Steemitbloggers is having a contest as to what your favorite song is and why. The problem is that you have to name only one song, regardless of mood and environment. There are so many songs to choose from. My all-time favorite band is Depeche Mode -- should I choose one of theirs? What about Godsmack, Disturbed, or System of a Down?
I'm 43 -- there have been a lot of songs at a lot of different times in my life. Do I tell you what song I sing to calm my nerves or the song I hum when I'm crying? What about the song that I sing when I'm lonely? What about the angry songs I listen to when I can't stand anyone around me and I just want to punch the wall a few times?
Music evokes emotion in a person -- do you want to be happy? Listen to something happy and you'll probably feel happy. Are you sad and need someone to commiserate with? What about if you want to get up and dance? What about if you're wistful and lonely but playful too?
The song I'm going to introduce you to today was sung on the Swedish television show, Talang Sverige 2014. It's a song called a joik from the Sami people of the Nordic countries, such as northern Finland, Demark, and Sweden.
A joik can be "deeply personal or spiritual in nature, often dedicated to a human being, an animal, or a landscape as a personal signature." It's not a song about the person of the place but the joiker tries to evoke that person or place through song. A number of joiks do not have words and are simply emotionally wrought rather than a sung poem or lyrics.
At one time, joiking was considered sinful as the Sami people were being Christianized. It was an evil pagan thing and no longer allowed in schools -- the church actually considered a complete ban on music other than Christian hymns in an attempt to remove joiking from the culture.
In 2014, Jon Henrik Fjallgren (I apologize for no dots above the a) sang a joik he called "Daniel's Joik" at Talang Sverige, basically Sweden's America's Got Talent. He joiked his best friend, Daniel, who had died recently -- and with this song, he won the contest.
What I want you to listen for is the emotion and heart-rendering that this song brings and remember -- the whole point of the song is to evoke his friend, to show us through joik who his friend was and what his friend was like.
Because of this, it is my favorite song.