LYNXIE

As you know my latest single is called "Lynxie" - and it is my cat! (Listen to it here)
In sami tradition it´s normal to yoik your pet, relatives, animals, nature and everything, so why not make a song to my cat, cause I love her!

I was sitting on the sofa at home with a guitar - which I rarely do nowadays, and Lynxie was sitting on the other sofa sleeping. I really love her, just looking at her makes me calm and happy. So I just played something on the guitar and started yoiking her... And that was the start of this song. The refrain is actually the part I yoiked to Lynxie that day on the sofa. So it is a yoik to my cat.

I decided to write her lyrics, to let it show what Lynxie means to me and what I have learned from her. I many times wish I have her life. She is just relaxing half of the day, and then she goes to eat and drink, and goes outside to play and enjoy. And the expressions on her when she cuddles - it´s like there are no worries in the world, and life is a joy... I definately learned to enjoy life more, to take time to relax, and do fun and things that make me happy. And to claim my own territory, be more stubborn, and don´t let others decide what I should do.

And it helps that she is the most beutiful cat in the world. I wanted her because he looks like a Lynx. She is of the american breed Main Coon - one of the biggest cats in the world. But she is actually not that big. around 5,5 kilos. We will see if she grows bigger...

GOHPPU - GUKSI The sami traditional wooden cup.

Made by Jørn Are Keskitalo in Guovdageaidnu.

This is an example of the traditional sami wooden cup. Somwhere they call it guksi, and other places they call it gohppu. I am not an expert about this, but I will tell you what I know.
It is always made of some kind of wood, and sometimes decorated with pieces of reindeer antler.
When I was at elementary shcool we used to burn our names on wooden objects, and this is also common for the gohppu.

Everyone owns their own cup wich they carry in their belt with their knife, so that wherever you come - to a river, lake or visiting another camp you will be ready to get a drink.

I made this cup with my own logo in case you what to get something sami. Handmade cups made by craftsmen are  superexphensive, but the ones I bought these are "handmade in a factory" I guess... hehe cause it saiys handmade, but we know it´s not really... But anyway, it´s the best I could to not make the price not too high. You can buy it here: http://www.elinkaaven.com/store/

Lynxie likes it too!

GREEN ENVIRONMENT- GRØNNT MILJØ

Tre enkle ting du kan gjøre for miljøet:
1. Resirkuler all søppel.
2. Bruk miljøvennlige vaskemidler.

3. Ikke kast søppel i naturen. Plukk søppel (spesielt plast) når du går ute i naturen.

Three easy steps to do for the environment:

1. Recycle all waste.

2. Use environmental friendy washing products (detergents etc).

3. Don´t litter out in nature. Pick up litter (especially plastic) while hiking in nature. 

YOU ARE GOD!

Yes you are! And so am I. This is my belief. We are all part of a wholeness. Everything is energy; humans, objects, plants, animals, the earth. We are all energy, and therefore we are connected to eachother. 

I believe that God equals everything. Everything is God, and God is everything. I am a part of everything, that makes me God too. And it makes a fly God also…

A fly can change my life. Let´s say there was a fly in my kitchen one morning, and I got obsessed with trying to kill it. I bump my head on the refrigerator and have to go to the emergency where I meet my future husband. If that fly had not been there I would not have met him –not that day anyway.

Everything that happens has it´s meaning, and whatever you choose to do affects the whole world in one way or another. Your place on earth is always important, cause you affect the whole universe with your being, and we don´t even know a tiny percentage of how each and everyone of us have affected the world so far.

DENDROPHILIA - LOVE OF TREES

One result of my dead tree obsession period.

I like trees. Alot. Sometimes a bit obsessive. There was a period in my life when I was obsessed with photographing dead trees. Meaning trees that have fallen, broken, cut down, burning or just got old and rottened.

In wikipedia you can read this:

Dendrophilia (paraphilia)

Dendrophilia (or less often arborphilia or dendrophily) literally means "love of trees". The term may sometimes refer to a paraphilia in which people are sexually attracted to or sexually aroused by trees. This may involve sexual contact or veneration as phallic symbols or both.^[1]
One such example is Emma Mccabe who has said that she is in love with, and has plans to marry, a poplar tree named Tim.  


