Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1980
Smiid dnan
Buy Smiid dnan now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
"'Smiid dnan'" (; ; describing the motherland of Spmi) was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980, performed by Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Htta. The song is sometimes mistaken for being in the Sami language. The words of the song were performed in Norwegian by Sverre Kjelsberg, while Mattis Htta contributed with the yoik chorus a Sami form of vocal music without words; the title of the song is however in the Northern Sami language, translating as "Sami Land" or "Sami Soil". There are no actual Sami words in the yoik chorus instead, the syllables "lo" and "la" are simply repeated, giving rise to another popular title for the song, "Lla".
Conception
The song was inspired by the autonomy movement among the Sami people of northern Norway, with the duo singing that the demand for autonomy was made in a very subdued manner. Mention is also made of the traditional music of the region, the yoik, which is described as being "stronger than gunpowder" in the lyrics. The line ("in front of the parliament where they sat, the yoik was heard day and night"), refers to a hunger strike by Sami activists in front of the Norwegian parliament building in October 1979 in connection with the Alta controversy, where Mattis Htta first performed the yoik that constituted the song's chorus. The song was thus performed the year before the contest. It describes the Sami world as coming like a "puff of wind from the north", before it turned into a "storm". The final lyrics of the song claim that "a yoik is more powerful than weapons... because it has neither a beginning nor an end."
Performance in the Eurovision Song Contest
The song was performed eleventh on the night, following 's Vesa-Matti Loiri with "Huilumies" and preceding 's Katja Ebstein with "Theater". At the close of voting, it had received 15 points, placing 16th in a field of 19.
Influence
This song was among the first instance of Sami influence on the wider culture of Europe. An excerpt from the song is sung by the Norwegian characters in the movie prequel 'The Thing'.
See also
*"Spirit in the Sky" by Keiino another song containing joik representing Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
References
"[https://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1270885?programid=4540 Ekospecial]", Sveriges Radio, 19 April 2019.
Category:Eurovision songs of Norway
Category:Eurovision songs of 1980
Category:1980 songs
Category:Smi in Norway
Category:Songs about indigenous peoples
Category:Political songs
Category:Environmental songs
Buy Smiid dnan now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1980