Why Sámi Sing is an anthropological inquiry into a singing practice found among the Indigenous Sámi people, living in the northernmost part of Europe. It inquires how the performance of melodies, with or without lyrics, may be a way of altering perception, relating to human and non-human presences, or engaging with the past. According to its practitioners, the Sámi "yoik" is more than a musical repertoire made up by humans: it is a vocal power received from the environment, one that reveals its possibilities with parsimony through practice and experience. Following the propensity of Sámi singers to take melodies seriously and experiment with them, this book establishes a conversation between Indigenous and Western epistemologies and introduces the "yoik" as a way of knowing in its own right, with both convergences and divergences vis-à-vis academic ways of knowing. It will be of particular interest to scholars of anthropology, ethnomusicology, and Indigenous studies.
Author(s): Stéphane Aubinet
Series: Arctic Worlds
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 182
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Highlights
Part I Introduction
1 Presence | Leahkit
A Journey to Finnmárku
More-than-human
Indigenous Knowledge and “Not Knowing”
Leahkit: Meaning Or Presence?
Overview of Chapters
Notes
References
Part II Knowing the Environment
2 Horizon | Luondu
“Shamanic” Yoiks
Luondu
Becoming “Almost” Animal
“Modern” Horizons
“Going Native”
Notes
References
3 Appetition | Geaidit
The Inner Wolfpack
Recollections
The Occult Life of Songs
Monadology
“Eadni Nieida”
Narrative Consistency
References
4 Enchantment | Gierran
From Humans to Non-Humans
From Non-Humans to Humans
Writing Enchantment
Notes
References
5 Score | Luodda
Sight-reading
Visualization
The Score of Nature
Note
References
Part III Knowing the Past
6 Echo | Skádja
Echoes From the Past
Echoes From the Dead
Echoes From the Future
Knowing By Dreaming
Yoikyoikyoikyoik
Note
References
7 Primordial | Eamifápmu
How Old Is the Yoik?
The Origins of Music
Thirst for Existence
Earthbeats
Note
References
Part IV Conclusion
8 Recursivity | Gierdu
Recursivity
The Depth of Melodies
Why Sámi Sing
References
Appendix A List of Place Names
Appendix B List of Interviews and Yoik Courses
Interviews
Yoik Courses
Index
