Avant Joik

Thursday, March 14th at 8pm, experimental Nordic artists Avant Joik make their 2024 U.S. debut at ISSUE Project Room. Blending traditional joik language and vocal experimentation using electronic soundscapes, Indigenous Sámi singer Katarina Barruk (vocals/joik) and acclaimed experimentalist Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (vocals and live electronics) perform with live visuals by Sámi artist Matti Aikio. Renowned vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara will open the evening with Space Testing Re: … / Performance Piece / Erin, a series of vocal explorations that will activate the space at Brooklyn Music School in Fort Greene. 

Evoking the eerie, contemplative atmospheres of the North, while the turmoil and distortion of an untamed, forceful nature lurks beneath, [Avant Joik] has received great critical acclaim among attempts to describe the experience: “…the joik is not about text… Accompanied with noises elicited from electronic controllers or [Ratkje’s] unbelievable variations of her voice… The joik survived centuries of suppression of Saami culture, as well as the Ume Saami language, of which Katarina Barruk is one of the 20 remaining speakers.” (Taz.de, review of CTM 2019)

Avant Joik’s premiere performances in the U.S. are coordinated in partnership with the Finnish, Norwegian & Swedish Consulates plus members of the Nordic Community. During their engagement, their work will be featured in a series of outreach events plus an additional performance at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.

Matti Aikio comes from Vuotso, a small reindeer-herding Sámi village in northern Finland. He earned a bachelor of arts from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art in 2012. Aikio is a visual artist who works with photography and video, as well as with sculptural installations, sound art and music. He has also been a DJ since 2009. Aikio is interested in the concept of nomadism as a philosophy, culture and lifestyle. Along with his artistic practice, he is involved in nomadic reindeer herding, which his family has practiced for centuries.

Katarina Barruk is known as one of Sábmie’s most talented live artists. She is raised in Lusspie (Storuman) and Gajhrege (Gardfjäll), but is currently based in Ubmeje (Umeå). Barruk's unique, distinctive voice, in combination with a steadfast presence on stage creates a space of vulnerability and strength that is unlike anything else. She delivers a fierce, yet deeply down-to-earth, mix of pop music, traditional yoik and improvisational elements. Her powerful and unmistakably clear voice has built a captive audience over the years. The last decade Barruk has toured through Europe, giving highly appreciated concerts. In 2020 she received one of the most eligible writer and composer prizes in Sweden - “SKAPs Kulturbärarpris”. Barruk sings in one of her mother tongues, Ume Sámi language. The language is on UNESCO's red list of critically endangered languages, but many Umesámis are taking the language back.

Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, composer and performer, finished composition studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo in 2000. Her music is performed worldwide by performers such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Fretwork, Cikada, Mivos and Bozzini string quartets, Quatuor Renoir, Engegård Quartet, Red Note Ensemble, Andreas Borregaard, Stephen Menotti, Marianne Beate Kielland, SPUNK, Frode Haltli, POING and many more. Portrait concerts with her music has been heard in Toronto and Vienna, she has been composer in residence at festivals like Other Minds in San Francisco, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Nordland Music Festival in Bodø, Avanti! Summer Festival in Finland, Båstad Chamber Music Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Her homepage may be visited at www.ratkje.com