The Girls of Angeli come from the village of Angeli in the municipality of Inari, one of the few purely Sámi villages in Northern Finland. The entire population of Angeli are native speakers of Sámi. They make their living mainly by reindeer husbandry. The nearest shop is 70 kilometres away.
In 1982, Eino Ukkonen, a Finnish teacher, took a Sámi-speaking class to sing at a Sámi festival in Utsjoki. This group included Ursula and Tuuni Länsman, who later began to perform Sámi songs in earnest. Thus the history of the group spans 15 years to date!
The music of the Girls of Angeli is the yoik. The yoik is the Sámi way of talking and purifying oneself. Everyone does the yoik differently, there is no one particular correct way to do it. A yoik can be about people, the natural environment, events, courting or even the wealth of one’s family. The yoik is no longer a sin, even if the old people in the village still insist it is.
The Girls of Angeli are bringing fresh approaches to the yoik. In addition to traditional yoiks handed down in the family, they have themselves composed and written both yoiks and a newer type of piece described as a yoik-song. Their repertoire also includes songs from more recent traditions. A performance by the Girls of Angeli is joyous and irresistible — yet the yoiks still have their traditional rough edges and a wealth of emotion.
To outsiders, the Sámi culture seems exotic and shamanistic. The Girls of Angeli try to prove that the Sámi way of life is no stranger than any other. All peoples have their own traditions and habits.
Important things for the Sámi are family, the number of reindeer owned and the wealth of the family. When young people meet for the first time, they ask each other what family they come from. The Sámi dress to display their family wealth — a gold belt around the waist was a traditional way of displaying wealth and affluence. Young people wear the traditional Sámi dress even to discos, travelling by ski-doo, of course.
The Girls of Angeli have recorded three discs, brought the yoik to new audiences and made new friends wherever they have been: at summer festivals, folk music festivals, rock festivals, club evenings all over Finland, performances in Italy, Belgium, Norway, France, Japan and Germany or even at the World Fair in Seville. This compilation contains a cross-section of the musical development of the Girls of Angeli. Today they are called “Angelit”, The Angelis, and with this name they continue their multi-faceted exploration and widening of musical boundaries, drawing inspiration from the great tradition of “the European Indians” and renewing it.
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