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'''Early life''' |
'''Early life''' |
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Valkeapää was born on March 24, 1943 in [[Enontekiö]] in Finnish [[Sápmi]] to a family of [[Nomad|nomadic]] [[Sámi]] [[Reindeer herding|reindeer herders]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Drysdale |first=Helena |date=December 3, 2001 |title=Obituary: Nils-Aslak Valkeapää |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nilsaslak-valkeap-atilde-curren-atilde-curren-5366731.html}}</ref> His father, Johannes J. Valkeapää, was Finnish Sámi from the [[Karesuvanto|Kaaresuvanto]] area, while his mother, Ellen Susanna Aslaksdatter Bals, was Norwegian Sámi from [[Uløya]] in [[Troms]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007 |title=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää - the humble Sami world artist |url=https://www.lassagammi.no/nils-aslak-valkeapaa-the-humble-sami-world-artist.5765811-315484.html |website=Lásságámmi Foundation}}</ref> Valkeapää lived in Finnish Sápmi until his father's death, when his family moved to [[Skibotn]] in Norwegian Sápmi.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Gaski |first=Harald |title=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää |date=2023-03-08 |url=https://snl.no/Nils-Aslak_Valkeap%C3%A4%C3%A4 |work=Store norske leksikon |access-date=2023-08-16 |language=no |last2=Haugen |first2=Morten Olsen |last3=Fredriksen |first3=Lill Tove |last4=Berg-Nordlie |first4=Mikkel}}</ref> |
Valkeapää was born on March 24, 1943 in [[Enontekiö]] in Finnish [[Sápmi]] to a family of [[Nomad|nomadic]] [[Sámi]] [[Reindeer herding|reindeer herders]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Drysdale |first=Helena |date=December 3, 2001 |title=Obituary: Nils-Aslak Valkeapää |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nilsaslak-valkeap-atilde-curren-atilde-curren-5366731.html}}</ref> His father, Johannes J. Valkeapää, was Finnish Sámi from the [[Karesuvanto|Kaaresuvanto]] area, while his mother, Ellen Susanna Aslaksdatter Bals, was Norwegian Sámi from [[Uløya]] in [[Troms]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007 |title=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää - the humble Sami world artist |url=https://www.lassagammi.no/nils-aslak-valkeapaa-the-humble-sami-world-artist.5765811-315484.html |website=Lásságámmi Foundation}}</ref> Valkeapää lived in Finnish Sápmi until his father's death, when his family moved to [[Skibotn]] in Norwegian Sápmi.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Gaski |first=Harald |title=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää |date=2023-03-08 |url=https://snl.no/Nils-Aslak_Valkeap%C3%A4%C3%A4 |work=Store norske leksikon |access-date=2023-08-16 |language=no |last2=Haugen |first2=Morten Olsen |last3=Fredriksen |first3=Lill Tove |last4=Berg-Nordlie |first4=Mikkel}}</ref> He became a Norwegian citizen after settling in Skitbotn.<ref name=":4" /> |
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Valkeapää's [[First language|mother tongue]] was [[Northern Sámi]]. However, like many Sámi children in the 1950s, he did not have access to formal education in his native language and did not learn how to write in Northern Sámi until adulthood.<ref name=":0" /> Along with his early education in boarding schools, Valkeapää spent six years studying at the [[Kemijärvi]] Teachers' Training College, though he never worked as a teacher.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Hautala-Hirvioja |first=Tuija |title=Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives |publisher=Aarhus University Press |year=2017 |chapter=Traditional Sámi Culture and the Colonial Past as the Basis for Sámi Contemporary Art}}</ref> |
Valkeapää's [[First language|mother tongue]] was [[Northern Sámi]]. However, like many Sámi children in the 1950s, he did not have access to formal education in his native language and did not learn how to write in Northern Sámi until adulthood.<ref name=":0" /> Along with his early education in boarding schools, Valkeapää spent six years studying at the [[Kemijärvi]] Teachers' Training College, though he never worked as a teacher.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Hautala-Hirvioja |first=Tuija |title=Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives |publisher=Aarhus University Press |year=2017 |chapter=Traditional Sámi Culture and the Colonial Past as the Basis for Sámi Contemporary Art}}</ref> |
