| Wimme Saari, born in 1959 in Kelottijärvi
in the northwestern part of Finnish Sámiland, is a modern yoik
singer. Yoik is traditional Sámi music - an archaic mode of
unaccompanied solo singing which is uncannily similar to certain Native
American music. It is found all over the vast Sámiland from
the northern to central regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and to
the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are three musical
dialects in yoik. Wimme represents the North Sámi Luohti tradition,
which is the most widely known genre of Sámi music. Luohti
has two unique musical features: it makes use of a pentatonic scale
with no half tones and it always has a specific subject, a person
or an animal, which it describes in music. Wimme creates sweeping
vocal soundscapes that can be inspired by a boiling spring, the state
of Texas, or the full moon.
Wimme is a modern interpreter of the Sámi yoik, combining
colorful grittiness of traditional yoiking elements with original
improvisations. In the last few decades yoik in general has undergone
some changes; in fact Wimme's yoiking could be called "free
yoik." In his yoik, he constructs intense, clear melodic arches
and stretches his voice from a sweet falsetto to a grave baritone.
But the old yoik is still there: Wimme has recaptured the essence
of the ancient yoik, and even the clever voice technique of the
animal yoiks.
"My yoiking has some elements of the old style yoiking, such
as the voice technique and the throat technique. I can also do some
traditional yoiks, but accompaniment doesn't quite suit them. When
I yoik and the boys play I have to do something new. Colors and
patterns are emerging in my mind - I have to let them guide me.
In my home area people say that I have created a new style. Young
people, of course, like it most, but even people in their 50s have
come to me to thank me."
The art of yoiking has traditionally been transferred through generations
of oral tradition, but Wimme learned the tradition in a more modern
way:
"I started working at the Finnish Broadcasting Company in
'86. There I found some tapes including tapes of my uncle's yoiking.
With the help of those tapes I learned some of the old tradition.
Although my mother comes from an old yoiking family, the direct
connection from one generation to another had already been broken.
Due to religious fundamentalism there was no yoiking at home. In
border areas like ours, where there are a lot of people other than
Sámi folks, yoiking has had a tendency to vanish, but in
Sámi areas like Kautokeino, naturally it has been able to
survive better."
RinneRadio Collaborations
The deeply emotional yoik vocals are the center around which the
ambient music floats. The vocals are recorded true to the real spirit
of the yoik: every vocal part is reproduced "as is" unaltered,
strictly not edited or sampled. The yoik comes first and the musical
instruments provide the coloring and underlining of the themes.
Tapani Rinne and Jari Kokkonen, two main musicians from Finnish
techno jazz band RinneRadio, and Matti Wallenius on acoustic string
instruments, give shape and depth to Wimme's yoiks. Fuzzy synthesizers,
strings, alto sax, keyboards and animal samples swirl in and around
Wimme's yoiks creating an eerie, spiritual and atmospheric effect.
RinneRadio also have their own records on Finland's Rockadillo Records
and Tapani Rinne of the band produced both Wimme and Gierran. All
Music Guide on RinneRadio: "RinneRadio incorporate the improvisation
and intelligence of jazz while maintaining the energy and futuristic
vision of electronic music."
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