The music I’m crazy about. Part 4: Joik

Today I would like to present a very unusual kind of music. It is probably one of the most amazing types of songs I’ve ever heard. This is joik (or yoik) a traditional Sámi music. I came across that way of singing about a year ago in Cracow during the meeting with the authors of the book Vaggi Varri. W tundrze Samów which is dedicated to the culture of Sámi people. Their stories and demonstrations made me fell in love with Lapland and thereby with joik. It isn’t ordinary way of singing. Joik is usually dedicated to a human being, an animal or a landscape. It is very often improvised. In the 1950s it was forbidden and considered sinful because of its association with Sámi shamanism. Joiking has a long tradition which lasts until now. I like to listen to joik because of its magical and peaceful sound which makes me feel nearer to the nature and of course because of the language!

Ulla Pirttijärvi is one of my favorite joik singers. She is from Finnish Lapland.

Adjágas is a group of Norwegian Sámi joikers. The name of the band in Sámi language mean the state between waking and sleeping.

Sofia Jannok is a joik singer from Swedish Lapland.

Vajas is another Sámi-Norwegian band. The name Vajas means echo in North Sámi language.

Other joiking artists and bands are: Mari Boine, Máddji, Orbina, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Wimme Saari.

The music I’m crazy about. Part 3: Swedish music

Sweden is one of the countries that I like very much. I’ve been three times in Sweden, precisely in Malmö. I have some Swedish friends and I would like to learn their national language. In my opinion Swedish sounds beautiful but it is very difficult language to learn, especially the pronunciation. For now I know only few Swedish words and expressions and in most cases I learned them from music :)

I listen to a lot of Swedish bands and musicians whose music can be assigned to many different genres. Below I present some of my favourite Swedish musicians who sing in their national language:

Veronica Maggio is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter. She was born in 1981 in Uppsala. She has Italian origins. Her discography includes four albums and several singles. Her music is known and appreciated not only in Sweden but also in other Scandinavian countries as Norway, Denmark and Finland. 

Säkert! is a band name of Swedish indiepop singer and songwriter Annika Norlin. The same singer makes also music in English under the name Hello Saferide. She was born in 1977 in Östersund. As Säkert! she released three albums (two in Swedish and one in English).

Laleh is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actress with Iranian origins. She was born in 1982 in Iran. She released five albums in which she sings in Swedish, English and also Persian. Recently I heard her songs in polish radio stations. That fact surprised me positively :)

Kent is one of the most known Swedish rock bands founded in 1990. The members of the band are from Eskilstuna. They make music in Swedish and English. They are known not only in Sweden but also in other European countries and in USA. Their discography includes more than ten albums.

Movits! is a Swedish band founded in 2007 in Luleå. Their music is an interesting mix of swing, jazz and hip-hop. They have two albums and some singles. Their album Äppelknyckarjazz is released also in the USA by Comedy Central Records.

Board and card games – that’s the fun!

We are already in 2015. I hope this year will be successful for all of us!

I would like to tell you how I spent the New Year’s Eve because this time it was different than others. This year me and my friends decided not to go or organize a typical party with noisy music, dance and big amounts of alcohol. We met in a group of 7 people in my friend’s house and we brought a lot of board and card games on various topics. These games are our common passion. We spent half the night and half the next day checking our knowledge about the world, exercising the reflex, creativity in inventing stories, language skills, developing strategies and also exercising abdominal muscles by laughter ;)

I really love to play games. It is a good way to spend your free time with your friends, family and also to get to know new people (for example during events dedicated to board games). There are a lot of genres of board games I usually play: educational games, logic games, party games, strategy games, economic games, games of physical skill etc. I’ve never played any RPG (role-playing game) but I would like to try.

It is hard to say which game is my favourite but one of the best games I recently knew is called Dixit.

In this game each player gets some cards with different abstract pictures on them. The first player, called the storyteller, chooses one of his cards and invents a title of the picture. It can be a phrase, a simple word or even a gesture. Then he puts his card on the table face down and tells the title. Other players choose one of their cards which match the cited title the most and put it on the table face down next to the first card. Then all the cards on the table are shuffled and turned face up.

All the players (except the storyteller) guess which card belongs to the storyteller. Who guesses well gets some points. Points are given also to the storyteller if someone but not everyone guessed which card belongs to him and as well to the player whose card was betted. Dixit is very joyful game. It requires a lot of creativity. How about you? Do you like to play board and card games?