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Valkeapää first came into the public eye as a performer of traditional Sámi [[joik]] and was central to the revitalisation of the genre. His debut record, ''Joikuja'', was released in 1968.<ref name=":1" /> In 1973, folk and jazz musicians Seppo Paakkunainen, Ilpo Saastamoinen and Esko Rosnell invited Valkeapää on a musicians' retreat. During the retreat, Valkeapää was inspired by [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)|Symphony No. 9]] and its African-American [[Spirituals|spiritual]] influences to develop fusion joik. In collaboration with Paakkunainen, he developed ''Juoigansinfonija'', a [[jazz]]-joik symphony.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramnarine |first=Tina K. |date=2009 |title=Acoustemology, Indigeneity, and Joik in Valkeapää's Symphonic Activism: Views from Europe's Arctic Fringes for Environmental Ethnomusicology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653066?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Ethnomusicology |volume=53 |issue=2}}</ref> In 1978, Valkeapää released his jazz-joik record ''Sámiid eatnan duoddariid.''<ref name=":1" /> Valkeapää's music was somewhat controversial in Finland, both for his unorthodoxic inclusion of jazz elements and because [[Laestadianism|Laestadian]] Sámi often viewed joik as immoral.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Dubois |first=Thomas A. |title=Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North |last2=Cocq |first2=Coppélie |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2020}}</ref> Valkeapää continued to perform jazz-joik and resisted efforts to "preserve" the traditional form, stating in his book ''Terveisiä Lapista'': "When I hear talk of conserving the culture, I see an investigator of folklore in my mind’s eye, and interpret their activities quite literally: cataloguing a dead culture."<ref name=":2" /> |
Valkeapää first came into the public eye as a performer of traditional Sámi [[joik]] and was central to the revitalisation of the genre. His debut record, ''Joikuja'', was released in 1968.<ref name=":1" /> In 1973, folk and jazz musicians Seppo Paakkunainen, Ilpo Saastamoinen and Esko Rosnell invited Valkeapää on a musicians' retreat. During the retreat, Valkeapää was inspired by [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)|Symphony No. 9]] and its African-American [[Spirituals|spiritual]] influences to develop fusion joik. In collaboration with Paakkunainen, he developed ''Juoigansinfonija'', a [[jazz]]-joik symphony.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramnarine |first=Tina K. |date=2009 |title=Acoustemology, Indigeneity, and Joik in Valkeapää's Symphonic Activism: Views from Europe's Arctic Fringes for Environmental Ethnomusicology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653066?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Ethnomusicology |volume=53 |issue=2}}</ref> In 1978, Valkeapää released his jazz-joik record ''Sámiid eatnan duoddariid.''<ref name=":1" /> Valkeapää's music was somewhat controversial in Finland, both for his unorthodoxic inclusion of jazz elements and because [[Laestadianism|Laestadian]] Sámi often viewed joik as immoral.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Dubois |first=Thomas A. |title=Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North |last2=Cocq |first2=Coppélie |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2020}}</ref> Valkeapää continued to perform jazz-joik and resisted efforts to "preserve" the traditional form, stating in his book ''Terveisiä Lapista'': "When I hear talk of conserving the culture, I see an investigator of folklore in my mind’s eye, and interpret their activities quite literally: cataloguing a dead culture."<ref name=":2" /> |
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Valkeapää released thirteen records from 1968 to 1994. His song ''Goase Dušše'' (The Bird Symphony), composed of nature sounds from the Sápmi region, received the jury’s special prize at the [[Prix Italia]] radio competition in 1993.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gaski |first=Harald |title=Arctic Discourses |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2010 |chapter=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää: Indigenous Voice and Multimedia Artist}}</ref> Valkeapää also composed the music for and acted in the Oscar-nominated 1987 film [[Pathfinder (1987 film)|''Ofelaš'']].<ref>{{Citation |title=Pathfinder (1987) {{!}} MUBI |url=https://mubi.com/en/us/films/pathfinder |access-date=2023-08-20 |language=en}}</ref> |
