8seasons

I COME FROM THE OTHER SIDE

Lyrics/sánit: Mari Boine
Music/nuohtta: Svein Schultz

Your fragrant words
filled with unspoken invitations
Me forever searching
My ice breaks, cascading
your strict prohibitions
Oh, always these unmarked paths

Your fragrant words
filled with unspoken callings
Me forever moving
My ice breaks, cascading
your closed in worlds
Oh, all these unmarked paths
If you would only say my name

Within a shadow of fear
witnessed by a lightning sky
I confess my love
Under your blanket of stars
I let myself go with the wind
Here
I give you my all
To you, the prince of my heart

If you would only say my name

8seasons

SONG FOR THE UNBORN

Lyrics/sánit: Guiliano Contardo
Sami lyrics: Inga R. Eira
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine/ Roger Ludvigsen

I feel the wind that whispers through my skin
melodies of ancient broken dreams
They fill the air and cross the seven seas
seagulls bring the voices back to me

Sivdnideaddján giittan du go
šattulmasvuohta vuoitá
Sivdnideaddján giitosat go eallin
vel ain vuoitá

I recognize a song they sang to me
when I was a child and could not sleep
I open up my heart and start to sing
to you little wing under my skin

Sivdnideaddján giittan du go
šattulmasvuohta vuoitá
Sivdnideaddján giitosat go eallin
vel ain vuoitá

All I had to give you is in your bones
All I had to is let you go

So here I am singing with the wind
tenderly this melody to you
May you live in peace in this old world
and one day may you sing this
for your own child

Sivdnideaddján giittan du go
šattulmasvuohta vuoitá
Sivdnideaddján giitosat go eallin
vel ain vuoitá

8seasons

SÁRAHKA’S WINE

Lyrics/sánit: Risten Sokki
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine, Roger Ludvigsen

Let us welcome
life’s treasures
the golden pearls
Let us drink Sáráhká’s wine
celebrate the newborn child
Let us drink Sáráhká’s wine
rejoice in birth

Protect my child
today
tomorrow
with your silver gift
I’m not afraid of the small ones
beneath the ground
I’m not afraid of the giant Stallo
only of human darkness

My child
Now, when it’s your turn
to wander the old Sami paths
Now that you hurry hurry
do keep on moving forward

I ask
the thundergod to roar
so you are forced to look back
I ask
the thundergod to roar
so you will recognize your paths

8seasons

BY THE SOURCE OF AURORA B

Lyrics/sánit: Risten Sokki
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine/ Roger Ludvigsen

In Sápmi
In the northern curve of the earth
I would walk
my own walk
I would immerse myself
in the gifts of nature

In Sápmi
the northern part of the world
I would enjoy
Our colorful gákti clothing

Follow the wind away from death
Follow the wind away from death
I want to follow the wind away
from death

In Sápmi
In the northern curve of the earth
I would walk
my own walk
I would rejoice in
my own language

8seasons

SOUL MEDICINE

Lyrics/sánit: Nils Viktor Holmberg
Music/nuohtta: Åge Anthi

If you are caught off guard
naked and nothing feels right
Remember
protect the door to your soul

Those who are ceaselessly
led by the spirits of envy
They must be truly miserable
Remember
guard the door to your soul

Nothing is as vicious
as the evil language of the conceited
Remember
protect the door to your soul
I fear people of two faces
so I tie the devil’s tongue
Remember
guard the door to your soul

8seasons

MY HEART ALWAYS LINGERS

Lyrics/sánit: Brorson
Music/nuohtta: Traditional swedish / ruoŧŧelaš árbv.

My heart always lingers
in the birthplace of Jesus
My thoughts there gather
as their main sum
There is my longing at home
there has my faith its prize
You I never could forget
blessed Christmas night

A sparrow though has its nest
and sacred resting space
A swallow shouldn’t need to ask
for nightly shelter and peace
A lion knows its cave
Where it’ll find its calm
Should then my God have to hide
in others’ stable and straw?

8seasons

BUTTERFLY

Lyrics/sánit: Merle Collins
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine/ Roger Ludvigsen

Butterfly
trapped in a mold of
molten steel
wings open
poised for flight
Caught by more
than the matter seen
wish I knew
where history been

Wish I knew
where they make the fire
that melt the steel
that make the prison
to hold the butterfly
that spirits made

8seasons

IN A BLANKET OF WARMTH

Lyrics/sánit: Kirsti Paltto
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine

Let me wrap you in a blanket
of warmth
to cover you through the dark
until spring

Let me save an ember of fire
that no storm can quench
so you remain fresh and strong
until spring

Hear the song
hear the joik
All through the night
the mountains echo my soul
Hear the song, hear the joik
I hold you sacred in my heart

My vision I share with you
so you find your way
and return when spring is here

Hear the song
hear the joik
All through the night
the mountains echo my soul
Hear the song
hear the joik
I hold you sacred in my heart

8seasons

YOU NEVER KNOW

Lyrics/sánit: Synnøve Persen/ Mari Boine
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine

You never know about the spirits
you never know what they may decide
You never know about the spirits
you never know what they may plot

You probably believe
you make the decisions
you probably think
you are quite the guy

He was adorned with silver feathers
he talked me into leaving my wits behind
I journeyed the paths of his lips
he made me a servant of the stars

I soared the golden winds
embracing silver feathers
summer breezes
and him

Now I sail upon a shoreless sea
icebergs and glaciers surround me
I long for the island of hope
seen in my dreams
the green valley of angels’ song

With tailwinds to the starry side
I’m going there
Guided by the sun
to the starry side
that’s where I go

You never know about the spirits
you never know what they may decide

8seasons

TUNDRA FLOWER

Lyrics/sánit: Nils Joahn Heatta
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine/ Roger Ludvigsen

A spring day on the tundra
you start to shine again
The dark cold winter
you have endured

Waiting for the gracious summer
to blossom once again
Sunny summer day
you cover the land with your gifts

Before you reached your prime
autumn came pounding
With heavy cold and power
Forcing you to wither

Long winter beneath the snow
you huddled through
the time of darkness
Never giving in to
the oppressive weight
waiting for spring to awaken

8seasons

LET THE SILVER PROTECT

Lyrics/sánit: Mari Boine´s interplay with poems by Marry A Somby, Kirsti Palto and herself
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine, Roger Ludvigsen

Our minds were not free
in closed in rooms
Not then
not now
I go way up to
the mountain top
I ask Bieggaolmmái
the wind
to breathe me free
I call the gods of the past
¨
I bend my knees
before the sacred stone

At the heart of the mountain fire
I cleanse all old wounds
At the base
of the sacred mountain
I unfurl my long-hidden
festive dress

Underworld tricksters begone
Now I command you to go
Back off
restless pests
Don’t you ever come back

Let silver protect
Let steel protect
Let silver protect

Join me in a dance
’round these sacred mountains
We go way up
to the top of the mountain
God of the wind
Breathe us free
Our minds are not free
in closed in rooms
not then
not now

Let silver protect
Let steel protect
Let silver protect

8seasons

GIVE ME A BREAK

Lyrics/sánit: Mari Boine
Music/nuohtta: Mari Boine

I know I should not remember
what I do remember
I know I should not see
what I actually see

But I so much would like to be alive
I so much would like to
have my own life

So take these memories
and carry them to
the bottom of the sea
So I don’t have to hide what
is not mine to hide

I so much would like to be alive
I so much would like to
have my own life

So take all these memories
bury them
deep deep in the sea
So I don’t have to carry anymore
What is not
mine to carry