–––there's a bunch of review quotes to start with. To get to the liner notes, please scroll down.–––
20 Best Global Albums of 2010
-Scott Stevens, SoundRoots
One of the most fascinating releases in recent months is Jienat’s album, Mira (CD + Blu-Ray disc), a project led by Norwegian musician Andreas Fliflet. [...] Jienat’s Mira is a transfixing recording that incorporates the infectious rhythms of the Earth and the vitality of the marvelous vocal traditions of the Arctic.
-Angel Romero, World Music Central, USA
Razor-sharp surround sound [...] Irrepressible ingenuity
-David Honigmann, Financial Times, UK
A percussion sonic spectacular that should be included in anyone's collection of "wow" demo discs
-Michael Fremer, Stereophile, USA
A fascinating project [...] Because brilliant art also needs an exclusive setting, this phenomenal music is also available on Audio Blu-ray!
-Walter Bast, Folker, Germany
Artists [..] have combined joiking with contemporary sounds, but no one has updated it so sincerely and acoustically as Jienat. [..] Highly recommended!
-Scott Stevens, SoundRoots, USA
Both instruments and voices have been recorded stunningly well, and the result is incredibly immersive even in stereo.
-Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound, UK
This music is deep, vestigial and organic – what ‘World Music’ tries to be but often misses.
-Marcus Doucette, Sound Travels, USA
Disc Of The Month, May 2010
-Peter Bickel, Nordische Musik, Germany
It is music like this that truly inspires us here at World Music Headquarters
-Village 900 AM, Canada
If you are like us - and have / enjoy a lot of different kinds of music and are always looking for something that is not the same old derivative this or that - and yet at the same time is very very high quality sound - then you need this.
-Mike Davis, Audio Federation, USA
A superb album that blends traditional music of West Africa and Norwegian folklore.
-Audio Vidéo Haute Définition, France
I love it for being sweet, trancy and innovative at the same time. Some tracks are just magnificent.
-Johannes Theurer, World Music Charts Europe
This album is unforgettable for anyone interested in good sound. A big thank you to Jienat for offering me this unique and wonderful disc!
-Nicholas Bécuwe, HD fever, France
Listen in the dark or by candlelight and be transported to another world.
-Rad Bennett, Soundstage, USA
The listening was done on a conventional stereo system and a surround system. In both cases, the quality is absolutely amazing.
-Laurent Thorin, Haute Fidélité, France
This CD is a very strong collection of sounds that reaches deep into the soul and allows the listener to be engulfed with a sense of ancient yet modern takes on traditional drumming story telling. An ambitious project by an amazing South American artist that is not only a good listen, it’s lessons in what rhythm can do to for the soul.
-Christopher Anderson, Victory Review
---end of bragging------
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The disc has been made here in the northernmost town of the world, Hammerfest, Norway.
It is apparently the first world music release to be available on the Blu-ray format, and the first world music
production recorded in true 5.1 surround sound.
The box contains two discs with the same music:
1. Hybrid SA-CD that will play in any CD player (coastal photo, same as cover)
2. Pure Audio Blu-ray disc (tundra photo, same as booklet).
The lyrics are in 5 different tongues, of which kildin sami and inari sami are now only spoken by approx. 500
persons each. This disc is apparently the first commercially available release using kildin sami.
The performers include André Ferrari (Väsen), Fredrik Gille (Bazar Blå), the drum group Swing do Pelô,
Adama Conde (Mory Kante), Marit Hætta Øverli, Ulvens Döttrar and Eva Jeanette Iversen.
The recording locations were all over the place, but they are all of personal importance– they include:
-Our own recording room and base camp in Hammerfest, 150 metres from the Arctic Ocean
-The front porch of my in-laws in Northwestern Argentina
-The Finnish island church to which my mother and her family rowed the heavy wooden boats across the bay in
order to attend service.
-The cobblestone streets of Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahia.
So in the literal sense, this is a global piece of work: the recording sessions spanned the distance from 955km
north of the Arctic Circle, to south of the Tropic of Capricorn.
The music is purely acoustic (excluding two tracks using the electric bass). Just vocals, percussion and the Stanley
Saw (26 in, cross-cut). We put the microphones up, positioned ourselves in a circle around them, and pressed
«Record». No alteration of what the microphones heard. We did overdubs and cuts. When mixing, we removed
some unwanted sounds– like the engine of the Russian trawler docked acoss the street from the recording room
(«Go out to sea and catch some fish or something... please!»). By and large we tried to record the quiet passages
between storms and propeller plane take-offs at the nearby «airport».
