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."

 

 

FIRST GIG IN GERMANY!

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Oh yeah! My first ever concert in Germany went soo well! There where lots of people showed up for it, and it the concert went so well. I love the Germany audience, and have waited so loong for this! :D

It was at the Play Nordic Festival in Berlin. The event was called "Riddu Riđđu Festival in Berlin" and was a cooperation of the Nordic embassies, Folkelarm and Riddu Riđđu. This event was very sucessful with a very intrested audience. The event was a presentation of the two Festivals and a concert with me.

Taking off! Wings given as a gift from Mexico to Berlin.

I had such a great time in Berlin! We went shopping, and we went to a legendary pub also! I really like Berlin! I have been there a few times for dance workshops, butt his time was different! :D

Now I am just looking forwad to my tour in November!

HVORFOR TRENGER VI KUNST?

Dette er en artikkel jeg skrev mens jeg studerte Bachelor of rock´n´roll entrepreneurs ved Høgskolen i Finnmark, Alta i 2012. Jeg har desverre ikke fortsatt denne bachelor utdannelsen etter første året, men det kan være jeg får anledning til det senere.

Hvorfor trenger vi kunst?

Et spørsmål som er blitt spurt av mange, og en debatt som alltid foregår i samfunnet. Hva er poenget? Hva er verdien i kunst, og hvorfor bruker vi for eksempel offentlige midler til utvikling av kunst, på lik linje med utviklingen av andre ting. Kunstnere, kunstinteresserte og ikke minst de som ikke er interessert i kunst er opptatte av dette spørsmålet.

Disse spørsmålene dukket også opp under utviklingen av skolesystemet der kunstfag ikke ble prioritert. De ble sett på som unyttige og mange mente at andre fag var viktigere enn kunstfag.

Kunst og andre fysiske fag må stadig kjempe for sin plass i utviklingen av skolesystemet og samfunnet.

MY FAMOUS LUCKY-POUCH

A small knife and my pouch. Photo Freddy L. Larsen. 

Many years ago (in 2006) when I was i Australia  I buoght a book about crystals and stones. And I had got a quartz-stone. I was reading in this book about the use of crystals and decided to hold my quarts-stone.
What happened when I did resulted in what I now call my "lucky-pouch".

I was holding the quartz stone - I closed my eyes and I was filled with tranquility. It was a peaceful feeling. I tried holding the stone after a few days again to see if there was a difference, and I could still feel the difference when holding it, and when not holding it. I remember thinking "what if I could feel this while on stage while perfoming." I was at that time struggeling with stage fright and nervousity.

I had been spending alot of time with a guy who always carried his own pouch with him. He had stones and other symbolic things that where meaninful to him in his pouch, and he showed me the meaning of having one. I decided to make my own.

PILATES

“Etter 10 ganger vil du føle forskjell. Etter 20 ganger vil du se forskjell. Etter 30 ganger har du en helt ny kropp.” - Joseph Pilates

Hva er Pilates? 

Pilates er enkel, skånsom og effektiv styrketrening som passer menn og kvinner i alle aldre - hver enkelt øvelse tilpasses individuelt.

Fokus er statisk styrke. Den indre støttemuskulaturen bygges opp fra bunnen av, slik at kroppen kan bæres på en korrekt måte. Skjevheter i kroppen som kan forårsake smerter og skader blir rettet ut.

Pilates trener hver muskel i kroppen, beveger alle leddene, og pusten setter i gang dype prosesser. Neurologisk setter øvelsene i seg selv  igang menneskets organiske bevegelsesmønster og programmerer kroppen inn i korrekt bevegelsesmønster. 

Pilates passer i utgangspunktet alle, og er et bra alternativ for deg som belastes av andre treningsformer på grunn av skader eller smerter. Pilates er utbredt trening blant dansere og toppidrettsutøvere, og er anbefalt av fysioterapeuter. Mange kjendiser sverger til Pilates, blant andre Jennifer Aniston, Madonna og Jennifer Lopez.  

TRIBAL MAGEDANS

Hva er Tribal magedans og hvordan oppsto det? Her får du en kort innføring!



MAGEDANS (Raqs Sharki)

MAGEDANSENS RØTTER

Orientalsk magedans danses i Midtøsten, Tyrkia og Nord-Afrika og er en av verdens eldste kulturdanser. Det er ulike teorier om hvordan dansen har oppstått. Noen mener den har oppstått i egypt, mens andre mener den stammer fra India og har spredt seg derfra med sigøynere. Dansen er flere tusen år gammel og har blitt brukt i religiøse sermonier, fruktbarhetsritualer og festlige sammenhenger i tillegg til å være ren underholdning.

MUOHTA - SNØ - SNOW

Muohttagis leat sullii 205 sami sáni. Dá lea listtu!
Det er omkring 205 ord for snø i Samisk språk!
There are bout 205 word to snoš in Sami language!

Listen er hentet fra/listu lea vižžon dáppe: 
http://lektorsalen.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/200-samiske-ord-for-sn%C3%B8-i-signatur-pa-norsk-yrkesfag/

DUET WITH SENJAHOPEN

This friday I sang in NOrwegian for the first time onstage since I was a child singing in the choir. It was pretty awesome, cause the lyrics where quite difficult in northern-norwegian, and the song is quite fast as well, so I was very in doubt if I could manage. And it went great!!! I just missed a few words I think, but I reembered all the lyrics! And it was so much fun be on stage with those crazy guys in Senjahopen! I felt really honored that they asked me, and I had so much fun!  The song is called "Bråtebrann" and the original singer is Ida Maria with Senjahopen.

I will remember this a looong time!

SHCOOL-CONCERT TOUR IN NORDLAND!

Sarah-Jane Summers and Juhani Silvola

We had som much fun at our Shcool-tour in Nordland. It is a truly beutiful county, and we met so many nice people, pupils and teachers!