Sivert Andreas Holmen: Play me a Sea Sámi "slått"

Field of study: Artistic Research

Čuojat munnje mearrasámi “šlotta” / Play me a Sea Sámi “slått” is a project by folk musician and composer Sivert Holmen that explores a musical expression that incorporates Northern Sámi traditional joik and Valdres fiddle music, slåttespel, and developing this material for solo Hardanger fiddle and various ensembles.

In this project, Holmen investigates how he can perform joik and slåttespel within a shared musical expression, while preserving the distinct musical characteristics of each tradition.

The project also addresses how different Sámi and Southern Norwegian perspectives influence listening and performance, as well as how a Sámi-rooted ecosophical thinking can be used as a compositional process and method. What is circularity, and how can the circular be found in joik or slåttespel? How can one express the strong connection between nature and music through performance? What is the link between the paths we walk and the sound of them?

The project is deeply rooted in and motivated by family history and a search for identity. With roots in Sea Sámi and Kvääni culture in Finnmark, and having grown up in Valdres with the Hardanger fiddle and slåttespel as his musical mother tongue, the work becomes both an investigation into his own family history and an artistic exploration of structures constructed by assimilation policies.