I think definately I am dendrophil, cause I love trees. I think of each and everyone of the trees as different individuals - like us humans. They all have their own energy and personality. For me it is very logical and natural. A old big tree would be like an old human -wise, calm and determinded. A small tree is like a child - playful and active. Active meaning it would make alot of seeds, or grow in different ways, get rid of some parts, and grow new for example.  

I have had times when trees have inspired me greatly, like they have inspired millions of people before me. The thing with threes is that they represent life in a great and wise way. We have all heard the "tree of life". 

LOOSING THE SOUL

Photo: Majja Eriksen

I was lucky enough to know at a early stage in life that I was a singer. Many people have no idea what they want to do in their lives, but I knew when I was around 4 years that I wanted to be a singer. My whole childhood I really truly thought I was a singer.

My aunt Sonja has told me that when I saw my father up on stage playing the guitar and singing, I had said "When I grow up I want to sing in a band just like my dad".

All my childhood I remember singing all the time everywhere, and dreaming about releasing albums and singing on stages. I was a part of the sami shows at the Sami radiostation and TV - NRK Sápmi when I was in elementary shcool, you could say that´s where I started my carriere.

ULDDAID VIESUS - I HULDRENES HUS

Muitalus ulddaid birra - En huldrehistorie

Máŋgejuvvon dás http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/78.-ulddaid-viesus-_samegillii_-1.12111861   lobikeahttá.

Eatnanvuolážat leat riggábut go olbmot mat leat eatnan alde: sis leat čáppa orohagat, hearvás fiinna biktasat ja ollu ruhta. Ja visot gollit ja silbbat mat gávdnojit eatnama vuolde, dat leat sin. Ja dasa lassin leat velá sin hálddus visot diet čiegát, máid olbmot áiggi mielde leat bidjan eatnamii, dakkár árahávddit. Ja dat leat biddjon eatnamii dakkár sániiguin ahte eai oaččo váldit iežát go lagas olbmot. Ja jus iežát váldet, de ráimmahallet.

Ja nu de báhcet ollu čiegát ulddaid háldui, go bárdni dahje nieida ii gávnna áhčis, iige áhkus čiegá. Ja ulddat eai atte daid čiegáid earáide go daidda rievttes maŋisbohttiide.
Visot, mii lea eatnama vuolde, ulddat hoidejit čábbát, ja seammá čábbát dat dikšot guovžža, mii nohkká dálvvi su biejus. Ulddat dat addet dasa borramuša, vaikko oaidnit gal ii sáhte ahte das lea biebmu čoavjjis.

WHEN I STOPPED DRINKING COFFEE

I stole this pic from hyttemag.no

This is the story about when I stopped drinking coffee. I was around 15 years old when I had a terrible coffeine-shock and got so nauseas and ill that I have never drank coffee again (I tried a few times after but I could not).
Many sami parents used to give their babies coffee. They would give them like a teaspoon a week or something like that. It was supposed to improve their health in some way, so it is very common for everyone to drink cofee. You can start drinking whenever you want, and most sami people I know start drinking coffee everyday from they are teenagers.
I never liked coffee that much so I didn´t drink it everyday like some of my friends would when I was 13 years old. I only drank it when we where going tell the future of one another. We used to read fortune-telling books and read each others futures in the coffee. We only had coffee for boiling then, no instant coffees or other fancy stuff.

KOMSAFJELLET - KOMSA MOUNTAIN

When I moved to my house in Alta 3 years ago I realised I had bought the best house ever!
One of the reasons being that it is close to the moutain Komsa. It´s said that is is a old sami holy mountain. Sami people used to go there an do offerings.
I was thrilled by this of course, and it made me feel more home here. I started doing walks there and in witer I go skiing there. Alot of people go there hiking cause there is a path that goes right up there and it a known well place to go hiking there. In winter they make ski-trails for people to go skiing there. Always when i go there I feel like I an enetering a totally different world. Lynxie likes to go hiking with me in the summer as well. And I have special spot there that I always visit.

I have noticed that the water we have in the house is the best water I have ever drunk. I like to think it is because we get it from this magical mountain, thats what I believe anyway. I drink alot of water from Komsafjellet every day. 



Ger Hesbeen gave me this link to read more about this: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komsa_culture

VEGETARIAN WITH MEAT, PLEASE.

