The Earth, Spring's Daughter (2015)

Eanan, giđa nieida (in Engl. The Earth, Spring’s Daughter) is a mythical epos illustrating the core experiences of the North and its people from the past to the present day. The text is a collage of Sami poetry, including poems from the iconic The Sun, My Father collection by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, and works from collections by Rose-Marie Huuva (Kiruna, Sweden) and Rauni Magga Lukkari (Tromsø, Norway) published in the early years of the 21st century. The oldest text is from 17th-century documents concerning the Skolt Sami and is about the experience of colonialism when the lands of the father were divided (song 3). The most recent text in the collage is from the same song and from the collection of poetry Árbeeadni (The Time of the Lustful Mother) by Rauni Magga Lukkari published in 2013. There are also a few lines from poems written by Aila Meriluoto in Swedish Lapland in the 1960s and from a collection of poetry by Timo Malmi on the theme of Greenland translated into Sami by Veikko Holmberg, a writer from Utsjoki, Finland.

The Earth, Spring’s Daughter begins in the metaphorical realm of the gods in which Spring gives birth to a daughter, Earth. The earth is wide open and deserted, and eternal time ascends and descends. The first song presents the work’s main themes and textures, and they slowly orbit, each on its own path, forever following one another – just as in Sami culture’s cyclical perception of time. The second song gives voice to the human; winged along by a magical celesta and vibraphone texture, it travels through and is part of the northerly world, its rocks, wind, water and sky. The earth is nevertheless divided in the third song and a lashing storm rages in the orchestra, only abating in the closing lullaby-like lament. The fourth song is the cycle’s core and is itself in cyclical form. The music surges onwards like an unstoppable force of nature to a dramatic twist in which the earth is suddenly putrid and plundered and there are no longer any signs of nature. Time stops in the fifth song: the strings’ chords are infinitely drawn out and the mezzo-soprano voice gropes at dreamy, fragmented ideas, enclosed in a world of its own. The sixth song is back in the North, but now no longer alone. The magic celesta and vibraphone dust familiar from the second song bursts into flame again, and a balmy early-autumn moon shines even over the ravaged shores. The last song finally draws a picture that has and is everything – and from which there is no return. The hauntingly beautiful song can nevertheless still be heard as if from behind a curtain…

The Earth, Spring’s Daughter (Eanan, giđa nieida) was commissioned jointly by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra (Finland), the Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra (Sweden) and the Arctic Philharmonic (Norway). I wish to thank Veikko Holmberg the writer, Provincial Artist Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Professor Pekka Sammallahti, and Edith Båhl from the Yykeänperä Sami Language Centre for their kind assistance, and the Lásságámmi Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation for their support for this project. The work is dedicated to John Storgårds and to Ulla-Maija Kanerva, for many years General Manager of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, who made of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra a beautiful garden for my work to blossom in.

- Outi Tarkiainen

I Prologue – The Earth, Spring’s Daughter
II In These Cold Lands We Migrate
III Our Father's Property Is Divided Today
IV This Late Evening Hour
V Not So Straight
VI Come And I Will Show You Secretly These Paths
VII I Inscribe These Images – Epilogue

Words: Rose-Marie Huuva, Rauni Magga Lukkari, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Leena Morottaja, Aila Meriluoto and Timo Malmi
Sámi translations (Meriluoto and Malmi): Veikko Holmberg
Collage: Outi Tarkiainen