Meet the artist: Faytinga

It was going to be a moving encounter with the proud artist from Eritrea. For the audience, it became clear, to put it mildly, that the refugee situation is much easier to talk about than to live in.

The interview with Faytinga, or Dahag Faid Tinga as she is actually called, was conducted by Dore Stein, a journalist from San Francisco who is a producer at the radio channel Tangents Radio. He began the conversation in the pleasantly decorated Exhibition Hall at Førdehuset by talking about the instruments of the artists. They performed an infusion of a harp and a guitar, and a drum that was once a gourd. The topic then moved on to the ethnic group Faytinga belongs to, namely the Kunama people. She clearly showed that she was proud of her roots.

Photo: Arve Ullebø

There probably weren't many people in the audience who understood the words to Faytinga's songs, but we got the message. There's something so fragile and so intense about that voice and that face when she sings. With Dore Stein's next question, we would get closer to why. It would turn out that one of Faytinga's musicians didn't get the chance to come to Førdefestivalen The reason is that he is waiting for his asylum application to be clarified in Sweden. He has been waiting for that for two years.

Photo: Arve Ullebø

As soon as Faytinga started talking about this, she became very upset. How is it possible that people can't move because someone won't give them paper? She talked about her people, her homeland, war and refugees. Why do people have to be so terrible? They need help! The audience sat frozen in their chairs with wide eyes, listening to the strong, demanding words of the artist they had come to get to know. When Faytinga finally burst into tears, it was as if we understood that the intensity of the song we had heard earlier would only now become understandable to us.

Photo: Arve Ullebø

Text: Kamilla Mygland Storaker