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After contributing his unique voice to albums by artistes like Hector Zazou, Hedningarna and RinneRadio, Wimme Saari releases his first album in March 1995. Produced by Tapani Rinne from Finnish techno-jazz band RinneRadio, the debut CD "Wimme" offers a beautifully orginal approach to yoik music. The deeply emotional yoik vocals are the center around which the ambient music floats. The album is recorded true to the real spirit of yoik: every vocal part is reproduced "as is" - unaltered, strictly not edited or sampled. Yoik is the real thing here. Yoik comes first and the musical instruments provide the colouring and underlining of the themes. The synthesis is so tasteful that even people without any idea of what yoik is about can get into it and enjoy it. Wimme breaks language and cultural barriers and the music becomes totally universal.
Wimme Saari, born in 1959 in Kelottijärvi in the north western part of Finnish Lapland, is a modern yoiker. His yoiks are inspired by the sound of an aeroplane´s propeller as well as the noise of an outboard motor - even though the blowing wind can also give a sudden brilliant idea. - My yoiking has some elements of the old style yoiking, such as the voice technique and the throat technique. I can also do some traditional yoiks, but accompaniment doesn´t quite suit them. When I yoik and the boys play I have to do something new. Colours and patterns are emerging in my mind - I have to let them guide me. In my home area people say that I have created a new style. Young people, of course, like it most, but even people in their 50´s have come to me to thank me.
Yoik is traditional Sámi music - an archaic mode of unaccompanied solo singing. It is found all over the vast Sámiland from the central regions of Scandinavia to the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula. There are three musical dialects in yoik. Wimme represents the North Sámi Iuohti tradition, which is the most widely known genre of Sámi music. Luohti has two unique musical features: it makes use of a pentatonic scale with no half-tones and it always has a specific subject, a person or an animal, which it describes in music. On the new Wimme CD there are four traditional luohti yoiks: Jusse-vilba, Domná, Bieggajorri and Albmái.
During the last decades yoik in general has undergone some changes and in fact Wimme´s yoiking could be called the free yoik. In his yoik Wimme constructs intensive, clear, melodic arches, sings in an expressive falsetto and uses a lot of improvisation. But the old yoik is still there: Wimme has recaptured the colour and grittiness of the ancient yoik, and even the clever voice technique of the animal yoiks.
The art of yoiking has traditionally been transferred through generations, but Wimme learned it in a more modern way. - I started working at the Finnish Broadcasting Company in ´86. There I found some tapes including my uncles yoiking. With the help of those tapes I learned some of the old tradition. Although my mother comes from an old yoiking family, the direct connection from one generation to another had already been broken. Due to religious fundamentalism there was no yoiking at home. In border areas like ours, where there are a lot of other people than Sámi folks, yoiking has had a tendency to vanish, but in Sámi areas like Kautokeino, naturally it has been able to survive better.
Gradually Wimme´s profile has become higher and his fame wider. One of the most shining milestones so far has been the excellent RinneRadio album "Joik". Some tracks have been also recorded with Tallari and Pohjantahti groups. Wimme is yoiking on Hedningarna´s latest CD "Trä", and he is one of the featured soloists on Hector Zazou's new album "Songs From The Cold Seas" alongside such stars as Björk, Suzanne Vega & John Cale, Jane Siberry, Värttinä and Lena Willemark.
With his first album Wimme is finally on his own, and he is taking the tradition of yoik to new heights.
Discography
As a guest artist: