FROM GUEST CURATOR CECILIA RYDINGER

JAN SANDSTRÖM: VUOJNHA BIEGGA (WIND OF THE SPIRIT)

Orphei Drängar on tour in Germany, October 2019. Great memories from times when meeting and performing together, also meeting our beloved audience, was taken for granted. As orchestra composer, Jan Sandström is well known for his “Motorbike Concerto” (1988), expressing adventures on a motorbike. In his choir music Sandström has often turned to the traditional hymnes of the Sami people from the north of Sweden. Vuojnha biegga (2007, also available in SATB setting) is built on a yoik by Johan Märak, a sami vicar. The yoik is as old as the Sami culture, many yoiks or improvised chants have been passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next. The yoik manages to convey thoughts and feelings, often the divine. We hear the rhythm of the Sami ceremonial drum, the reindeer shepherd’s calls to his dog, the sounds of the grouse coming with a greeting and, at the very end, a reindeer flock passing by on the mountain. The words are in close connection to the expressive music, presenting a prayer: “Now the wind blows Lo, lo, lo..Coming with the Holy Spirit a greeting from God to the people in our Lapland, with His blessing.” – Cecilia Rydinger

Jan Sandström: Vuojnha biegga - Wind of the Spirit (2007)
Orphei Drängar | Conductor: Cecilia Rydinger
Soloist: Magnus Sjögren