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Marie Boine
Eight Seasons / Gavcci Jahejuogu
14.99
Boine's most "high-tech" recording to date, relying heavily on synthesizers and drum loops, will probably make this her most popular recording in a while. While the more outside jazz and experimental elements have been subsumed to the big beat and a few songs in English, the voice is still a wonder, and the songs themselves (translated in the booklet) still deal with the big issues.
Don't get me wrong, this is a fine recording (or I would not have put it in the catalog), and some of the more acoustic pieces have the same strength of character that made her such an important artist, but she HAS done better... unfortunately, those better recordings have been tough to find.
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Recommened side trips:
The house favorite Boine CD is her collaboration with Sergey Starostin and Inna Zhelannaya, Winter in Moscow
Boine's 'classic' Real World recording, Gula Gula
Wimme, 'that other Sami singer,' offers a much more experimental and dangerous approach to the Sami sound
From the record label:
"Our first relationship is to nature. You are part of nature, not the master of nature. This also gives us a strong sense of solidarity - you are about other people. Money is not important and power is not important. It's more your personality, the human being that is important."
Mari Boine's music is dominated by her strong and urgent voice, plus a few carefully selected instruments from people all over the world, notably the native South Americans, chosen in part due to their history of even harsher colonization. Most distinctive is her drum. She uses an African drum, but the combination of drum and voice goes back to ancient Sámi culture and pre-Christian shamanism.
"The colonizers brought Christianity and told the Sami they had to forget their primitive religion - and music was part of that religion. A lot of people of my parent's generation don't accept the music, they say it's devil's music and what you sing when you're drunk - the colonizers also brought alcohol. When I started to use a drum some people got worried and said, 'Is she a Shaman?' So I decided I couldn't use a Sámi drum."
"I think your voice is a mirror of your soul and how you feel inside. When I began I was singing pop songs and ballads and didn't sing from the heart. Over the last ten years I've been fighting this feeling of being inferior to Norwegian or western people and my voice got stronger as I decided I wouldn't let anyone oppress me and that I have a value as Sámi. Western culture makes a distance between you and your body or heart. In Sámi culture you think of everything as a whole."
Norway's Mari Boine (aka Mari Boine Persen), is probably the most famous Sámi in the world. This extraordinary singer has been an articulate spokesperson for Sámi culture, both in her music and in interviews. As she explained: "I used to think men oppressing women or governments oppressing people realized what they were doing and were just cynical. But then I realized that often they are unaware and are filled with fear. I feel I have to find my way to their hearts to let them know what they are doing. It's the only way to change things. That's why I feel my music is important."
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Please note!
Most CDs have been
imported from Europe or Asia.
They are not all
shrink-wrapped, and I am not
going to con you by wrapping them
here just to make you think they
have been sterilized in America.
We guarantee that the CDs and the
contents are all brand new and in
perfect condition. Whenever I
can, I use recycled shipping
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money and keep the trash dumps a
little bit emptier.
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