“Hello! Welcome to my webpage. I am a singer, yoiker and songwriter from Kárášjohka, Sápmi. I have been lucky enough to have done that for almost 20 years now. I am currently working with different projects, including the electrojoik band "Elin & The Woods" and a Sami/Norse band "Róhta". The latest years I have created a blog about Sami culture, and an online yoik course. You can always sign up for my newsletter and I will let you know more about my projects. Thank you for visiting my site. ”
— Elin Kåven
BIOGRAPHY
ELIN; Light. Beutiful Fairy.
KÅVEN; Familyname of the most famous sami shaman in Sapmi.
Elin Kåven has established herself as a sami artist and songwriter, and she got the nickname ”The arctic fairy” for her unique stagepresence and dance. Music critics comment her music as her own genre of music. She herself calls it arctic folk pop.
The music of Elin Kåven is inside the sphere of sami mythology combined with soundscapes from historical and modern instrumenst, together with poprock and ambient sounds.
She has played over 300 concerts the last 10 years in 11 different countries, including, Germany, Switserland, Latvia, Russia, Japan, Venezuela and Azerbaidjan.
She has won the Sami Grand Prix songcompetition, elected “Sami Artist of the year 2011” and was finalist in International Songwriting Competition in USA with famous judges Ozzy Osbourne and Tori Amos amongst others.
In 2016 her third album was nominated to ”Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik/German Record Critics Award” – an award established by 127 record critics in Germany.
Her third album ”Eamirtini-Rimeborn” was released in Europe november 2015 and got very good reviews and was number 11 on ”World Music Chart Europe” in march 2016. The nordic release of the same album was in february 2016.
In 2017 she ended on third place in Melodi Grand Prix - Norwegian Eurovision with a new band "Elin & The Woods".
Said about Elin Kåven:
General-Anzeiger (Bonn): “She unites the traditions of the Sámi with hypnotically beautiful modern melodies and a voice that is out of this world, a fairy’s, as it were”. (2015)
"Elin Kåven's music is like fairy-tales in notes. In her senuous and vivid songs I could feel her strong connection to Nordic traditions, culture and nature so intensely like I was experiencing it myself."
- Anja Otten-Reichel, Publisher Norrden.de, Quote (Sep 30, 2013)
At the moment Elin Kåven is working with many different projects including the band "Elin & The Woods".
You can always find her music online on iTunes, Spotify, youtube, Bandcamp, Amazon to mention a few.
Illustration by Steffen Aronsen, 8 Seasons Hotel.
The Sami have eight seasons:
Winter- Springwinter- Spring- Springsummer- Summer- Autumnsummer- Autumn- Autumnwinter.
Dálvi- Giđđadálvi- Giđđa- Giđđageassi- Geassi -Čakcageassi- Čakca- Čakcadálvi.
The Sami have different tasks in the different seasons. The reindeer-herding…
Read moreThe Sami people are indigenous to the Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. For centuries, their spiritual and cultural practices have been intertwined with their environment, which is often harsh and unforgiving. Central to Sami spirituality are the…
Read moreBy Elin Kåven
Following the protests in Oslo this week on TV has been very painful for me. I have cried every time I have watched TV. The brave young people with their whole lives ahead of them. They must…
Read moreThe post YOIK CONNECTS YOU DEEPLY WITH SAMI CULTURE appeared first on .
By Elin Kåven
Every year I get asked about Sami Christmas traditions. People say it is really hard to find anything about this topic.
Here is why: It’s because the Sami Christmas traditions aren’t actually Sami traditions.
Christmas is a…
Read moreThis is an interview from 1973 with Nils Jernsletten done by Dag Skogheim, a Norwegian researching about Sami culture and mythologi. This text is transcribed directly from the interview and freely translated to English, and may not be 100% accurate…
Read moreby Jungle Svonni
That we Sámis, my ancestors used to hunt bears with spear back in the old times is a quite well known fact in the Nordic countries. That we had a kind of bear cult. But that we…
Read moreBy Jungle Svonni. Photo by Dylan Shaw..
When I was 11 years old my dream since many years came true. I got to go to Greenland! Including the northernmost village in the world! Something that I had been praying for…
When people ask us about the Sami Christmas, again we say that there is not one easy short answer to this question.
Again, because of Christianization and colonization.
But to make a super-easy indication of what we are confronted with…
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