Yoik
Encyclopedia
A joik, luohti, vuolle, leu'dd, or juoiggus is a traditional Sami
form of song
.
Originally, joik referred to only one of several Sami
singing styles, but in English the word is often used to refer to all types of traditional Sami singing. According to music researchers, joik is one of the longest living music traditions in Europe, and is the folk music
of the Sami people. Its sound is comparable to the traditional chanting of some Native American
cultures.
The joik is a unique form of cultural expression for the Sami people in Sápmi. Each joik is meant to reflect a person or place. This does not mean that it is a song about the person or place, but that the joiker is attempting to transfer "the essence" of that person or place into song - one joiks their friend, not about their friend. It usually has short lyrics or no lyrics at all. This type of song can be deeply personal or spiritual in nature. Improvisation
is not unusual. However, there are other forms of joik (in the expanded sense of the word) that have a more epic type of lyrics. Joik is traditionally chanted a cappella
and often dedicated to a human being, an animal, or a landscape as a personal signature.
In northern Sami
areas, most joiks are personal, that is, tied to a specific person. A joik is often made for a person at the time he is born. British
Actress Joanna Lumley
experienced several joiks during her travel program Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights, joining a northern Sami elder. Lumley learned that there appeared not to be a joik of the Northern Lights
, and that the Sami do not talk much about them.
It has tradition
ally been sung a cappella
, sometimes accompanied by a drum
, but not a Sami drum which is used for ceremonial purposes only. It is sometimes set to other instruments
. The tonality
of joik is mostly pentatonic
, but joikers are at liberty to use any tone
s they please.
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
form of song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
.
Originally, joik referred to only one of several Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
singing styles, but in English the word is often used to refer to all types of traditional Sami singing. According to music researchers, joik is one of the longest living music traditions in Europe, and is the folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
of the Sami people. Its sound is comparable to the traditional chanting of some Native American
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
cultures.
The joik is a unique form of cultural expression for the Sami people in Sápmi. Each joik is meant to reflect a person or place. This does not mean that it is a song about the person or place, but that the joiker is attempting to transfer "the essence" of that person or place into song - one joiks their friend, not about their friend. It usually has short lyrics or no lyrics at all. This type of song can be deeply personal or spiritual in nature. Improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
is not unusual. However, there are other forms of joik (in the expanded sense of the word) that have a more epic type of lyrics. Joik is traditionally chanted a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
and often dedicated to a human being, an animal, or a landscape as a personal signature.
In northern Sami
Northern Sami
Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland...
areas, most joiks are personal, that is, tied to a specific person. A joik is often made for a person at the time he is born. British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Actress Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
experienced several joiks during her travel program Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights, joining a northern Sami elder. Lumley learned that there appeared not to be a joik of the Northern Lights
Northern Lights
Northern Lights is a common name for the Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere.Northern Lights may also refer to:-Books, film, television, and radio:* Northern Lights, a romance novel by Nora Roberts...
, and that the Sami do not talk much about them.
It has tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
ally been sung a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
, sometimes accompanied by a drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
, but not a Sami drum which is used for ceremonial purposes only. It is sometimes set to other instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
. The tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
of joik is mostly pentatonic
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
, but joikers are at liberty to use any tone
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
s they please.
Notable artists
- Wimme SaariWimme SaariWimme Saari is one of the best known Sami yoikers from Finland. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish electronic group RinneRadio...
is one of the world's most renowned Sami artists, whose use of joik is a central factor in his music, and thus identifying him as one of the foremost Sami traditional musicians. He has been collaborating with other artists in recent years and has worked with Swedish trio HedningarnaHedningarnaHedningarna is a Swedish and, for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features Yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami form of song.-History:...
. Saari mixes some elements of the old style joiking with new sounds. - Mari BoineMari BoineMari Boine, previously known as Mari Boine Persen, is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people...
from Norway is one of the most popular artists of her SamiSami peopleThe Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
culture. She blends elements of joik with other idioms – jazz, rock, world music. - Nils-Aslak ValkeapääNils-Aslak ValkeapääNils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as Áillohaš in the Northern Sami language was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his life in Käsivarsi, close to the border of Sweden, and also in Skibotn in Norway...
was a well-known modern Sami writer, musician, and artist using joik in his work. He performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in LillehammerLillehammeris a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
, Norway. - Sofia Jannok is a Swedish singer from GällivareGällivareGällivare is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 8,480 inhabitants in 2005. The town was founded in the 17th century...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. She mainly sings in Sami and does joiking. - Ánde SombyÁnde SombyÁnde Somby, born in Buolbmat, Norway, is a well known traditional Sami joik artist and an associate professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tromsø, specializing in Indigenous Rights Law. Somby is only one of few Sami with Ph.D in law . Sombys phD is titled "Juss som retorikk"...
is a traditional joik artist and a research scholar at the Faculty of Law at the University of TromsøTromsøTromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, who joiks persons, animals and landscapes. - Although little known outside the folk metalFolk metalFolk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
circuit, Jonne JärveläJonne JärveläJonne Järvelä is the vocalist/guitarist of the Finnish band Korpiklaani and of former project Shaman. He is known in the Verga folk metal scene for his yoiking and contributed the yoik on the Finntroll album, Jaktens Tid. He once was a member of the Sami music group Angelin tytöt.- See also...
of the FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
band KorpiklaaniKorpiklaaniKorpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
(formerly known by the name Shaman) is proficient at joiking. Both of Shaman's albums were labeled as "joik metal", drawing heavily from Sami music. After the name-change, the band switched to a more conventional folk-metal sound. He was also featured on the Jaktens TidJaktens TidJaktens tid is a folk metal album by the Finnish band Finntroll. It was released in 2001 by Spinefarm Records.-Track listing:There is a bonus song on the final outro track: after approximately half a minute of silence, a drunken-sounding polka-type song begins...
album of fellow FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
folk metalFolk metalFolk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
band, FinntrollFinntrollFinntroll is a folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. They combine 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...
. - Recently, the Norwegian band AdjágasAdjagasAdjágas, from Sápmi, Norway are Sámi joikers, Lawra Somby and Sara Marielle Gaup with a band of musicians. The groups name Adjágas is a Sámi word describing the mental state experienced between waking and sleeping....
has been taking joiking around the world. - Ulla PirttijärviUlla PirttijärviUlla Pirttijärvi is a traditional Sami vocalist from the village of Angeli , Finland. She began her career with the group Angelin Tytöt, but left soon after to pursue being a solo artist. Her music is a combination of traditional Yoik and contemporary instruments and style.-References:...
mixes traditional joik with more modern musical trends. - AngelitAngelitAngelit, formerly known as Angelin tytöt , is a Finnish Sámi folk music group formed by sisters Ursula and Tuuni Länsman in 1989. However, the history of the group can be traced back to 1982 when Eino Ukkonen, Ursula and Tuuni Länsman's Finnish teacher, took them along with some classmates to sing...
similarly has evolved their joik musical traditions.