“Throughout my 30 years as an artist, my music has been closely linked to indigenous rights and to my Sámi community involvement. On my new project, ALVA, I created music that thematizes love in the word’s different values.”
Singer , musician, activist, and cultural icon Mari Boine has long used her voice, musical or otherwise, to further her advocacy for the preservation of Sámi culture and identity.
On this album, Mari steps back towards her own roots, offering glimpses into a childhood which she abandoned when she chose to leave behind a strict religious upbringing in order to pursue a life of activism and music. The poignancy of the record reaches an emotional high on the mournful “Mu eadni” (Mother of Mine), wherein Mari laments her own relationship with her mother.
“Mu eadni is a song of love and lament for the woman who gave me life, and for all women who suffer under systems that shame and subordinate them.”
“As a Laestadian Christian, my eadni was bound by strict gender roles, and that insidious association of the feminine with sin. She was taught to be self-denying: that her highest purpose as a woman was obedience. (To males, naturally, all the way down.)
When her daughters resisted, she felt it was a personal failure. And yet, she was Sámi, with echoes and stirrings from a much older worldview, one that celebrated the feminine, that found purpose in reciprocity, not hierarchies. Sometimes, I feel her with us, free from shame, sharing our freedom. Smoothing our fringe. Adjusting our belts. Asking us to twirl.”
Alva is available as a black LP, purple LP and a CD, with beautiful photos by Knut Bry and Gregor Hohenberg and graphic design by Büro Dirk Rudolph.
“On Alva, her new work, Mari reflects on her roots and Sámi culture, and continues to advocate the preservation of the environment, her cultural heritage and wisdom of her ancestors, as well as raising awareness for intercultural dialogue.”
