Mari Boine’s(Norwegian Sami) CD Idjabiedas which translates The Hand of the Night is an electic mix of traditional and contemporary influences behind brilliant, dark and beautiful lyrical imagery. A vivid haunting melody set off with traditional and contemporary instrumentation, it is her voice that sounds as if she’s carrying the grief for an entire culture and their losses. This is a sound that has genius written all over it. I am stunned with how profoundly this CD has affected me. This is the sound of a great love. This is a sound that is genuine and sincere. This is the sound of real world music. There are some who aspire to the category of world music but, Ms. Boine makes the grade. It’s poetry damn it!

This is music especially suited for the gray day of this great ride. The ride

that will save my soul. Stress been hanging me up all week. I start slow for just a little way before I bear down hard and start dreaming a dream that is not necessarily a night mare but still something gray and sullen and morose.

The similarities among the various factions of the Sami and Native American are uncanny and synchronous to a degree. The genocide perpetrated on indigenous populations seems to be consistent on all continents but yet, we will certainly document the continued and on-going struggle of honor to survive of some of these third and fourth world countries. It isn’t about winning and losing. It’s about taking a stand. We give thanks to the warriors who have lain down their lives so that we may continue. Hearing Mari Boine sing makes me think about how it was on that cold December day at Wounded Knee.

I like everything about this CD. I love how Ms. Boine has several different tonal qualities to her voice that she uses with great effect depending on the mood of any particular song. I love the instrumentation and voicings. Dulcimer(?), men’s choir, munchkin choir, sound bytes, spoken word, acapella vocal, traditional sounding vocables and drums, chanting to heal a people! This is a healing CD if the listener will let it work it’s magic.

There is excellent production quality in every song.

Song By Song

Vuoi Vuoi Mu (Vuoi Vuoi Me)
Idjagiedas (In The Hand of the Night)
Suoivva (The Shadow)
Gos Bat Munno Cinat Leati (Where Did All Our Colours Go?)
Mu Ustit, Engelid Sogalas (My Friend of Angel Tribe)
Davvi B?vttiin (On the Fells of the North)
Lott?s (Little Bird)
Diam?ntta Sp?illit (Reindeer of Diamond)
Geasuna (Irresistible
?fruvv? (The Mermaid)
Uldda Nieida (Uldda Girl)
Big Medicine (F?pmod?kkas)

Rezz Dogg on the back of my bike, Mari Boine on the I-pod on a gray day on the south side of Minneapolis headed west into an oncoming dream of buffalo and prairie grass, and I would rather be here than anywhere because being on, plugged into the juice is the best thing that life offers me. How about you?

Jamison Mahto/Reporter
Indigenous in the News
www.iicoc.com