You know in The Big Lebowski when Walter repeatedly tells Donnie "You're out of your element?" Well, I can't say I have encountered a lot of music that is classified as Arctic world music. And yet, here I am writing about Jienat, a band that combines Sámi (Laplander), scandinavian joiking (chanting), and Uruguayan rhythms in its music.
Andreas Fliflet (from Norway) is the driving force behind Jienat and he looks for the music in everything. Take "Radio Belgrano" for instance. This song features the sounds of a horse's hooves, the call of an Argentine vendor, and a young child all wrapped around a rich rhythmic arrangement.
This is an album that is all about rhythm, whether it is the polyrhythms of the percussion or the rhythm of the chants. Take "Fredrik Albert" for instance. Just listening to it, it's difficult to guess how many drums are used in this tune. It's easy to imagine this song being performed around a big bonfire.
And then there is the title track "Mira." This is a fairly inexplicable tune that isn't so much chanted as it is barked. The drums pound out a rhythm while Fliflet provides "canine voices". (No, I'm not making that up. That is how he is credited in the liner notes. I told you it was inexplicable.) I'm willing to bet you don't have any songs like this one in your collection.
Maybe it's because the album is in a language (a couple languages, actually) that I don't understand, but it takes a while before I realize what's different about it. Here I am listening to a music CD and the only instruments I hear are various percussion instruments, voices, and the occasional bass. Oh, and a saw (a 26-inch 8-pt crosscut saw, if you're wondering) in the song "Tudeer." It doesn't seem like a lot of instruments, but it is enough to provide a rich sound that seems to surround you as you listen.
If you are a sound hound that is always on the lookout for something different to play for your friends, Jienat is a group you need to explore. Trust me, you can probably stump most of your friends if you ask them, "Do you have any albums that were recorded 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle?"
Comments
"Do you have any albums that were recorded 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle?"
The North Cape, the northernmost tip of Norway is located 520 km / 325 miles north of the Arctic Circle, so you probably don't have any such albums either ;-)
Well, that depends on your form of travel. This is the driving distance. The trip through Norway from the arctic circle to Hammerfest following route E6 is 1008 km, or 626 miles. If your starting point would be the arctic circle in Finland, you would only have to drive 660 km, or 410 miles.
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