Marja Mortensson - Norway

Tinting works: Jaevrie-gaske - The land between two seas

Marja Mortensson was born into a reindeer herding family in the Svahken Sïite reindeer herding district in Hedmark. Her life and her music are deeply rooted in the Southern Sami way of life. Sami identity, the close relationship with nature and the love of reindeer herding are recurring themes in her songs, and she is committed to protecting and promoting the Southern Sami language.

Marja has studied old recordings of traditional joik and has taught herself the Southern Sami and Ume Sami ways of joiking. In addition to the joik, she is interested in lyrics, and many of her songs are about standing in a heritage that goes back a long way in time, but which must still be further developed in a modern world.

She has received comments that some of her music sounds like it comes from other places in the world, but what people think sounds Arabic or oriental are actually elements found in the most typical non-Sami melodies.