Audiovisual narratives of the Sami people at the beginnings of the Eurovision Song Contest (1960–1980)

Cogent Arts & Humanities ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oaah20 Audiovisual narratives of the Sami people at the beginnings of the Eurovision Song Contest (1960–1980) José Luis Panea To cite this article: José Luis Panea (2025) Audiovisual narratives of the Sami people at the beginnings of the Eurovision Song Contest (1960–1980), Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12:1, 2464370, DOI: 10.1080/23311983.2025.2464370 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2464370 © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 20 Feb 2025. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oaah20 Culture, Media & FilM | researCh artiCle Cogent Arts & HumAnities 2025, VoL. 12, no. 1, 2464370 Audiovisual narratives of the Sami people at the beginnings of the Eurovision Song Contest (1960–1980) José luis Panea Department of Aesthetics and History of Philosophy, university of seville, seville, spain ABSTRACT held annually since 1956 and attracting the continuing participation of most european countries, the eurovision song Contest (esC) is usually defined as the audiovisual counterpart to the contemporary history of the continent. regarding this issue, the narratives incorporated into the performances by each state television network can be understood as aesthetic-political messages. this is made explicit primarily by means of the performers’ place of origin, the chosen musical style and the language of the song lyrics. in this sense, the case of the sami ethnic minority, inhabiting four countries— Norway, sweden, Finland, and russia—is paradigmatic. Not constituting a de jure nation, their participation in the competition is only possible through other, officially recognised nation-states—a situation that has recurred several times in the contest. For this reason, this study will concentrate on the visibility of this community in the esC. the focus will be put on its first two decades (1960–1980), a crucial time for the assertion of the rights of the sami people, analysing three entries that set a precedent as to how this ethnic group would be represented in the context of the culture of spectacle, and at the same time suggesting their own particular audiovisual narratives. 1. Introduction and theoretical framework the eurovision song Contest (esC) is a music competition organised by the european Broadcasting union (eBu) in which different state television networks, mainly european, meet annually to compete for victory but also to share before an international audience (Yair, 2019, pp. 1013–1014) its music, its customs (Panea, 2020, p. 27), and even its values (Fornäs, 2017, p. 182). although many of those corporations often submit pop songs not referring in any way to their local traditions, inasmuch as the contest requires that every performer represent a state television, aesthetic and political identifications inevitably arise (Fricker, 2015, p. 8; Pajala, 2013, p. 78). such a unique competition, framed in the field of ‘media-events’ and ‘mega-events’ (Bolin, 2010, pp. 125–126), results in a ‘total social phenomenon’ (Petersen & ren, 2015, pp. 99–100). Furthermore, its longevity makes the show a pertinent object of study through which to approach european history and the aesthetic tastes prevailing in the continent in the field of popular culture over the last few decades (arntsen, 2005, p. 154). the reasons mentioned above point to the importance of the concept of narrative in the esC (Pajala, 2011, p. 408) and, additionally, to the spirit on which it was founded: that on which the project of the future european union (eu) was also built (Pajala, 2013, p. 81). thus, the contest is ‘a discourse from and on europe’ (lampropoulos, 2013, p. 140)—as well as on the West against the east—that emerged in the middle of the Cold War (Oliver, 2011, 7′15″). When talking about ‘discourse’, the very ability of narrate is relevant here because it brings to the table the figure of the narrator: the one who has the power to enunciate a message and at the same time be listened to (Martínez-Collado, 2008). this concept is interesting to this investigation in order to find the relationship between the voice of a minority such as the © 2025 the Author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT José Luis Panea [email protected] Department of Aesthetics and History of Philosophy, university of seville, C/Camilo José Cela s/n., C.P: 41018 seville, spain https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2464370 this is an open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY received 23 March 2024 revised 29 January 2025 accepted 4 February 2025 KEYWORDS Narratives; visuality; sami people; indigenous; eurovision song Contest SUBJECTS Visual Culture; race & ethnicity 2 J. l. PaNea sami and the mainstream context of a media event such as eurovision, very tied too with european institutions. regarding this issue, from the 1940s, some institutions such as the British Council and the united states information service were seeking to get closer to the eastern Bloc by means of ‘the musical programmes of Western radio stations, especially the BBC, radio Free