur, a horn-shaped horn, and the harpu, the equivalent of the Finnish kantele
. In Lapland, it is common to hear the joik during religious festivities such as Easter orMarianpäivä ( Mary's Day ). The latter, which takes place on the weekend of the Annunciation at the end of March, has been celebrated since the 14th century. Although the religious character of this gathering has faded over time, it continues to be an important time for the Sami people of Finland, Norway and Sweden, with crafts, Sami song concerts, reindeer races and lassos throwing.Classical and theatrical
Due to the low density of the region, the cultural offer in Lapland is reduced to a few centres, such as Rovaniemi in Finland, Tromsø in Norway and Luleå in Sweden. It is here that most (if not all) of the region's concerts and stages can be found. The former, the capital of Finnish Lapland, is home to the Lappia House, a beautiful building designed by Alvar Aalto for both theatre and concerts. An equivalent can be found in Tromsø with the KulturHuset, an open and dynamic house of culture since the 1980s. Today it is mainly used for concerts, but until the early 2000s it was the city's theatre. This explains why there is a statue of Arthur Arntzen in front of the building, Tromsø's most famous author and playwright, famous throughout the country for his character Oluf, which became one of the country's biggest theatrical successes in the 1980s. Since 2005, Tromsø has had a new stage dedicated entirely to theatre, the Hålogaland Teater, with many productions staged in regional Norwegian dialects. In Luleå, the Kulturenshus plays a similar role. Opened in 2007, the place houses the tourist office, the city library, an art gallery, a café́, a restaurant and a stage, among other things. The cultural place in town, definitely.
If these poles concentrate most of the cultural offer in Lapland, they do not have a monopoly on it for all that, and one can find here and there a few events like in Luosto in Finland where every year, in the first fortnight of August, Pyha Classic takes place, four days of classical music installed in the Aittakuru amphitheatre.Jazz, pop and rock
Although it is not a breeding ground for modern pop, the region has nevertheless seen the birth of some important artists. This is notably the case of Lordi, the famous masked and zany metal band from Rovaniemi, whose victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 is remembered by the whole world. It is also the case of Röyksopp, an electro duo from Tromsø and a worldwide hit of the genre in the 2000s. As for jazz, if no Lapp musician has really reached a notable fame, let's mention the album Legend of the Seven Dreams
(1988) of the saxophonist Jan Garbarek, steeped in Sami musical themes. For a good concert in Tromsø, the address not to be missed is the Driv. Run by university students, the venue has three stages and prides itself on being one of the most dynamic in Norway. Jazz lovers should not miss the Kalott Jazz and Blues Festival in Tornio, the most important event dedicated to the genre in the north of the country. On this occasion, the music invades the parks and concert halls at the time of the midnight sun, atmosphere guaranteed!
