Sami Arts & Music
Covers the artistic traditions of Sami people.
When most Sami people led nomadic lifestyles, they could only carry what was practical and portable. As a result, their art embellished tools, clothing, furniture, and sacred objects like shaman drums. Men primarily worked in carving and leatherworking. Reindeer bones and antlers provided an especially common carving material. Sami craftsmen became known for their ornamental knife handles, spoons, bowls, and cups, all of which grew to be popular tourist items. Women, meanwhile, decorated clothing with woven bands, silver ornaments, and pewter embroidery. The patterns and materials they used reflected their family and siida, making it possible to identify each other at large gatherings.
These crafts, known as duodji, remain an important industry in Sápmi. More recently, Sami artists have faced competition from inauthentic imitations. Many have united under the Sami Duodji label to identify which products have come from actual Sami workshops.
The oldest Sami musical customs stem from their traditional shamanic faith. Shamans, or noaide, employed music and chanting as part of their spiritual work. They used drums, chanting, and dance to reach a trance-like state, allowing their spirits to leave their bodies. One surviving form of Sami music is the joik. The joik does not describe a subject so much as represent its nature. Rather than singing about an animal or a person, the joik seeks to express and summon a spiritual essence. Individual joik are therefore a personal art, often given to children at birth to grow alongside them. Today, joiking can be heard in many musical styles, ranging from its traditional setting to folk metal bands like Shaman.
Further Reading:
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References
“History Articles.” Sami Culture, University of Texas, www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/dieda/history.htm.
Hund, Andrew J., ed. Antarctica and the Arctic Circle. Vol 1. ABC-CLIO. 2014.
“Preserving Indigenous Culture in the Arctic.” Sweden, Swedish Institute, Feb. 2014, sweden.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Sami-in-Sweden-low-resolution.pdf.
Robinson, Michael P., Karim-Aly S. Kassam, and Leif Rantala. Sami Potatoes: Living with Reindeer and Perestroika. Bayeux Arts. 1998.
Sami Parliament. “The Sami: An Indigenous People in Sweden.” Samer, Samer.Se, www.samer.se/2137.
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