Valkeapää released thirteen records from 1968 to 1994. His song ''Goase Dušše'' (The Bird Symphony), composed of nature sounds from the Sápmi region, received the jury’s special prize at the [[Prix Italia]] radio competition in 1993.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gaski |first=Harald |title=Arctic Discourses |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2010 |chapter=Nils-Aslak Valkeapää: Indigenous Voice and Multimedia Artist}}</ref> Valkeapää also composed the music for and acted in the Oscar-nominated 1987 film [[Pathfinder (1987 film)|''Ofelaš'']].<ref>{{Citation |title=Pathfinder (1987) {{!}} MUBI |url=https://mubi.com/en/us/films/pathfinder |access-date=2023-08-20 |language=en}}</ref> A recording of Valkeapää performing the theme for the film [[Pathfinder (1987 film)|''Ofelaš'']] was sampled by British musician [[Mike Oldfield]] in "Prayer for the Earth," a track on his 1994 album ''[[The Songs of Distant Earth (album)|The Songs of Distant Earth]].''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Songs of Distant Earth |url=https://www.mikeoldfield.org/songs-distant-earth |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=Dark Star Mike Oldfield Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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Valkeapää received further international recognition as a musician when he performed at [[1994 Winter Olympics opening ceremony|the opening ceremony]] of the [[1994 Winter Olympic Games]] in [[Lillehammer]], Norway.<ref name=":0" /> |
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'''Writing''' |
'''Writing''' |
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Valkeapää established the publishing house DAT with friends in order to support and publish Sámi art and writing.<ref name=":4" /> |
Valkeapää established the publishing house DAT with friends in order to support and publish Sámi art and writing.<ref name=":4" /> |
||
'''Activism''' |
|||
Valkeapää was a prominent figure in the movement for Sámi rights, which he connected to the broader international [[Indigenous rights]] movement. He expressed feelings of solidarity with North American Indigenous communities and particularly [[Inuit]] and other Arctic Indigenous people. In 1975, he attended the founding meeting of the [[World Council of Indigenous Peoples]] (WCIP) in [[Port Alberni]], [[Canada]]. That same year, he referred to Sámi people as Indigenous people for the first time during an interview on Sámi radio.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Nykänen |first=Tapio |title=Knowing from the Indigenous North: Sámi Approaches to History, Politics and Belonging |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2018 |chapter='I'll show you the tundra' - the Sámi as an Indigenous people in the political thought of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää}}</ref> |
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Valkeapää became the cultural coordinator of the WCIP in 1978. In this role, he organised Davvi Šuvva, the world's first Sámi [[cultural festival]], in [[Karesuvanto]] in 1979.<ref name=":6" /> |
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'''Later life and death''' |
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Valkeapää received honorary doctorates from the [[University of Oulu]] and the [[University of Lapland]] in recognition of his work and cultural impact.<ref name=":0" /> |
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In February 1996, Valkeapää was severely injured in a car accident. Because of health issues related to his injuries, he moved to Skibotn and settled permanently.<ref name=":3" /> He built his house in the traditional lásságámmi style on land he received as a gift from the [[Storfjord]] municipality for his 50th birthday.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=June 2020 |first=Postet av Maria Figenschau Publisert {{!}} Oppdatert 22 |date=2020-03-31 |title=The Lásságámmi Foundation - Stiftelsen Lásságámmi |url=https://www.lassagammi.no/cppage.6301669-526838.html#p63016691 |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=www.lassagammi.no |language=en}}</ref> He became a Norwegian citizen in 2001.<ref name=":1" /> |
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In 2001, Valkeapää visited Japan to perform in a poetry event with other Finnish and Japanese writers. He died during his return home, at the house of his Japanese friend Junichiro Okura in [[Espoo]].<ref name=":1" /> Valkeapää was buried at the [[Birtavarre|Birtavárre]] cemetery in Troms.<ref name=":4" /> |
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'''Legacy''' |
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Valkeapää is recognised and remembered as a vital figure in the revitalization of joik and the Sámi rights movement. In 2022, his joik ''Sámiid eatnan duoddariid'' was elected the national joik of the Sámi people at the 22nd [[Sámi Conference]] in [[Gällivare]].<ref name=":1" /> |
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In 2004, the Lásságámmi Foundation was established by the [[Sámi Parliament of Norway]], Storfjord municipality, Troms county, and the [[University of Tromsø]] to preserve Valkeapää's legacy and utilise his residence in Skibotn as a space for researchers and artists. The foundation is named after Valkeapää's house.<ref name=":7" /> |