europe, radio luxembourg and the Voice of america’ (Vuletic, 2018, p. 93). For that matter, since its inception the esC had been broadcast over the Oirt network (an analogue to the uer) throughout the satellite countries of the soviet union (Fornäs, 2017, p. 185), which proves how the contest was born with the will to reach the largest number of potential audiences—even those situated in the cultural and ideological antipodes of the emerging ‘new’ european society (hilder, 2017, p. 29; Yair, 2019, p. 1017). additionally, other values held by the not-yet ratified european Constitution have been displayed in the contest, especially the recognition of cultural diversity sanctioned through agreements such as the lisbon treaty (2007) (hilder, 2017, p. 28). With regard to this diversity, even though the homogenising idea of a single narrative of europe has been widely illustrated in the contest by countless stereotyped commercial pop songs, some remarkable and highly significative entries based on the local culture can also be detected (Yair, 2019, p. 1015). these performances have helped make certain minorities visible while motivating shifts in the way the public tend to perceive them (hilder, 2017, p. 29). this is especially relevant when these minorities do not properly form a state, or their recognition is limited. these entries, however critical of the most widespread and accepted musical styles, were not able by themselves to escape sometimes from falling into certain clichés (p. 33). the very structure of the show, in which each song is allowed to be performed only once and to last no longer than three minutes, forces the messages to be compressed and rendered as accessible as possible (Kalvig, 2020, p. 13; singleton etal., 2007, p. 17). although the more ‘ethnic’ contributions are in the minority, it is worth highlighting them since they can be postulated as narratives of resistance against the more mainstream entries. an ethnic group, in general terms, is a community whose members perceive themselves as such by carrying out a set of customs, by speaking a common language and, to a lesser extent, by sharing the same territory and certain phenotypic traits (Bhabha, 2011, p. 100; stolcke, 2011, p. 325). But such a highly problematic concept does not serve to define large population groups, as nations are, which would hardly fit in the definition, in addition to the fact that nations often bring together different ethnic groups (Motschenbacher, 2016, p. 71). Consequently, ethnicity is rather equated with kinship structures, its constitutive elements being so specific that any extrapolation to larger human groups would prove quite complicated (Giménez, 2006, p. 141). if the concept of resistance is brought up precisely at this point of the analysis of the esC it is, therefore, because the above-mentioned entries that tackle ethnic and local issues are inescapably excluded from the mainstream and from reaching wide audiences. they may sound odd, unfamiliar or simply funny, even picturesque, to the general public, failing both in the contest and outside it, as has often been the case (Motschenbacher, 2016, p. 44; Yair, 2019, p. 1017). as to the concept of narrative, this term can be interpreted as an act of power or domination (Jarque, 2002, pp. 53–54). Narratives involve the desire to create realities, even to impose them, and many of them are socially assumed in our everyday life, accepted uncritically by most human beings. thus, it might be pertinent to examine the very notion of narration—as postmodernism postulates—to make explicit its agenda, i.e. its politics (ruiz de samaniego, 2007, pp. 78–79), in order to be used in a non-imperative, thus reflexive, way. But it is also true that narrating is inherent to the eminently linguistic nature of human beings. Narrating is key to our cognitive structure as far as it facilitates our symbolising ability by the articulation of sentences that, in turn, result in texts and messages, thereby guiding our capacity to ‘build, inhabit, think’, in Martin heidegger’s famous terms (sánchez Meca, 2005, p. 45). the type of narration prevailing in the esC is of an audiovisual nature (Fornäs, 2017, p. 184), and the audiovisual is key to understand our current societies. While it is true that we live among stories, we also live among images, i.e. those ‘symbolic forms of knowledge and identity that are forged among different human cultures to structure spaces of meaning, and that circulate through different expressive means or languages’ (Jiménez, 2020, p. 15). in fact, the creation of images is a ‘specifically human activity’, even more specific than speech, as ana García Varas points out (2011, pp. 35–36). We are always surrounded by images, even more so in our current culture, where they constitute ‘the playing ground on which we deliberately move around’ (sánchez Fernández, 2019, p. 13). indeed, ‘getting COGeNt arts & huMaNities 3 completely out of the image is impossible, since that is the social articulation network that structures our world’, claims José Jiménez (2020, p. 12). Nonetheless, he adds that ‘it is possible […] to go beyond’ the image, which then would enable us, ‘through such questioning, to decipher what [it] conceals’ (p. 12). Following this idea, it