Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943-2001), known as Áillohaš in the Northern Sami language, was born into a reindeer herding family. He played an important role in the revitalization of the traditional Sámi yoik, which he described as: “A way to calm reindeer. To frighten wolves. The yoik is used to recall friends, even enemies.” The yoik steps into another spiritual world. He was awarded the Prix Italia for the composition Goase dušše (The Bird Symphony) in 1993 and performed at the opening ceremony for the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer. He was awarded the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize for his lyrical work Beaivi, áhčážan (The Sun, My Father).
Works
The Drowned World at Cinesphere
Location: Ontario Place - Cinesphere
Guest curated by Charles Stankievech. During the Biennial, the Cinesphere becomes a world within a world, merging film and sound art with scent and changing atmospheric conditions. From cosmological origin stories, to a future in which civilization is extinct, The Drowned World contrasts deep time with the decline of global ecologies. The…