At its most powerful, music transcends the familiar—blending the ancient and the futuristic to forge entirely new sonic terrain. This spirit lies at the eclectic heart of "Dajan", the arresting new album by Sámi vocalist Hildá Länsman and electronic sound artist Tuomas Norvio, released this January by the Kautokeino-based label Fierran.

Throughout her career, Hildá Länsman has collaborated with a range of musicians across genres and geographies. Yet at the heart of every project lies the joik tradition — a deeply rooted Sámi vocal style she brings into vibrant dialogue with modern sounds.

In Vildá, the duo of her and accordionist Viivi Maria Saarenkylä, joik is fused with Finnish folk and contemporary pop. Gájanas is a quartet blending rock music with Sámi influences she formed with Skolt Sámi bassist Erkki Feodoroff and brothers Nicholas and Kevin Francett. Their debut album Čihkkojuvvon was named Album of the Year at the Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards in 2021.

Meanwhile, Länsman’s collaboration with her mother, Ulla Pirttijärvi, as Solju, were brought to wider attention with “Hold Your Colours”, a song which competed for Finland’s Eurovision spot in 2015. Solju’s debut album, Ođđa Áigodat, went on to win Best International Indigenous Release at the Canadian Indigenous Music Awards in 2019. Whether working in a duo or group, Länsman’s music is not only contemporary but also anchored in ancestral resonance.

The album became a holistic experience — mixing rhythm-driven electronic bangers with ambient soundscapes, and experimental poetry with rap and joik.

Currently, her other groups are on pause as she deepens the collaboration with Tuomas Norvio and develops her own solo material. Länsman first began her collaboration with Norvio in 2017, when the organisers of Baltic Circle suggested that the two would make a compelling creative match. The result was an improvised concert, in which it became obvious that the good energy and clear communication between the two made working together feel effortless and natural.

“Our music bridges two contrasting worlds: nature and electronics,” Länsman says. “Tuomas is the ‘electronic scientist,’ and I come from the world of joik and Sámi storytelling.”

Their debut album Dajan reflects this interplay—both elemental and futuristic. “It developed at its own pace,” she notes. “We didn’t want to restrict ourselves creatively at all. That’s how the album became a holistic experience—mixing rhythm-driven electronic bangers with ambient soundscapes, and experimental poetry with rap and joik.”

The album’s themes draw from a timeless emotional spectrum. “Čuojahat Mu” carries the weight of longing as a bittersweet love song, while “Čálkko Niillas” reimagines a joik passed down through generations of Länsman’s family — tracing its origins back to her great-great-great-grandparents. (Ulla Pirttijärvi, also interpreted this joik on her 2002 album Máttaráhku Askái.)

Watch the music video for "Dajan":

Where ideas take root

Living now in the northern town of Kautokeino, Länsman finds the environment fertile for creativity. “What’s different from when I used to live in Helsinki is that I spend more time working by myself now — writing lyrics, developing melodies, listening inward,” she says.

But artistic life in Kautokeino is far from isolated. The town boasts a thriving creative scene through the Dáiddadállu artist collective, in which Länsman is an active member. Along with Kárášjohka, Kautokeino stands as one of the cultural epicenters of Northern Sápmi, home to a university and key events like the Sámi Grand Prix, where Länsman performed this past April.

“The surroundings are incredibly inspiring—a springboard for ideas,” she says. “There’s a 50-kilometer stretch between Kautokeino and Utsjoki where ideas just come to me. Just on my last drive, while listening to a podcast on that route, I had to pause it because I found melodies and lyrics were spontaneously forming in my head. There are these special places here that act like conductors for creativity.”

There’s a 50-kilometer stretch between Kautokeino and Utsjoki where ideas just come to me.

In January, Länsman co-led a captivating concert with Lávre Johan Eira, with additional creative input from Tuomas Norvio and double bassist Svante Henryson. The performance — a live soundtrack to the newly restored 1926 film By Sledge and Reindeer in Inka Länta’s Winterland — earned a standing ovation at the Tromsø International Film Festival, and was later again performed in Scotland and Kirkenes. Blurring the line between staged fiction and documentary, the film has stirred debate over whether it reflects a colonial gaze or offers respectful cultural insight. In reclaiming the narrative through music, Länsman and Eira reshaped the story from within—giving voice to Sámi identity on their own terms.

Looking ahead, Länsman and Norvio will continue sharing their evolving soundscapes on stage, with performances lined up in the upcoming months at the Ijahis Idja festival in Inari — a celebration of Indigenous music — and at the cross-disciplinary Hiljaisuus Festival in the village of Kaukonen. As they move forward, the duo remains rooted in tradition, even as they stretch its boundaries into uncharted sonic landscapes.

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