Mari Boine (Norway) – Lean dás (I’m [always] here) ft. Ella Marie – single/forthcoming album track

I thought I might have reviewed Mari Boine previously but that isn’t the case. My confusion was probably caused by the label she records on, By Norse Music, which we most certainly have featured before along with a couple of their artists and which is pretty much unique judged by the style of the music they promote.

How can I put it. It’s sort of metal meets baroque meets medieval meets psych meets pagan ritual. You won’t hear or see anything like it outside of this corner of the world.

Speaking of which, that ‘corner’ is (again – we have promoted several artists from it) Sápmi, the Sámi people’s own name for their traditional territory, which covers the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and even Russia.

The last artist from there who appeared in NMC was Emil Lársen, also from the Norwegian section, back in May, and there have been numerous others over the years.

On this occasion Mari enters into collaboration with Ella Marie (Hætta Isaksen), also of that parish. Both have a reputation as musicians, cultural icons and activists. I don’t know exactly what they are active about but I’ll lay odds it’s all to do with ensuring continuing recognition of Sámi culture, traditions and languages, in the same way the Welsh are committed to doing over here.

The track, ‘Lean dás’, which translates as ‘I’m here’ or ‘’I’m always here’, available as a single, is taken from Mari’s full-length album ‘Alva’, which is scheduled for release on the 6th of September 2024 via By Norse Music and is apparently a mix with one of Ella Marie’s own songs, ‘Mun Lean dás’ which means more or less the same thing.

Introducing the song, Mari says, “It can be difficult to maintain hope in these dark times, but to surrender hope is to lose our will to (take) action, to render ourselves powerless.” She insists that the song “shines with hope” as “we joik (summon) the Universal Mother, Divine Source, Giver of Life, and Creative Force.”

(I recall Emil Lársen doing some joking as well. It must be a popular pastime).

Well I’ll tell you Mari, we need hope in the UK right now because it’s rapidly sliding down the pan.

So, what’s it all about? Fortunately there’s an expressive video to go with it, courtesy of Carl Christian Lein Størmer and I suggest you pay close attention to it for little insights such as the drummer seemingly playing dog biscuits that have been strung together like beads.

The song starts off with some delightful soprano siren-like calling from Ella Marie before Mari enters, stage right, and appears to hold a séance. Then Ella Marie shows us her dance moves as it shifts up tempo to a beat not dissimilar to the one on The KLF’s ‘Justified and Ancient’.

Perhaps The KLF had the Sámi territory in mind when they envisaged being “bound for Mu Mu Land” in an ice cream van.

By the time it reaches the three-minute mark it’s really rocking out with both singers going at it and the band on a high.

I like it. Between them they have the knack of producing cultured work that is representative of what is to most of the rest of the world an unknown region. But at the same time they don’t take themselves too seriously either.

I noticed that Mari has this year been a guest on Hver gang vi møtes (Every Time We Meet), the annual Norwegian TV reality show in which artists interpret each others’ music and in her case in the same line up as Ingrid Helene Håvik of Highasakite. It’s something we could do with here in the UK instead of the dross we’re served up with.

I remember Sol Heilo being on that show a few years back (in fact there must be 20 artists who appeared in NMC that have been on it) and how much it did for her career and perhaps it was helpful to Mari also – she has many thousands of followers and a tour that starts on 15^th August and which embraces mainly Norwegian venues through to the end of March next year is already sold at some of them.

Perhaps she might make it over here some time? How about next year’s Glastonbury? Pyramid Stage, Saturday night would be just dandy.

Find her on:

Website: https://www.mariboine.no/