can be observed that the esC, as part of the cultural industries, viz. entertainment, has promoted the conveyance of images of quite diverse nature throughout its history—which is no surprise when one considers the number of countries that have participated from 1956 to date. With such a long history, almost entirely available on the internet, the amount of material ‘to go beyond’ is really extensive (Pajala, 2022, p. 198). in fact, given that some of the tV networks, e.g. the German, swiss and French ones, have participated in the contest from its inception, it is even possible to pin down different directions or trends from among the songs presented (hindrichs, 2007, p. 55). Others, such as those of san Marino or azerbaijan, have just begun to forge their narratives in recent times (Vuletic, 2018, p. 195). therefore, an analysis of the typology of narratives that each one has outlined should be carried out to understand the multiple dimensions of the show. as García Varas writes about the role of images in the field of aesthetics today, a very characteristic feature of our times is the displacement of ‘horizontal borders between cultures’, which become diffuse and even disappear: ‘the Western canon, not only the artistic one but also the visual one in its full extent […], is seen as placed at an equal level with others. in many cases, the other cultures have not ceased to be other, and fusions and hybrids of different traditions are common’ (2011, p. 53). something similar can be noticed in the evolution of the esC. throughout its history, more and more countries have joined in and have then found themselves located quite near each other, despite being opposite in other fields (e.g. in politics) (Fornäs, 2017, p. 189). though apparently fostering a sort of inclusion awareness, this also sets a divide between the participating states. the images of ones and others gradually deposit a sediment. they are conveyed ‘as crystallisations of life experience […], hence their durability, the impression of eternity they make on us’ (Jiménez, 2020, p. 24). images are inherently projective, which is reinforced by our aim and desire to share them. in the case of the esC, the tendency among the diverse participating nations to follow a single direction, consolidated through aesthetic resources (Fornäs, 2017, p. 184), motivates peculiar habits and methods that shape what each state tV network wants to signify. this is achieved not only by means of the music score, but also through the scenery, the singers’ outfits, their performance and the choreography (Pajala, 2022, p. 194). the vocation for projection is also political inasmuch as it often entails the purpose to convey a message—to tell a story (singleton et al., 2013, p. 101). therefore, the esC, watched by many millions of viewers, seems the ideal platform to assert those messages or stories that do not take a prominent position in the headlines of the global map (Yair, 2019, p. 1016). in this paper, an analysis will be conducted of the most relevant entries in relation to the subjects of their narratives, stressing their potential resistances and establishing links between aesthetics and politics in the case of the sami contributions to the esC representing Norway and Finland. in both countries, a great deal of debate has traditionally arisen concerning both european identity (Vuletic, 2018, p. 12) and sami identity, the latter being part of the national fabric (Berg, 2008, p. 10). here it can be found, again, the relationship between the local and the global in the contest. in view of the fact that the participation in the esC can contribute to the promotion of certain national identifications, the show has also become the privileged arena for all the ‘marginalized groups’ who get together ‘to celebrate’ its differences ‘through music and spectacle’ (Waysdorf, 2020, p. 298). such is the case with its huge popularity among the lGBtiQ+ audience, but also with other subordinate identities (Baker, 2017, p. 110; hilder, 2017, p. 37). For this reason, it may prove revealing to turn to the case of sami visibility, in order to create a counterpoint and to challenge the stereotypes and the ideal of national identity as a political fiction (arntsen, 2005, p. 149, 152). Finally, regarding the above-mentioned audiovisual nature of the contest, the focus of our investigation will be both the music and the lyrics of the songs selected and the mise-en-scène of their performances. the mise-en-scène theory (Gibbs, 2002; Martin, 2014; Pavis, 2013) is very useful here to understand the multimedia dimension of the esC entries beyond the music. Following the description of sunhee lee, the mise-en-scène encompasses the performer ‘position and gestures, costume, set design, props, lighting and audio effects’ (2016, p. 412). 