Enchantment and non-human voices in the Sámi yoik

The yoik is a vocal technique used by the Sámi people in the northernmost part of Europe. It consists in short circular melodies chanted a cappella and intended to make a person, an animal, or a place present. In the view of many “yoikers,” it is a gift received from the environment that you learn t...

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Veröffentlicht in:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/clo,
1. Verfasser: Aubinet, Stéphane
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Sprache:Anglais
Veröffentlicht: Cahiers de littérature orale 2021
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Online Zugang:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The yoik is a vocal technique used by the Sámi people in the northernmost part of Europe. It consists in short circular melodies chanted a cappella and intended to make a person, an animal, or a place present. In the view of many “yoikers,” it is a gift received from the environment that you learn through participation and experimentation. This paper uses the concept “enchantment” as a conceptual bias to comment on two encounters: an anecdote about a yoiker who managed to frighten a couple of elk by chanting the bear’s melody and a Sámi poem about the yoiking wind. These encounters address, in turn, the way humans can yoik to animals and the way non‑humans can yoik to humans, displaying in both cases how chants may affect the perception of a place.