Sami Music, Eurovision and Slow TV

Elin and The Woods - NOT the Norway Eurovision entry

Yes, it's Eurovision time again! Something we love on The Slow TV Blog is Eurovision and Slow TV. Slow TV can last for ages and I'm sure some must feel Eurovision goes on for a very long time, too.

I got rather excited by a track in advance of last year's contest which fitted the Slow TV ethos perfectly, and Norway's entry last year, which starts very promisingly but, if I may be so bold, really got the idea of editing pace and slowness in music very wrong.

Norway recently had a very long Slow TV broadcast of reindeer migration, which was guided by a Sami family of reindeer herders. Sami identity, heritage and culture were celebrated by the Slow TV broadcast which played exclusively Sami music, besides times of just the ambient background sounds of the epic journey.

The woods!! Photo by Jenny Østgård #elinandthewoods #firststepinfaith #mgp17 #nrkmgp

A post shared by Elin & The Woods (@elinandthewoods) on Apr 20, 2017 at 10:53am PDT

Now, Norway nearly had a Sami Eurovision entry, Elin and The Woods with First Step in Faith - which I thought during the selection process would have been the perfect partner for being promoted during the Slow TV broadcast, knowing the reindeer migration would finish a couple weeks before the Eurovision Song Contest. Some previous Eurovision winners have had extensive media coverage before going on to win... 

The sight of a woman with horns while singing, for the most part, a joik, would have perhaps given the entry that different look and sound, which (if, and that's a big rhetorical if, the political block-voting can be out-gamed) could have given Norway a distinct edge in the contest. Looking down the comments on the YouTube video of it for Melodi Grand Prix, I'm not alone in thinking that.

Elin and The Woods have a new single out today (10th May), to follow them on Spotify, go here.

New single coming up! 10th of may! A tribute to Elin's homeland Sápmi (Land where the Sami people live). We love it! photo by Heidi Nilima Monsen 😍 #sápmi #singlerealease #cover #electrojoik

A post shared by Elin & The Woods (@elinandthewoods) on May 3, 2017 at 10:44am PDT

It wasn't the first time Sami music had featured in Norwegian Slow TV - a Sami choir (Samisk sanggruppe / Sámi lavlunjoavku) also featured in Slow TV in 2014 during the 3 day sing through of the entire Norwegian hymn book, Salmeboka Minutt for Minutt, their performances can be seen here.

Music from Reinflytting Minutt for Minutt - Reindeer Migration Minute by Minute can be explored through playlists such as here and also here.

The video of Elin and The Woods performing First Step in Faith on the Melodi Grand Prix in Norway - the Eurovision selection process.

I've previously touched on Sami culture on The Slow TV Blog, on Sami National Day, 6th February - more on that here.

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Sami National Day and Slow TV

Sami national day / Samenes nasjonal dag - 6th February

Monday 6th February 2017 is National Sami day - an indigenous culture in the northern of Scandinavia covering parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia; this year marks the centenary of the first Sami congress in Trondheim, Norway where Sami from Sweden and Norway met to address common issues.

By virtue of Slow TV starting in Norway and NRK's charter requiring the broadcaster promotes all aspects of Norwegian culture, Slow TV has been been helpful in further highlighting the Sami culture to a wider audience.

The 2014 60 hour continuous Slow TV sing-through of the entire 899 hymns of the Norwegian Hymnbook, Salmeboka Minutt for Minutt, featured several hymns in Sami and Sami participants, as well as in Kvensk, another indigenous culture in northern Norway.

In 2015, the BBC showed just short of two hours of reindeer pulling a sleigh in the Karasjok area of Norway, guided by Sami herders.

If you'd like a sample of contemporary Sami music, try this Reindeer Herder's Joik from from Jon Henrik Fjällgren. 

 

Then, within the next few months from writing this post, NRK, the Norwegian broadcaster, will be returning with seven days or more continuous reindeer migration from the Finnmark plateau to the coast - under the care of Sami reindeer herders. 

Google translate doesn't offer me a translation in Sami to wish you all the best for the Sami National Day, so I trust a simple Norwegian 'Gratulerer med dagen' will be enough.

I'll be delving a lot more into the reindeer migration Slow TV with a recorded  interview with the producers in Bergen as well as music from Sami and Norwegian artists on my radio show on RedShift Radio on Thursday 16th February between, 8 and 10pm UK time.

There's more to read from the Swedish Sami Parliament (in English) and Norwegian Sami Parliament.

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