A Saami Requiem

This is the most extraordinary coming together of different musical worlds and cultures created by visionary musicians: the Swedish organist and folk musician Gunnar Idenstam and the Sámi rap and hip-hop artist Ola Stinnerborn. And it’s not just about musical worlds, but mythical worlds too, rooted deep in Sámi traditions and beliefs. It’s about journeys between worlds, and it is a journey that lures us into the unknown, transforming and transporting us, bathing us in the hypnotic vocal sounds of the ancient Sámi joik, which guide us through the requiem. When the power of Messiaen fills a great French cathedral, when Swedish folk dances slip Saturday night into Sunday morning, when a guitar (here Erik Weissglas) cries out and prog rules the worlds, you are truly in this compelling Kingdom of Death. There’s a blues joik inspired by the early blues traditions of African slaves in the US, an eerie yet exquisite duet for percussion (Rafael Sida Huizar), so many fragments, moments of recognition that disappear just as quickly. This is music in which you can dance with the souls of another world and still return to your own, changed, exhilarated, only to begin the journey over again.