Customer Reviews

Gierran

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I met Wimme Saari while doing a story for the newspaper I work for last spring. He was in town for the Nordic Roots festival, which I'd rave about here - if it weren't for the space - because of all of the other "New Nordic" bands represented at the festival that Amazon carries.

Anyway, the man is a Saami (pejoratively known as Laplanders), an aboriginal people of northernmost Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. He's also a musical genius.

He takes a traditional Saami chanting form, called the joik (entrancing in its own right), and expands it, transforming ancient music into a call to the modern masses through modern instruments and recording techniques.

Conjuring the forms of animals, spirits, and forces of nature, Wimme at once educates audiences of the value system of an ancient and nearly vanished *European people* (in case any of you post-corporate caucasoids were falling asleep) and the eternal need for humans to feel alive.

It probably helped that I had some American Saamis to consult with about the lyrical content; but, the bottom line is that this is soulful stuff - passionate electronica (yes, it's not an oxymoron) with a pre-historic bloodline. It's also eminently listenable, if you have an experimental bone in your body and are willing to give atypical music a chance.

It's too bad that I'm the only person to write about this artist here, so far. Wimme is a captivating personality with a purpose that runs as deep as the Scandinavian glaciers.

Would give Wimme 5 stars, but his best work is yet ahead of him.

This cd is so beautiful, with so much to offer -- joik chanting, ambient electronic, some crazy experimental music, some slow good rhythms for night journeys, some other strange experiments. Wimme's recommendable, & of the self-titled album, this, & Cugu, I think this is the best.

Wimme conjures up some breathtaking sounds with his unique combination of yoik and industrial sounds on this release. The best track on the CD, "Enchantment," sends the listener into a bleak, melancholy, and yet strangely beautiful world. The ancient form of the yoik balances the very new musical sounds provided by Finnish band Rinne Radio in a mesmerizing way. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind listening experience.

Wimme is a really interesting jojker. While not traditional, he represents a tradition that is living. And that in itself is worth buying it for. It is not Smithsonian, or musicologist in approach and a lot of fun. Check out the interview at cbc.ca if you can find it. Wonderful guy. Same reasons as before for the four stars. I think he can do more