- Friday 4 July
Katarina Barruk occupies a special place in Nordic music with a captivating and original blend of modern pop music and ancient vocal traditions that grow out of the Sami culture. Her strong stage presence and impressive voice create a sound that is both epic and deeply personal, elevated by electronic productions and poignant melodies.
Barruk sings in Ume Sámi, a Sami language spoken by a small group in northern Sweden, where Barruk grew up. The language is on UNESCO's list of critically endangered languages and is only spoken by around 100 people today. With her music, however, Barruk has done an impressive job of spreading the sound of the language and the stories it carries to modern listeners.
Through the special vocal technique of joik, considered one of Europe's oldest living musical traditions, she connects to the Sami culture's close connection to nature and a shamanistic spirituality. But in combination with contemporary pop and electronic sounds, she also insists that Ume Sámi culture can be embraced as a point of reference in the modern world.
Now based in Norway and also collaborating with experimental artists like Maja Ratjke in the Avant Joik project, Barruk has brought her unique fusion of electronic pop, folk and joik to a host of major festival stages. Her concert at the Norwegian Øya Festival in 2023 was highlighted by The Line of Best Fit as the festival's biggest revelation. Here the reviewer wrote: "Beautiful, sincere and deeply moving, her best songs have a muscularity and rawness to them that jolts the brain awake." See for yourself when Barruk takes over Roskilde Festival with her amazing band.