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Posthumous publication of Valkeapää's work includes two poems included on his godson [[Niko Valkeapää]]'s eponymous début album. Speaking on his godfather's influence, Niko stated that "I can’t deny that Nils-Aslak was a role model for me – he was a figure that I would look up to. He has been a source of inspiration and I have included two of his poems on my album to pay homage to him." |
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<references /> |
<references /> |
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Revision as of 16:11, 20 August 2023
To Edit
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
Early life
Valkeapää was born on March 24, 1943 in Enontekiö in Finnish Sápmi to a family of nomadic Sámi reindeer herders.[1] His father, Johannes J. Valkeapää, was Finnish Sámi from the Kaaresuvanto area, while his mother, Ellen Susanna Aslaksdatter Bals, was Norwegian Sámi from Uløya in Troms.[2] Valkeapää lived in Finnish Sápmi until his father's death, when his family moved to Skibotn in Norwegian Sápmi.[3] He became a Norwegian citizen after settling in Skitbotn.[4]
Valkeapää's mother tongue was Northern Sámi. However, like many Sámi children in the 1950s, he did not have access to formal education in his native language and did not learn how to write in Northern Sámi until adulthood.[1] Along with his early education in boarding schools, Valkeapää spent six years studying at the Kemijärvi Teachers' Training College, though he never worked as a teacher.[5]
Career
Music
Valkeapää first came into the public eye as a performer of traditional Sámi joik and was central to the revitalisation of the genre. His debut record, Joikuja, was released in 1968.[3] In 1973, folk and jazz musicians Seppo Paakkunainen, Ilpo Saastamoinen and Esko Rosnell invited Valkeapää on a musicians' retreat. During the retreat, Valkeapää was inspired by Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 and its African-American spiritual influences to develop fusion joik. In collaboration with Paakkunainen, he developed Juoigansinfonija, a jazz-joik symphony.[6] In 1978, Valkeapää released his jazz-joik record Sámiid eatnan duoddariid.[3] Valkeapää's music was somewhat controversial in Finland, both for his unorthodoxic inclusion of jazz elements and because Laestadian Sámi often viewed joik as immoral.[1][7] Valkeapää continued to perform jazz-joik and resisted efforts to "preserve" the traditional form, stating in his book Terveisiä Lapista: "When I hear talk of conserving the culture, I see an investigator of folklore in my mind’s eye, and interpret their activities quite literally: cataloguing a dead culture."[7]
Valkeapää released thirteen records from 1968 to 1994. His song Goase Dušše (The Bird Symphony), composed of nature sounds from the Sápmi region, received the jury’s special prize at the Prix Italia radio competition in 1993.[4] Valkeapää also composed the music for and acted in the Oscar-nominated 1987 film Ofelaš.[8] A recording of Valkeapää performing the theme for the film Ofelaš was sampled by British musician Mike Oldfield in "Prayer for the Earth," a track on his 1994 album The Songs of Distant Earth.[9]
Valkeapää received further international recognition as a musician when he performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.[1]
Writing
Valkeapää's first book, Terveisiä Lapista (Greetings from Lapland), was published in 1971 and acted as a political treatise on the issues impacting Sámi people, including condemnations of boarding schools designed for assimilation and land acquisition policies.[1] The book was written in Finnish, and was the second-ever book by a Sámi author to be translated into English.[1][10]
Valkeapää's debut book of poetry, Giđa ijat čuovgadat (Spring Nights So Bright), was published in 1974.[5] From 1974 to 2001, he published nine books of poetry, all written in Northern Sámi.[10] Only two of his books were ever translated into Finnish - his debut and his 1988 collection Beaivi, Áhcázan (The Sun, My Father). Beaivi, Áhcázan was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1991.[4]
Along his poetry and nonfiction, Valkeapää also wrote a Noh play that was performed in Japan in 1995. The play was first performed in Sámi at the Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter as Ridn’oaivi ja Nieguid Oaidni (The Frost-haired and the Dream-seer) in 2007.[4]
Visual art
Valkeapää was both a painter and a photographer. He included his art in several of his poetry books, including his award-winning book Beaivi, Áhcázan, and he designed the covers for not only his own music records and books but also for books by other Sámi writers like Rauni Magga Lukkari.[5] His artwork was also presented at the North Norway Festival in 1991.[4]