The last year I have been very occupied with food, the environment and wellness and the future. In my fathers generation all food was ecological, cause we had alot of small farmers all over the country, and there was no money, only trading.  And in few years 20 years everything has changed. We hardly have any ecological food. We have so much fake food in the world, and we throw away too much of it!

  

I have been thinking about becoming vegetarian after I talked about alot of my friends who are vegatarian, and also friends that are intrested and concerned about the future of the world and nature. They say the that best we can do for the world is to eat less meat. Because it takes more power to grow food to the animals, then to eat vegetables directly.

Of course I want whats best for the world, but I don´t want to distance myself from it. 

I have a friend from long time ago who was vegetarian –he is now vegan. He told me that he stopped eating meat cause he got disquisted by it. His father had served him so much meat that he could not take it anymore. And also he was disquisted about how animals were treated by the food industry.

MY SAMI NAME

Gárdin Mountainhouse is what our family is famous for.

My sami name is not the same as my Norwegian name. My sami name is "Gárdin Inggá Brita Elin" not Elin Kåven.

After the war and the norwegians, swedish and finnish took over, the sami people where not able to buy land unless they had a Norwegian name. That´s why everyone had to start using Norwegian names.

The sami names contain of 3-4 generations of your family. The family is very important for the sami people of course, and people always want to know your familyname and exactly who you are and where you come from. The name explains exactly who you are. It is build so that it is easy for people to understand who you are. Not just your name, but your bloodline.

HUMANS AND THE WORLD

How arrogant are humans? Sometimes I get the impression that humans think we rule the world. But do we? It looks like we want to think we do anyway... Cause we think we are the most intelligent creatures there is to find.

But for me it looks like we are just trying to imitate the earth. We make fake wind, cold and heat (aircondition), fake seas (pools), fake food and fake fur. We make our own version of so many things, we make even fake humans by operations and injections. We do our best to imitate nature, and see ourselves as gods cause we manage to make things similar to how the earth has made it. Everything we humans invent already excist, only better... Why don´t we just use what earth has given us? It´s because we can´t control it. We want to control the wind and cold and warmth. We want to control our appearance and food and clothing. Our egos wants to.

I got very upset thinking about this a while ago. But then a shaman said to me: "This is normal, Elin, where else would we humans get our inspiration from?"

YOU WIN SOME YOU LOOSE SOME

This year has really given meaning to the quote "you win some you loose some" to me. It´s been the most intense year I have had ever in my life I think. So much has been going on and so much has happened. This year turned out nothing like I thought it would. So when we now have only one week left of this year I am happy to look forward to a new start.

This year started off with my last grandmother and one of my uncles that died november the year before, and since then my life has gone through so many changes both good and bad.

The good stuff is that I have started in sami cultural politics, in march I was chosen leader of the Sami Composers assosiation. I have collaborated with many other artists; Johan Sarah jr., Byrdi, Senjahopen, and Ensemble Noor. And I had my first amazing tour in Germany, and I have started working on my third album. I have taken time to sing more and try to challenge myself more as a singer and likewise I have done alot of spiritual studies and self-contemplation. And I have also taken measures to imporve my business.

And the bad stuff this year is that my body is so full of stress and tense that it has been impossible for me to train dancing or other physical sports. I have basically had to quit dancing, cause it´s been painful - but I have had various treatments - so I hope it gets better.

WORKSHOP WITH SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK

Sainkho, I and Sainkho´s daughter who had a name I can´t pronounce or write.
But it meant a neverfreezing river. 

After my first ever Germany tour, there was this big conicidence of Sainhko having a workshop i Basel - only 2 hours trainride from my last gig in Ludwigsburg. And I got a space on it, so off I went! Johan Sara Jr. had recommended me to attend her workshop so that I could start improvising with my voice more. Just what I needed! Sainhko talked alot about dancing while making the sound, just like I had experiemented with at home. I am very happy I attended this workshop, cause she is such a wise woman. She showed us alot of techinches for overtone singing and throatsinging and improvising.  http://sainkho.org/en

INGA JUUSO - OUR QUEEN OF YOIK!

We call Inga Juuso the queen of yoiking. She died too young, almost 70 years only. She has done so much for Sami music and won alot of prizes. Sápmi will not be the same without her. Our inspiration and "mother."