An introduction to joik
Juhán Niila Stålka joiking at Ájtte Museum during the Winter Market 2023
This is a translated version of a text i wrote for minoritet.se a few years ago.
Addition: Joik, jojk and yoik are all used interchangeably in this text, but you can use them all.
When I was seven years old, my dad put me in the car. We lived just north of Stockholm and were going 1000 kilometers north to Jokkmokk. That's where my Áhkku and Áddja lived, my cousins, my aunts, and the rest of my family. We made the trip often, at least a couple of times a year, and we usually didn't get farther than Uppsala before Dad started to joik.
Jojk/Yoik/Joik is a traditional Sami vocal art that is often passed down orally from generation to generation. If you look up the word "jojk" in the National Encyclopedia, it says that joik is an improvised vocal art. I don't think that description is very good because traditional joik is rarely improvised. The melody that describes a hare will always describe a hare. There are exceptions to every rule, and of course, you can improvise a joik, but improvisation is the exception, not the rule.
When you explain joik, it easily becomes philosophical. You may have heard or read that you don't joik about something, but you joik something. So when you joik, the joik is a hare. This has to do with the fact that in the Sami language, joik is not a noun but a verb.
We use the word "juoigat," which means to joik, and the melody, tempo, and rhythm together convey the expression.
It is possible to joik almost anything. Places, people, animals, or emotions. Maybe that cute girl you met at the Jokkmokk market. I usually say that when something is too complex or complicated to describe in words, I do it with joik instead. When words run out, the joik takes over. The tones channel my emotions and provide an outlet for thoughts and ideas that don't fit inside.
Jojk does not follow the Western rules of music but has a different tradition. In the Western tradition, you divide your melody into different small boxes called measures. You give these measures a tempo, and then you put a certain number of measures together until you have a musical piece. In jojk, we don't use boxes; instead, we see it as a circle. You can start and end wherever you want, and as a joiker, you can change tempo or expression whenever you want. You can also take a pause, catch your breath for a couple of seconds, and then continue where you left off.
Today, it is common to mix joik and Western music, but it is not always unproblematic. One tradition may need to give way to the rules of the other tradition. Usually, but not always, it is the Sami tradition that gives way to the ideals of the Western tradition. For example, you may need to remove some tones from a traditional joik to fit it into the Western system of rhythm. From a postcolonial perspective, it would be nice to see more musically composed joiks that follow the Sami tradition.
Back in the car. Me and Dad on the way to Jokkmokk. At Uppsala, the joiking began. The tones, the stories, and the images he painted would usually carry us all the way to Sundsvall. We would stop at the gas station there. He would buy two boxes of snus and a large cup of coffee, and I would get a bag of candy. Then we would continue joiking the remaining 600 kilometers to Jokkmokk. That's how I learned to joik. Hour after hour. Trip after trip. Year after year, I understood more and more of the tradition that is closest to my heart.
Today, we live in an amazing time. A time when Sami music takes the place it deserves. We have several Sami artists who are regularly played on Swedish radio, and Jon Henrik who wins talent shows and participates in "Mello" (Melodifestivalen). Whether you like hip hop, trap, electro-pop, metal, singer-songwriter, bluegrass, or punk, there is Sami music for you. I find it exciting that joik is evolving and being heard in new ways we haven't heard before. This text has been about what joik has looked like in my area and how it has been taught to me, but what's exciting is the journey that joik has ahead.
Culture only lives when it evolves, and now we have Sami artists who dare to question old truths and confront the past. That bodes well for the future, and I hope that more young Sami people will pick up joik and carry the tradition forward.
I want to end by recommending a playlist on Spotify filled with lots of Sami music. Over 500 songs. High and low. Old and new. Good and mixed. Maybe that's what you should listen to next time you're driving north?
