About the artist
a sensitive master of joiking
The Sami singer Ulla Pirttijärvi, a sensitive master of joiking, came into contact with this type of singing as a small child. She picked up the art from her mother's and uncle's songs. Ulla was a member of the Sami trio Angelin Tytöt. She followed a joik-oriented path after leaving the trio and released her first album, "Ruossa Eanan", in 1997. This was followed in 2002 by "Máttaráhku Askái" - "In Our Ancestor's Arm".
With the recordings, Ulla Pirttijärvi and her Norwegian producer Frode Fjellheim created a sophisticated, never too intrusive background of jazzy and electronic elements that combine beautifully with the earthy vocals.
In 2009, together with Marko Jouste and Mikko Vanhasalo, she founded the band Ulda, an ensemble that makes modern music based on Sami joik. Ulla Pirttijärvi is highly committed to the preservation of Sami culture and was awarded a national cultural prize for this.
Today Ulla lives with her two children Hildá and Nilla-Ande in Utsjoki in the very north of Finland. In 2014, Ulla and her daughter Hildá Länsman founded the band Solju and in 2015 they took part in the Finnish New Music Competition with the song "Hold Your Colours".
