Katarina Rimpi – “Julevädno” (Lule River”

   Hiya people! 🙂 

   How do you feel about yet another Sámi joik, this time from Sweden? 

   Katarina Rimpi was one of the first Swedish Sámi artists that I’ve discovered when I was first introduced to Sámi music in general, and I’ve really liked her right away. But then at some point I sort of forgot about her music and hadn’t been listening to it for a long time, until I was reminded of it recently and was happy to sort of rediscover it. 

   Katarina Rimpi is from Jokkmokk in Luleå in Sweden, and is a very versatile person, as she is not only a singer and joiker but also a painter and a craftswoman, and has a degree in technical physics. Her music is inspired by Arctic landscapes. She has also founded a band called Jarŋŋa which means the widest part of a lake in Luleå Sami, together with another singer called Mandy Senger. I am also planning on sharing with you one song by Jarŋŋa with Katarina Rimpi as the vocalist. She must clearly have a close affinity with lakes, rivers, and perhaps other bodies of water as well, since this song is about a river (Julevädno is the Sámi name of the Lule river), her band’s name has to do with a lake, and the song I plan on sharing with you from Jarŋŋa’s repertoire is alsoo about a river. Funnily enough, for the longest time I used to think that this is a Christmas song, because it has “jul-“ in it and jul means Christmas in Swedish so my brain jumped to that conclusion without even thinking whether the Sámi word for Christmas is anŧ similar. 😀 

   Below is the translation of this song. 

   The river flows, whispers to me
Julevädno speaks to my heart
Voice of the river leads me
Julevädno touches my soul
The well lies far up west
Pours water into the river day by day
The water of this river is sacred to me
This river valley the place I want to be

Clear water like silver
Rushing with force through all times
The soul of the river whispers to me
Julevädno I love and honour you
Nothing takes the soul of that river
The clear silver water
As long as the water flows
And the rushing sound of streaming water
Can be heard
There will be hope and comfort in our lives