Mari Boine performs during Welcome Dinner

Singer, musician, activist, and cultural icon Mari Boine has long used her voice, musical or otherwise, to further her advocacy for preserving Sámi culture and identity. On World Anti-Bullying Forum 2025 she performs during the Welcome Dinner June 11. 

Mari Boine was the artist who broke the pressing silence between the Sámi people and the Norwegian population. From her exploratory debut Jaskatvuođa maŋŋá (After the Silence) in 1985, to the acclaimed and Norwegian-Grammy award winning Gula Gula (Hear the Voices of the Foremothers) in 1989, right up to the release of Amame in 2023 with the jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft and Alva, her last studio album, released in September 2024, Mari Boine has consistently and proudly presented many facets of Sámi life to her listeners. Her evocative musical language vocalises the inseparable bond between the Sámi people and the natural world.

Like so many people impacted by colonisation, which we see throughout the world today and throughout history, the Sámi people (separated by Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia) have been oppressed and deprived of their distinct Indigenous culture and language since the 17th century. Mari’s music aims to convey a sense of oppression and frustration, anger and sorrow, which stems from this history.

On Alva specifically, a Northern Sámi word which translates to energy, stamina or willpower, Mari’s compelling use of traditional joik singing bores through layers of history, encouraging the Sámi young people to “Keep on Dancing”; a title of one of the songs in the concert repertoire, which will make you stand up and dance along with the artist.

Bring out, breathe out the stories
that ask to be told
With your light feet
trespass the border of time»

(«Dánsso fal, mu vàhkaran» / «Keep on Dancing, Váhkaran»)

Photo: Per Heimly