We have tried to preserve the emotional impact voices and drums have on the
human being. We have also tried to retain some playfulness without sacrificing whatever musical
credibility we may have.
Liner notes:
01. Sissel (03:29)
(A. Fliflet)
Sissel is the product of a sport entertained by the composer way back when
our millennium was new: cornering innocent bystanders and taking orders for
custom-made tunes. Sissel wanted a dance/joik/latin mix (which she got).
However, this version by and large adheres to the dogma of this record:
Everything recorded in surround sound, no electronic instruments, no effects
apart from reverb.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, electric bass
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest
02. Andreas/André (04:21)
(A.Fliflet. Andreas given by Marit Hætta Øverli)
Andreas/André is the album’s only mash-up. The joik is performed by Marit
Hætta Øverli. André performs the anchoring percussion on the track, which un-
beknownst to him ended up bearing his name. He was recorded well after mid-
night on a stormy August night in the church of Eckerö. The song incorporates
two Sámi languages: Northern Sámi, the staple language of Sápmi, and Kildin
Sámi, a language used by maybe 600 persons on the Russian Kola peninsula.
Marit Hætta Øverli: vocals
Andreas Fliflet: vocals
André Ferrari: percussion
Kildin Sámi translation: Aleksandra Antonova
Kildin Sámi coordination: Elisabeth Scheller
Recorded in Eckerö S:t Lars kyrka, Åland and Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
03. Angelique (03:56)
(A. Fliflet)
Angelique was originally unknown as Siri på Senja. Whether you hear the sea
caressing the sands of Benin, or slowly rounding the edges of the cobblestones
of the Northern Norwegian island of Senja, its continuousness and continuum is
undeniable.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, acoustic bass guitars
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
04. Dancehall (04:01)
(A. Fliflet)
Dancehall got its name because it seems relevant to play it loud in a hall where
people would like to dance.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, electric bass
Ulvens Döttrar: vocals
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Ulvens Döttrar:
Johanna Grüssner
Ella Grüssner Cromwell-Morgan
Isabella Grüssner Sarling
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest and Saltvik S:ta Maria kyrka, Åland.
05. Radio Belgrano (03:26)
(A. Fliflet)
Radio Belgrano is the street in Salta, Argentina where the family Burgos Castro
resides. Somedays there will pass a street vendor with his mule and his
megaphone, selling bags of earth. Tierra para las plantas is the war cry of
choice. 2 pesos for a small bag, 5 pesos for a large one.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals
Eva Jeanette Iversen: vocals
André Ferrari: percussion
Unknown street vendor: megaphone voice
Unknown street vendor’s horse: hoofs
Recorded in Eckerö S:t Lars kyrka, Åland; in the street of Radio Belgrano, Salta Capital, Argentina
and in Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
06. Fredrik Albert (04:57)
(A. Fliflet)
Fredrik Albert is the big brother of August Samuel. For some reason his parents
never cut his hair until he was more than one year old. The result was a Latino
version of the Swedish childen’s book character Plupp by the author Inga Borg.
The lyrics make reference to this, as well as to his current fad of being a tiger.
Watch your back.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, electric bass, percussion
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Fredrik Fliflet: vocal fills
Recorded in Kirkegata 14 and Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
07. Mira (04:17)
(A. Fliflet)
Mira is a young bitch from Kárášjohka. She was first encountered one day in
2007 when she was a puppy. Her owner, Anders Nils Utsi, was working with
his reindeer herd; Mira was hanging out by Route 889. She had not yet fully
grasped the concept that dogs should only chase cars, not try to catch them.
She survived, quit catching cars, grew up, and now she has her own title track.
Imagine that.
Andreas Fliflet: canine voices (bjeffjoik)
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
08. Adama (05:42)
(A. Fliflet)
Adama recorded his tracks in the hallway of Harstad kulturskole at a ghastly
morning hour after a successful concert with Mory Kante, Arto Tunçboyaciyan
and Ragnhild Furebotten. Mr. Conde persevered, demonstrating his ability to
create art at any given moment at any given location.
