Joik

Joik, or luohti in Northern Sami, is one of the oldest continuous vocal traditions in Europe. A joik is not a song about a person, animal or place; the convention is that it is that subject, an attempt to capture and evoke it in sound, which is why Sami speakers say one joiks someone rather than about them. The form is often short, cyclical and without fixed beginning or end, using vocables as much as words. Missionary campaigns and later assimilation policy treated it as pagan and it was banned in schools well into the twentieth century, so a generation grew up not learning it. Since the 1970s it has been revived, taken into contemporary music, and heard at festivals and the Sami Grand Prix.

What you actually see

• The cyclical form - short repeating melodic figures without clear endings.
• The vocables - sound syllables used alongside or instead of words.
• The festival performances - joik at Riddu Riddu and the Easter festival.
• The contemporary crossover - joik used in modern Norwegian and Sami music.

When to go

Easter in Kautokeino and Riddu Riddu in July are the main occasions to hear it live in a Sami context; concerts and recordings are available year-round in Tromso, Karasjok and elsewhere.

Honest expectations

Personal joiks belong to the person they are made for, and recording or performing someone's joik without permission is a genuine offence within the culture. The form is unfamiliar to most listeners and takes some adjustment. Much of what tourists encounter is staged rather than social.

Nearby

Kautokeino and Karasjok are cultural centres; Manndalen hosts Riddu Riddu each July.