"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Gula Gula (Listen Listen)

Friday, January 07, 2005

Gula Gula (Listen Listen)

Taking advantage of my restored health, I went the library today and checked out "Gula Gula" a CD by Mari Boine, a Sami joik singer who was raised in a Laestadian family. (Joiking is traditional Sami singing. You can listen to samples by clicking on the link above.)

This is from an online article about Boine:

"Joiking smelled of pantheism to members of the Scandinavian revivalist Laestadian Lutheran movement, who moved into Sámiland (AKA Lapland) in the 19th century and discredited native customs and art forms as they began making Christian converts. When Boine was a teenager in the small village of Gámehhisnjárga in the 1970s, the Laestadian Sámi community discouraged her interest in joiking not only because her assertiveness defied the Laestadian view of a woman's subordinate place in society, but also because her music asserted the worth of Sámi culture."

What a coincidence! I too was a teenager in a small village in the 1970s. Boine had Laestadian parents; so did I. She sang folk songs; I sang in a jazz choir. Her first song was John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" -- I sang Lennon and McCartney's "Let it Be" for a talent show. She left the church. Ditto. She went on to record with the likes of Peter Gabriel. I went on to, um, sing in the shower.

Oh well. Wonder if she tours. Would be fun to meet her.

2 comments:

  1. Cool, I've got a Mari Boine cd, too! But I think it's a different one, mine is called "Eallin" (=Life). I bought it in Norway a couple of years ago, but haven't listened much to it. Not really my type of music, but it sure is different than anything else I've heard.

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  2. The previous post was written by Theoforos, forgot to sign...

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