• Welcome! Vassvik blends diverse styles to create a form of expression that is coherent and easily identifiable, combining joik and the characteristic Sami drum. The themes of many of his compositions revolve around a fusion of Sami joik and music styles performed by other circumpolar peoples. He manages to marry the past and the present on through his live performances and on disc. And though his releases and live performances introduce a distant musical tradition, it represents this tradition in contemporary manner that charges it with imaginative vitality. The past does not conflict with present or the future, instead meshing and completing these other dimensions in a magical way. Vassvik's debut album, 'Sáivu'.... – an allaboutjazz.com review sums is all up pretty well: 'A beautiful and unique gem'. At -iTunes- 'Sápmi': 2009 At -iTunes- The Sami vocal expression known as the joik is probably the oldest living musical tradition in Europe, similarities with other circumpolar peoples' musical traditions are unmistakable, and this suggests roots that date back to times when Sámi, Inuit and Siberian peoples were close. The most important aspect of a joik is not its form but its function and originally the most important purpose was coming into contact with the supernatural.
The function of a joik entails that its form is not rigid and that normal musical or narrative structures do not really apply. In general one can say that the vocal technique makes use predominantly of the lower register of vocal range. The vocal chords are tight and the sound compressed.Originally words were not important, since the melody, the rhythm and the hypnotic repetitions were meaningful in themselves. The special otherworldly, trance-inducing and dreamlike qualities of the joik have won fans around the world, and the status of the joik is, if anything, on the rise. So comrades the joik story continues. Go on and on and on and............ Booking: phone: 47- 47 85 86 47