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The Sami protest song that made Eurovision history
00:10:41
In 1980, Norway’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest included a traditional Sami joik song from the country’s indigenous community. It was the first time joiking was heard by an international audience. The song was originally created by Mattis...
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- [00:05]
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Hello and welcome to Witness History from the BBC World Service. I'm Surya Elango. We take you back to a key moment in history. We bring it all to life through incredible archive and the amazing memories of key Witnesses. Episodes are just nine minutes long and they come out every weekday. If that sounds like your thing, make sure you subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts and turn your push notifications on so you never miss a moment. I'm taking you Back to the 25th Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, the night the first joik, a unique vocal style from the indigenous Sami community, was ever heard on the international stage. It's April 19th and we're in the Hague in the Netherlands. 19 acts are performing in this international singing competition tonight and we're already halfway through the show. So far, the audience has heard a whirlwind of styles. From Australia's upbeat opener with a lyrical tribute to the history of music. Turkey's glossy disco pop, Luxembourg's penguin costume novelty act, Morocco's first and only Eurovision entry with an Arabic ballad, Finland's flute led piece and plenty more. Next up, though, is Norway. By 1980, they'd finished last more times than any other country, including two null points. Their track record gave no hint of what was about to happen. Standing centre stage is Svera Schellsberg, a tall Norwegian musician known at home for his folk pop, which was popular at the time, and for fronting the 1960s rock band the Pussycats. Dressed in a light shirt and trousers, guitar strapped across his shoulder, he leans into the microphone and begins the opening verses of Norway's entry. It's simple and steady, the guitar looping beneath a chant like vocal melody. Then, partway through the song, the energy shifts. An unknown singer, Matis Hatta from the indigenous Sami people in the north of Norway, steps forward wearing a gakti, traditional Sami clothing, a blue tunic with red, yellow and green trim. And then he begins to yoink. It's a sound completely new to the Eurovision stage. A rhythmic, breath driven vocal style from the north of Norway, rarely heard outside of the indigenous Sami communities at the time. So how did this community's private vocal tradition make it here? Watched and heard by millions of people across the world. Well, that's a story that goes back to a community, a dam and a protest movement that forced Norway to reckon with Sami rights. This is Inga, one of Matis Hatta's younger sisters. She's speaking in Sami.
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A joik is a person. It's a very close and personal description of that person. Through music Their personality, their traits in a far more intimate way than words could ever express.
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Matis, who the family nickname mate, grew up in a reindeer herding family in the north of Norway with his mother, father and nine siblings.
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So Machte was the oldest. And then there was me.
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In 1968, the Norwegian government announced plans for a large 110 meter hydroelectric dam on the Alta Katakino river in Finnmark, northern Norway. The project would have completely flooded their home village of Matzah and threatened reindeer herding routes and salmon fishing, which were central to Sami life, including the Hatta families.
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It all began when they decided to make that dam near Alta. This was all very frightening. We were scared this new dam would flood my home village.
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For more than a century, the Sami had lived under Norwegianization, a forced assimilation policy that ran from the mid-1800s and started to phase out in the 1960s. The policy included state run boarding schools that banned minority languages and forced relocation of whole villages. The Sami traditional way of life was pushed to the margins.
- [04:27]
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Machte had never really joikked much at home. And back in 1980, joiking in public was definitely still frowned upon by many, many more.
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But the joik never disappeared. In this time. People kept it alive in the places Norwegianization couldn't reach. Out on the tundra while herding reindeer in the mountains or quietly within trusted family gatherings. Joiking in secret or where no one could hear. But then, in 1978, everything changed. The Sami's joiking wouldn't be so secret anymore. Which all began when the Norwegian government approved the Altar Dam.
- [05:08]
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Our people demanded they stop, but the Norwegian parliament just ignored them.
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By the following year, Sami communities and environmental activists launched the largest wave of civil disobedience Norway had ever seen. Hunger strikes, blockades and mass gatherings at the construction site in Stila.
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Thousands of people had gathered there. People came from everywhere, even other countries. There was a sense of fighting spirit that had been lit, but there was also a feeling of sadness. Mahde practically moved there, but would come home and tell us stories. Mahda told us. He also taught others to joik. It became something they bonded over. Even people who had never joikked before in their life, but now they did as a way to show their support.
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One of the protesters he bonded with at Stila was a young Norwegian musician called Svera Kjellsberg, who had come north to Samiland as part of the wave of supporters.
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Mahte and Sverre soon became very close friends and at some point they started writing music together. And the song Joik Sami e' nun
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was created in English. Land of the Sami. We was sung in Stilla. But also when the demonstration spread to Oslo outside the Norwegian parliament, he told
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us they were going to enter Eurovision with it. And he explained that it was a protest song. One of the lines in the singing part of Saami Jetnen directly translates to Joik has greater power than gunpowder in Norwegian Joikkaste rich
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and after submitting the song to Norway's broadcaster nrk, who were preparing for the melody Grand Prix, Norway's Eurovision selection, by March 1980, they received the good news. Samyednan was going to be Norway's official Eurovision entry. Before long. It was April 19, the day of the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Our whole family had come home to watch the Eurovision finals together and we all gathered in front of the tv. I couldn't believe the size of the audience. All those people seeing and hearing him on that stage. It went straight to my heart. Our mother, she didn't say much, but she had a big smile on her face. She just said, he did good. But I think she was proud since she was the one who had taught us all dioik.
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It became the first time Sami language and joik is broadcast to millions across Europe. The song finished 16th. But for Inga and her family and for the Sami people, the cultural impact was far more important than the ranking.
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The Machte's performance at Eurovision gave higher status to Joik to our music. Mahde paved the way for
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back home. Construction in Stila continued and the Altar Dam was completed in 1982. Early plans would have flooded Inge and Matthes entire village, but the protest forced a redesign. The final dam was smaller and the community was spared.
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In the end we weren't able to stop the building of the dam. The government did what they wanted, but at least we got our voices heard out in the world. I should have had a little cognac first. It would have helped my voice.
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Sverre kjellsberg died in 2016 and Matiss Hatte died in 2022. Inge Hatter now lives in southern Norway but often travels back north to visit home. The voiceover and translation was by Ellen Anagalp, Inga and Motish, Hatta's cousin. They were speaking to me. Surya Elango for Witness History. If you've liked this, you might like a few of our others. The First Aboriginal mp. The story of Australia's first Aboriginal MP and how he fought for indigenous rights. Or if it's more Eurovision that you want. There's the episode 50 Years of ABBA how Swedish pop group ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. And there's plenty more. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
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From the brilliant and bizarre.
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It was really surreal. It was a surreal kind of atmosphere there. You couldn't really see anybody.
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To the shocking and unexpected.
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I'm just wondering, what are we going to do now? This was really my worst fear. He found 100 horse meat that was labeled as beef.
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Witness the stories that have shaped our world, told by the people who were there.
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When he went to the factory, the poodle went in front of him. So the workers only oh, the boss is here. Many people had many things to lose by our victory. The future was not so bright.
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Witness History.
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We had a designer, he bought in a fully storyboarded idea about how the Queen would arrive by jumping out of a helicopter and we all said, that's brilliant, but it's never going to happen.
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Witness history@bbcworldservice.com witness history or wherever you get your podcasts.