I just couldn't pass the chance to blog about this song when the opportunity came up, since this is Music Tested on me when I was a Kid! In the beginning of the 80's, you know, the Eurovision was a big thing! Families gathered around the TV to watch the final, it was a long program but not as today with a gazillion countries participating...
The dispute surfaced again when the feature film The Thing (2011) used the joik in their trailer(and can be found here). What is disputed is what name "Sámiid Ædnan" should be called by. Marit Ketola Hætta proclaim that she made it to her nephew back in the mid 60's and called it "Issát Máhtte/Isak Mathis", and wants it to be called by that name. She even taught the famous Lappish artist Nils-Aslak Valkeapää it (see and hear it on a YLE clip from 1972 here). The joik can also be found on a LP from 1977 by the group Máze Nieddat (picture above).
Come 1980 and the Eurovision, Sverre Kjeldsberg and Mattis Hætta had renamed it to "Sámiid Ædnan" (translated into English - Lapland or Sami Earth). The dispute was quieted down since this was the first time in Norway that a Lappish joik had become popular amongst the whole population. In fact I still remember it and can joik it too!
By the end of the day it was placed 16th in the Eurovision, with a staggering 15 points, maybe Sverre Kjeldsberg's Luke Skywalker outfit would have given more points today!
enjoy! <3
sverre kjeldsberg and mattis hætta"sámiid ædnan"
from the vault