Valkeapää established the publishing house DAT with friends in order to support and publish Sámi art and writing.[4]
Activism
Valkeapää was a prominent figure in the movement for Sámi rights, which he connected to the broader international Indigenous rights movement. He expressed feelings of solidarity with North American Indigenous communities and particularly Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous people. In 1975, he attended the founding meeting of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in Port Alberni, Canada. That same year, he referred to Sámi people as Indigenous people for the first time during an interview on Sámi radio.[11]
Valkeapää became the cultural coordinator of the WCIP in 1978. In this role, he organised Davvi Šuvva, the world's first Sámi cultural festival, in Karesuvanto in 1979.[11]
Later life and death
Valkeapää received honorary doctorates from the University of Oulu and the University of Lapland in recognition of his work and cultural impact.[1]
In February 1996, Valkeapää was severely injured in a car accident. Because of health issues related to his injuries, he moved to Skibotn and settled permanently.[5] He built his house in the traditional lásságámmi style on land he received as a gift from the Storfjord municipality for his 50th birthday.[12] He became a Norwegian citizen in 2001.[3]
In 2001, Valkeapää visited Japan to perform in a poetry event with other Finnish and Japanese writers. He died during his return home, at the house of his Japanese friend Junichiro Okura in Espoo.[3] Valkeapää was buried at the Birtavárre cemetery in Troms.[4]
Legacy
Valkeapää is recognised and remembered as a vital figure in the revitalization of joik and the Sámi rights movement. In 2022, his joik Sámiid eatnan duoddariid was elected the national joik of the Sámi people at the 22nd Sámi Conference in Gällivare.[3]
In 2004, the Lásságámmi Foundation was established by the Sámi Parliament of Norway, Storfjord municipality, Troms county, and the University of Tromsø to preserve Valkeapää's legacy and utilise his residence in Skibotn as a space for researchers and artists. The foundation is named after Valkeapää's house.[12]
Posthumous publication of Valkeapää's work includes two poems included on his godson Niko Valkeapää's eponymous début album. Speaking on his godfather's influence, Niko stated that "I can’t deny that Nils-Aslak was a role model for me – he was a figure that I would look up to. He has been a source of inspiration and I have included two of his poems on my album to pay homage to him."
- ^ a b c d e f g Drysdale, Helena (December 3, 2001). "Obituary: Nils-Aslak Valkeapää". The Independent.
- ^ "Nils-Aslak Valkeapää - the humble Sami world artist". Lásságámmi Foundation. 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f Gaski, Harald; Haugen, Morten Olsen; Fredriksen, Lill Tove; Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel (2023-03-08), "Nils-Aslak Valkeapää", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 2023-08-16
- ^ a b c d e f g Gaski, Harald (2010). "Nils-Aslak Valkeapää: Indigenous Voice and Multimedia Artist". Arctic Discourses. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- ^ a b c d Hautala-Hirvioja, Tuija (2017). "Traditional Sámi Culture and the Colonial Past as the Basis for Sámi Contemporary Art". Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives. Aarhus University Press.
- ^ Ramnarine, Tina K. (2009). "Acoustemology, Indigeneity, and Joik in Valkeapää's Symphonic Activism: Views from Europe's Arctic Fringes for Environmental Ethnomusicology". Ethnomusicology. 53 (2).
- ^ a b Dubois, Thomas A.; Cocq, Coppélie (2020). Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North. University of Washington Press.
- ^ Pathfinder (1987) | MUBI, retrieved 2023-08-20
- ^ "Songs of Distant Earth". Dark Star Mike Oldfield Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
- ^ a b Korhonen, Kuisma; Lehtola, Veli-Pekka (2022). "Transmediality and Multimodality in the Artistic Work of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää". Shaping the North Through Multimodal and Intermedial Interaction. Springer International Publishing.
- ^ a b Nykänen, Tapio (2018). "'I'll show you the tundra' - the Sámi as an Indigenous people in the political thought of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää". Knowing from the Indigenous North: Sámi Approaches to History, Politics and Belonging. Taylor & Francis.
- ^ a b June 2020, Postet av Maria Figenschau Publisert | Oppdatert 22 (2020-03-31). "The Lásságámmi Foundation - Stiftelsen Lásságámmi". www.lassagammi.no. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)