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Written in fRoots issue 361, July 2013


ULLA PIRTTIJÄRVI & ULDA
Ulda
Tuupa TREC-024 (2012)

Since, way back, she left the trio Angelit, Finnish Sámi joiker Pirttijärvi has made several fine albums in company with keyboardist Frode Fjellheim and other Transjoik members. This time the band is acoustic: Marko Jouste on oud, mandolin and kemençe, Mikko Vanhasalo on bass clarinet, clarinet, ney and harmonium and Janne Tuomo on frame-drums and other hand percussion. They come up with a wide range of tone colours and textures to blend sympathetically with her self-composed joiking, which has some words but they’re just short phrases interpolated between joiku’s ‘hey-lo, lo-le’ vocables.
     Ulla has a distinctive, somehow shell-like, back-of-the-throat vocal sound, projecting a sense of observation and wonder in joiking the wind, the northern lights, time, a butterfly, Vulle Mihkku crashing his reindeer-sledge, in an intimate, quiet dark evening sort of way that can pick up pace to a happy jog in joiking a deer, turn tough and gutterally snarly in the traditional joik of a reindeer-eating, howling, valley-running wolf, be serene in joiking the moon and glittering snow, or build to a suppressed passion in the joik of Uhca-Niilas returning from the war.

www.tuuparecords.fi


© 2013 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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