of Gamehhisnjarga, past the Arctic Circle on the northern most tip of Norway.

The Norwegians call the area Karasjok, but she knows it as Sami-land. The Sami people, an indigenous race related to North American Indians and Eskimo tribes, were colonized by the Christian Scandinavians.

 

Part Sami herself, the first music Boine heard was the psalm singing of the "Laestadian" movement, a fundamentalist Christian movement which a large part of the Sami population follows. Boine's artistry is rooted in the Sami tradition and the folk music of Scandinavia's northern culture, which ranges through Norway, Finland and Sweden.

 

Boine struggled to find a cultural identity and present it in her work. "I was bitter and full of what I regarded as righteous anger. I have been through every possible stage to reach where I am today. At school, we learned that Sami culture and the Sami language were worthless. They were not worth preserving. Believe me when I tell you that I was ashamed of being a Sami".

 

As a contemporary composer, Boine encompasses many musical genres and cultures in her work. Her music is a blend of expressive styles: jazz, rock, joik -- the traditional Sami chant -- and other ethnic styles from South America and Africa. A diverse group of musicians, Boine's band members combine the sounds of bass, keyboards and guitars with the Sami and African drums, Indian flutes, the Peruvian charango (a small guitar) and an Arabic fiddle. Despite the global collection of instruments, the music is still solidly Norwegian and completely original.

 

Boine recounts being trapped between two different closed communities and ideologies. Raised in a strictly religious home, she says, "My father was a pious man. Dancing and singing with friends was absolutely out of the question. Girls were to be neither seen nor heard. That was the rule." Missionaries demonized pre-Christianity Sami musical traditions.

When Boine first began performing, she met with resistance from her own people. She attributes this to her open rebellion against her inferior status both as a member of the Sami people and as a woman.

 

Originally, her music was pure, pointed protest against the constant repression and missionary fervor. On several occasions, she challenged the Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, to deliver an apology to the Sami people on behalf of the Norwegian state.

When asked to perform at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Boine refused. "I don't want to be used as an exotic decoration. At an event like that, it could easily happen."

 

Commissioned by one of the major music festivals in Europe, Norway's "Vossajazz", Boine's fourth and latest album "Leahkastin" is not as much of a directed social commentary, but her voice and music are just as powerful. Boine received the equivalent of a Norwegian "Grammy" award for the album in February 1994.