Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman

Part of the homeland of the Sámi people is in northern Finland, but the Sámi identity is a global one and is heavily defined by its music. The joik tradition stands apart from mainstream culture, even if expressed in rap or in world music.

The Sámi artists are raising a storm in their local communities. Even though they are not often heard in the mainstream music scene, their importance for the local community is as strong as ever. Generations of Sámi people have had to figure out how to find themselves, how to have that balance between the two cultures – and music is such a helpful tool in this.

"Joik comes in many guises, and I have been obliged to accept that my joik language is mixed up with all sorts of things. The main thing, however, is that my joik language is for expressing my feelings on my own terms," writes Sámi musician Ánnámáret (Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman). This column is part of the series where composers and musicians write about their music.

“Ánnámáret is part of a powerful new force in Sámi music and identity.”

The Sámi people, whose home region, Sápmi, stretches over the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia, are the only indigenous people within the European Union area. Music education in the Sápmi region has come forward in leaps and bounds over the past 15 years.

The theory is that goal-oriented art education in Finland is provided for all residents nationwide, at school and through government-subsidised institutions. But in the Sámi homeland in the far north of Finland this is not always the case. In the field of music, this failing is being addressed through the Sámi music adult education project, supported by the European Social Fund.