We may not look very different when we walk through Oslo’s streets, but the small signs are there. There are some small garments and decorations we wear, which we also know we can look for in others. If we see an “ulloliidni”, i.e. a Sami woolen shawl, we know that it is “one of ours”. We are cultural journalists from our respective sides of Sápmi, or Saepmie, as Jonna would write. She is Southern Sami and I am Northern Sami. We are in Oslo to follow a non-Semitic artist and songwriter for whom we have great respect. Not just musically. Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / NRKU Outside the legendary nightclub Blå, we are getting ready to welcome Katarina Barruk. She is from Storuman in Sweden, but has moved to Oslo to focus on music. Kolbjørn Norvang / NRKWe follow her during By:Larm, but it is about so much more than that. It is about music, culture and language. It’s about an entire people. Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / news She wants to make a breakthrough with a language that is on UNESCO’s list of highly endangered languages. Now the language is being revitalized, it is flourishing, and Katarina is part of it. It is felt. She is passionate about it. I set up the camera so that we get Akerselva and the trees in the background. For some reason, we felt it was important to include nature. Even in the middle of Oslo. Jonna, who speaks Southern Sami, goes through the notes. Southern and Ume Sami are so close to each other that she can do the interview in Sami. The heritage Although we come from three different places in Sápmi, and speak three different languages, it quickly becomes clear that the three of us have something in common. We grew up in a multilingual home, with a Sami and a Norwegian or Swedish parent. The conversation suddenly becomes more personal. We recognize ourselves in what she is talking about. The awareness that not everyone had the opportunity to learn Sami in childhood has always been there. We are among those who were lucky enough to learn it when we were small. Where and when you were born, and who your parents are, determine whether you know Sami. It’s a thought that keeps coming back. PrivateIt is quite natural to talk about language engagement with someone who is as connected to the flourishing as she is. PrivateIf you search for Umesamese online, Katarina Barruk is the first person you see a picture of. Katarina thinks a lot about language. Perhaps not so surprising, since her family has worked for the language throughout her life. – I have seen how my father has worked hard every day since childhood. So it has become important to me, she says. Her father, the language teacher Henrik Barruk, has fought hard for the language and is among those who ensured that Ume Samian got its own official written language in 2016. Once upon a time, Ume Samian was big. A leading Sami language. But after a long process, in which the Norwegian and Swedish authorities tried to eradicate the Sami language and culture, the language is still alive. – It has great value to me because they have not managed to take it from us, says Katarina. The value of the language is not diminished by the fact that there are few who can do what she does. Using umesamese in their music. LANGUAGE PROMOTER: Henrik Barruk is a language teacher, Katarina’s father. He has been awarded several language prizes. He helped develop the Umesami orthography and has also written a dictionary. Photo: Sander Andersen / news For the language to live, she believes that it must also be relevant and cool. Then it must be used where it is cool. On film, in books and music. Everywhere. – I feel that I elevate the language when it is in the music, she says. It makes her feel stronger. It is a legacy Katarina is very grateful for. A privilege and a responsibility The legacy Katarina carries is both a privilege and a responsibility, she believes. She comes from a family that has spoken Ume Sami at home since she was a child. Katarina tells something that we recognize. We have quite a few relatives who do not know Sami because they were brought up in the wrong place and at the wrong time. She has spoken Sami with her father and brother, and thus had an advantage. Therefore, she feels a responsibility. – It is a responsibility I will take on every single day. Again and again. I will never stop doing it, she says. Kolbjørn Norvang Part of that responsibility is perhaps to become one of those young umesamers look up to. She herself has looked up to both national and local people. – I remember when I was very young, my favorite artist was Carola. It’s a classic. What I thought then was “I want to be the next Carola!”. But I don’t think that anymore, says Katarina. Now she thinks differently. She thinks back and sees that there was actually someone much closer to her that she looked up to. Sara Helen Person. Kolbjørn NorvangSara Helen from Ammarnäs is a few years older than Katarina and belongs to the same areas as Katarina. She has studied Umesami with Katarina’s father as a teacher and fought to take the language back since childhood. – I remember that I that I thought it was so important when I was growing up that I had “travel companions” who were also young. I haven’t had to feel so alone, explains Katarina. There is something special about that. To look up to someone in your own community, because they elevate your language and culture. It becomes much more personal. The efforts they make for the language can end up bringing them up to a level with strong Sami women such as Elsa Laula Renberg, Kathrine Johnsen and Mari Boine. ELSA LAULA: Elsa Laula Renberg was at the head of the first Sami national meeting in 1917 and is for many the very symbol of Sami women’s strength. Photo: Hilfling-Rasmussen/NTNU UB While she and a number of other Sami artists come from families that have managed to keep their language and culture, not everyone is as lucky. – They haven’t managed it, it hasn’t been possible to carry the culture because there has been so much pressure on us, she says. Many votes are needed. Everyone must be able to show how it is in Saepmie now and how it has been, Katarina believes. – It should not be the case that only a few artists should be able to work like that and come up and be strong. This is not right in my opinion, she says. Can’t disconnect As an artist, Katarina travels a lot, which she experienced on the bus between Luleå and Umeå a year ago. – I looked out the window and discovered the flowers. I started to cry because I realized that I haven’t seen the flowers in recent years, she says. She did not want such a life. She decided to stop spending every second summer at home in Saepmie. She wants to enjoy the summer, enjoy meeting her family, enjoy life. Or go calf tagging or to the mountains. Katarina Barruk “Jođi lea buoret go oru”, is a Sami proverb which is the exact opposite of the Norwegian “Borte bra, men hjeme best”. Sara Berglund It is better to be in motion, but it does not say anything about where. No matter how wanderlust we are, we eventually feel a longing. Katarina Barruk It’s not a direct homesickness, but a bond with the area and the people you belong to. Now she has also moved to Oslo to work with music. She feels the loss. She misses Saepmie. The loss is sometimes so great that she cries. – People say to me “You are so homely, have never met anyone who is so homely”. But then I say that it’s not about me being a homebody, I feel that I have an affinity for nature and the country. Will show off We have moved to Rockefeller. We are here for the same reason, Katarina and we. Or, at least almost. We are in Oslo to follow her. Before and during the concerts at Rockefeller and Krøsset, in rehearsals and when she talks about Sami pop to the industry. Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / NRKKatarina is here to show off for the industry. She hopes she can come out of this with a bigger apparatus around her, since she works as an “independent” artist now. Among other things, the hit “Jïmmatje” will be performed together with Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen. Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / news It takes a bit of work to keep track of everything herself, especially when she has to look after the stage as well. Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / news – I know that I’m a control freak at times. I run here and there: “hello, have you seen it?” Jonna Dunfjeld-Mølnvik / news “can you put it up so I can check”. But it’s also fun, she smiles. So far, she has also taken care of all bookings in Norway herself, and she not only has good experiences. – I think it is like this when working with music and as an artist, and perhaps especially as a Sami artist, she says. She has experienced several times that someone from the majority community invites her to play and wants her to play a cappella, because it is Sami music. – I feel that they are doing this because it will have a Sami alibi so that they can “check” that box. They have made the same mistake that many people often make, thinking that Sami music is one genre. At least they can’t have heard her music, which is pop music with a lot of production. In an industry that is already difficult to break into, it would have been nice to have someone who can explain what she needs. Because even though she has already described the music as pop, it is not always that. It is not always easy to place. It is also Sami. – But I just want to say that this is how I experience being a Sami artist. That it is difficult to explain concepts etc. to people, she says. Quality without exotification Laura Salokoski is working on booking Katarina Barruk internationally. She is a driven booking agent who works for Saura Booking Agency in Helsinki. They have worked with Sami artists such as Solju, VILDÁ and Niilas Holmberg from Finland for 10 years and always keep their radar open for new talent. – From the first time I heard Katarina, I realized that I wanted to work with her, says Laura. She says that there is great interest in Sami music in the world. THE AGENT: With many years of experience as booking agents for Sami artists, Laura and her employer Saura Booking Agency have good experience in explaining Sami music. Photo: Mikko Palonkorpi / Mikko Palonkorpi She explains that the Sami are the only indigenous people in Europe as indigenous people are described now. This raises the question of how we do it. – What is the indigenous music like? How much is about tradition and how much is just about the wonderful music?, she explains. Laura has built up a good understanding of, and not least a good dose of love for, the Sami traditions such as joik. – BUT I don’t want to work with an artist who I don’t think makes wonderful and beautiful music. We don’t need to have a lower musical standard to find equally interesting, and perhaps more interesting, music from indigenous musicians, she concludes. Must be exposed Katarina believes that a lot of good Sami music is being made that could have been played on national radio. Norwegian and Swedish folk music mixed into different genres gets through more often than Sami folk music because people are used to the sound of it. – So it is very important and it is actually a responsibility, I think, that society at large has to take. Not just news Sápmi, because we are already there, but that we get to participate in the commercial channels as well, she adds. Exposure is needed, she believes. Sami music is broad and comes in all genres. It’s also good enough to play on any channel. – And those are actually the channels we have to be involved in so that people will get used to it and that it will become a matter of course that we are involved somehow, she adds. Katarina Barruk was the artist of the week at Lindmo 25.11.22. There she got to talk about her heart language, Umesami, and perform the song “Jïmmatje”. As a Sami music journalist, I think that is the dream itself. Sami music on P3 as a matter of course, without getting a lump in my throat. The road there is probably still long, but at least we have started it. We see Sámi artists on Lindmo and the Sámi Grand Prix is shown on Easter evening in prime time. We also listen to Sami music on news Radio. But what about outside news? Who will be allowed into the commercial channels? We are here For Katarina, it is very important that Sami music becomes more visible. – This is not the case today. There is so much good music in Saepmie and we must be included, she says. She becomes more eager and says that more people must take responsibility for Sami artists being invited in. – We are here, it is not possible to “rinse yourself”. We are here, and you can come and listen to what we say. People have to take that responsibility, she says and leans forward with her index finger. Kolbjørn NorvangBy: Noise and the whole industry, now you hear what I’m saying! How much of their own culture must a Sámi artist give up before they slip through the eye of the needle? She also refers to a panel discussion she took part in a little earlier. Whose premises should indigenous artists be allowed to break through? Katarina has no doubts. It is quite clear that work should be done from Sami premises. – I use to say this, Norway has the world’s best Sami music. Think about it. And Norway can take part in exporting this music together with us. And this is special, it is unique, she says.
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Katarina Barruk – Umesami artist, language advocate and leading star – news Sápmi
