Norwegian vocalist Mari Boine, too, goes to great lengths to both respect and revise her own musical pedigree on Radiant Warmth, her ambitious debut for Antilles. Sami (a.k.a. Laplander) by heritage, Boine has long struggled with a repressive attitude towards her people, investigating the roots of this ancient and remote culture. Boine has been featured on Norwegian compilations-Nordisk Sang on New Albion, and Sweet Sunny North on Shanachie, in addition to recordings by ECM regulars Terje Rypdal and Jan Garbarek. Her own work began to get global attention with the release of the RealWorld album Gula Gula in 1989. Boine’s expansively-realized work on Radiant Warmth, sung in the Sami language and drawing on the influence of the indigenous Sami chant known as yoik, veers towards the mystical while being grounded in earthiness. Vaguely comparable to Celtic counterparts in some ways, Boine’s music nonetheless has a voice all its own. It comes from an end of the earth that we’d like to know better.
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