Mari Boine
Music can touch on strings you might not know you had. It can provide meaning, but it can also create moments which can’t be defined. Moments which go to your core, that touch some sort of primal instinct, and that put you in a trancelike condition. Music can confuse you. But it can also make you feel happy, uplifted or enriched. And maybe even more whole.
Mari Boine’s music has this effect. You can’t leave a meeting with Mari and her music untouched. That is, if you dare to let her get close. Her music is actually simple. It is in the meeting between the songs, her voice and the musicians in the band that it gains strength. And in the interaction with the listener, because you must meet Mari’s music with an open mind. If you don’t give of yourself, you might not discover the wealth she has to offer.
Because – Mari is exceptional. She is an artist who is difficult to categorize.
Perhaps she’s a Sámi artist, perhaps she’s a practitioner of world music. Perhaps she makes music in the borderline between Sámi, other folk music, jazz and rock.
Perhaps she’s the sum of all this.
Or perhaps she’s just herself. A musician, singer and artist who’s making her own mark. Who has gone down a road where she hasn’t always seen the destination. And who is still travelling.
En route she has gained confidence and a clear sense of who she is and what she stands for. But the road is long. There are still surprises and challenges lurking ahead.