Sami yoik

Yoiking a person or animal

Traditional yoiks relate to what has been described as a reference object; this may be a person, an animal or a place. A performer does not yoik about a particular person or animal, but rather yoiks that person or animal, which is to say, giving them a musical formation in performance, influenced by the yoiker’s perception and appreciation of their qualities.

These yoik melodies are used by social groups, so that the yoiks become a form of musical name for the reference object, which many Sami can recognise and perform at different times. For example, during Karl Tirén’s recording sessions it sometimes occurred that when a new person came into the room, one of the present yoikers would begin to perform the ‘personal yoik’ of that individual, as a means of welcome and of confirming his or her relationship with them.

Musical characteristics

It is often possible to identify yoik through its approach to the voice and timbre – often sung with what has been described as a “pressed” or “pinched” voice, and a rich use of ornaments and glissandi between notes. When yoik melodies are represented in musical notation, it is not unusual to see asymmetrical time signatures (for example, 5/8, 7/8 or 11/8), with the melodies often being cyclical, so that the performance may continue for as long as the yoiker desires, or the situation allows.

The Swedish verb jojka is derived from the Sami juiogat. In Swedish, the act of yoiking has increasingly come to be known as yoik. Quite simply, you yoik a yoik. The Sámi terminology is rather different. In the Northern Sami language, one yoiks a luohti (plural luoðit), in Lulesami, a vuolle (plural vuole) and in Southern Sami, a vuelie (plural vuelieh). For the performance of songs and hymns the terms lávla, singing, and lávlut, to sing, are used.

Yoiking a person or animal

Musical characteristics

Further reading