Adama Conde: balafon
Andreas Fliflet: voices, flight case
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Harstad kulturskole, Harstad and Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
09. Tudeer (02:24)
(A. Fliflet)
Tudeer is the maiden name of my mother Marianne. This tune serves as a
present for her 85th birthday on Nov. 28, 2009. As a tribute to her Finnish
citizenship, she will have this saw-and-kanjira tune. After all, saw playing is
a well-established tradition in Finland. [Mr. Fliflet holds a fourth place in the
Nordic and Baltic Saw Championship Finals. -Ed.]
Andreas Fliflet: saw (26”, 8-pt. cross-cut), additional metal structures
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
10. Gille (04:32)
(A. Fliflet)
Fredrik Gille is the main percussion player on this project. Anyone who puts up
with being a guinea pig in this surround research laboratory deserves a tune.
The basic tracks are performed by the drum ensemble Swing do Pelô, recorded
on a –by Salvador de Bahian standards– quiet Saturday in the cobblestone
streets of Pelourinho. The lyrics are in Inari Sámi, a linguistic minority within
the minority, spoken fluently by a few hundred persons.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, acoustic bass guitars, additional percussion
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Sverre Gjørvad: additional snare drums
Swing do Pelô:
Mestre Ivan Santana, repique
Paulo Sergio Santoro dos Santos, repique
Danilo Santo Souza, fundo
Leandro Pires de Santana, dobra
Jose Miguel Lozano, fundo
Sergio Cerezo Camareto, fundo
Claudio Eduardo Querino da Silva, dobra
Cristiano Ronaldo, dobra
Rodrigo Lameiro, snare
Pedro do Jesus Aquino, fundo
Inari Sámi translation: Petter Morottaja
Inari Sámi consulting: Marja-Liisa Olthuis, Ida Toivonen
Recorded in the street Rua Frei Vicente, Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahia, Brazil
and in Joikeredet, Hammerfest.
11. August Samuel (06:22)
(A. Fliflet)
August Samuel is Fredrik Albert’s little brother. This is as close as this record
gets to a lullaby, although it is hard to envision any one-year-old who would be
inclined to sleep when confronted with an unknown number of drummers and
singers cramming around the bed.
Andreas Fliflet: vocals, bass
Ulvens Döttrar: vocals
Fredrik Gille: percussion
Recorded in Joikeredet, Hammerfest; at the University of Tromsø Music Conservatory,
and in Saltvik S:ta Maria kyrka, Åland.
All music composed and arranged by Andreas Fliflet
Recording sessions produced, engineered and submixed by Andreas Fliflet
Mixed and mastered by Morten Lindberg
SACD authoring by Lindberg Lyd, Oslo
Jienat logo and Blu-ray screen art by Darío M. Muhafara, Buenos Aires
Cover photo by Adriana Burgos, Hammerfest
Hand lettering by Andreas Fliflet
Cover by Kåre Thomsen, Bergen
Booklet photo/Blu-ray photo by Allan Klo, Hammerfest
Blu-ray authoring by msm-studios, München:
Authoring by Martin Seer
Screen menu by Dominik Fritz
Surround microphone array consulting by Lindberg Lyd
Produced by Andreas Fliflet
This project is made possible by the funding and patience from:
Sámediggi – Fond for lyd og bilde – Sparebanken Nord-Norges gavefond
Church recording sessions courtesy of:
Eckerö församling, Saltviks församling
Thanks to:
Gilmario Marques, Mestre Memeu, Claudio Lee, Ronaldo Lage, Barriga,
Coroa, Fabio Marc, Gordon Sheard, Pardal/Cana Brava Records, Kristina Fliflet,
Elizabeth Røttingen, Fredrik Gille, Arne Storvik, Sverre Gjørvad, Lindberg Lyd, Ida Toivonen,
Petter Morottaja, Marja-Liisa Olthuis, Marit Hætta Øverli, Ola Graff, Elisabeth Scheller,
University of Tromsø Music Conservatory, the staff at Harstad kulturhus,
Harstad kulturskole, Hammerfest kommune, Mariehamns församling
It is reasonable to assume that this music would have been worse had it not been for the
lasting impact of persons like Bob Freedman, Herb Pomeroy and Bob Labaree.
Microphones: DPA
Preamp: Millennia HV-D3
Interface: Apogee Rosetta 800
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