Arctic Voices

The Arctic Circle as a unifying element: in the far north there are fascinating musical traditions that are vividly transported to the present here – from Norway to Japan, from Mongolia to the Arctic

© Daniel Born

The centuries-old musical traditions of the world’s northernmost regions were long suppressed by colonial powers. The »Arctic Voices« festival shows that they are more alive today than ever before – one example being »joiken«. This traditional song of the Sami people is one of the most original things you can hear in Europe today. Other indigenous peoples – from the Inuit in Canada to the Mongols in Asia – also practise closely related forms of this overtone and throat singing, in which one voice sings two tones simultaneously: a very low one and a high, spherical one above it. These communities have not only lived from and with nature for thousands of years, but their singing practice is also deeply rooted in it: the human voice imitates birds, bears or dogs, the melodies trace the outlines of mountains or the shadows of the setting sun.

The greatest artists from different regions can be heard at the Elbphilharmonie. Sami singer Marja Mortensson, for example, whose new project »Entwined« deals with such elementary things as human breath and combines joiking with deep tuba sounds. Mari Boine – a figurehead of Scandinavian music for 30 years and an ambassador for indigenous rights – looks back on her childhood in arctic Norway in »Alva«. Tanya Tagaq likewise sees her music as a political statement, having taught herself the Inuit throat singing and transformed it time and again through modern genres.

The Inuit »katajjaq« song is traditionally performed by two women who face each other and alternately interlock their breathing to produce complex rhythms. The sisters’ duo Piqsiq spins it on endlessly through loops. The hypnotic voices of the Marewrew singers unfold like echoes in »Ukouk«, the traditional canon singing of the Ainu from the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. An all-female vocal ensemble can also be heard in the last concert with epic songs that form a counterpoint to the Mongolian overtone singing »Khöömii« by the Tengerton Ensemble.

Prelude »Arctic Voices«: the concert introduction (German only)

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