4 J. l. PaNea 2. Objectives and methodology the main objective of this article is to identify the ways in which the sami ethnic group was represented in the beginnings of the eurovision song Contest. Given that this people have never established itself as a nation-state in its own right, they have needed to take part in the competition through the tV networks of the countries they inhabit, all of them regular contestants. three cases will be analysed that correspond with three quite different moments between the ‘60s and the ‘80s of the last century. the first is the Norwegian entry of 1960, with Nora Brockstedt performing the song ‘Voi-Voi’, composed by Georg elgaaen; the second, the 1977 Finnish tV submission, ‘lapponia’, sung by Monica aspelund and authored by aarno raninen and herself; and finally, the Norwegian ‘sámiid Ædnan’, a song written by sverre Kjelsberg and ragnar Olsen and performed by the duo formed by Kjelsberg and Mattis hætta, who competed in the 1980 edition. a secondary objective is to find the interconnections between all three acts in order to elucidate possible differences in: (a) the motifs present in the representation of the sami; (b) the costumes, which raises the problem of their staging; and (c) its reception within and without the contest. an assessment will be carried out as to whether the forging of all these elements has succeeded in making them possible audiovisual narratives of resistance—somehow helping the sami culture to express itself and to have its image enhanced—or, on the contrary, they have further aestheticised it. summarising the concept of ‘audiovisual narrative’ pointed out in the second paragraph of the introduction on the basis of various authors, from aesthetics (Fricker, 2015; Jarque, 2002; Jiménez, 2020; García Varas, 2011; ruiz de samaniego, 2007), anthropology and Cultural studies (Baker, 2017; Bhabha, 2003; Björnberg & Bossius, 2017; lampropoulos, 2013; Yair, 2019) or history of Media (Bolin, 2010; Fornäs, 2017; Pajala, 2011; Vuletic, 2018; Waysdorf, 2020), this concept covers those symbolic practices that use the moving image to send messages that often cannot be expressed textually. specifically, messages that have to do with the visibilisation of certain stories, often from the everyday, subaltern or underground stories veiled by the hegemony of the mass media. regarding that point, the term aestheticization is understood here as the process by which symbolic practices—among them, the moving image—whiten and embellish certain problematic or subversive questions by means of evocative and persuasive tools. its objective, thus, is to deactivate them politically. this question, already studied by authors such as Benjamin (2015, p. 26), resonates strongly today around practices of whitewashing or pinkwashing (Gross, 2015), recently perceivable at the esC (Baker, 2017, p. 102). the methodology of this article will be one focused on the case study (ríos hernández & Pinto arboleda, 2019, p. 38), with a primarily exploratory and descriptive approach (Martínez Carazo, 2006), and drawing from the analysis of both audiovisual (viz. the recordings of the esC) and textual academic sources (i.e. works, both on the contest and on the history of the sami community, belonging to the fields of aesthetics, Cultural studies and anthropology). the three case studies, the three performances mentioned above have been selected because only they contain references to sami culture in their songs (lyrics and music) as well as in their mise-en-scène in the first twenty years of the competition. studying these contributions is also inseparable from an investigation of their performers. to find these three examples, all editions of the show during this period have been watched, noting that only three performances address this topic. Nonetheless, although they do not come from the sami ethnic group, there are more artists born in lapland who represent—in this case—Norway in the competition during this period. since they do not include ethnic elements in said proposals, they have simply been mentioned. however, since 2000 more examples of sami artists at the esC can be found—roger Pontare (sweden 2000), agnete (Norway 2016) or Fred Buljo (Norway 2019)—, as well as themes related to their culture, also in the national pre-selections, such as the swedish Melodifestivalen or the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix. For this reason, and noting there is hardly any research about these early performances, this study can provide a basis, a solid ground to understand these later entries in future research. the investigation will be accompanied by a parallel analysis of the sami resistance movements in these decades, drawing on the most relevant literature on the subject (among others, see Gaski, 2008; hilder, 2015; Jones-Bamman, 2001; Kalvig, 2020; Paine, 1985; ren & thisted, 2021; svensson, 1987). the aim is thus to examine in greater depth the context in which these three entries were born, also targeting other related sami COGeNt arts & huMaNities 5 artists in this time, even if they are not properly involved in the competition. all in all, a broader perspective on the three entries studied will be attained, which will afford a better understanding of them, in line with some of the latest methodologies (focused indeed on the contest itself), like the propounded by Gómez-Pérez and Pérez-rufí (2022) and Pérez-rufí and Valverde-Maestre (2020). 3.The Sami people and the ESC the sami people, commonly labeled as ‘the only indigenous people in the european union’ (ren & thisted, 2021, p. 302), inhabits a region in northern scandinavia internationally known as lapland, which they call ‘sápmi’ (hansen, 2015, p. 3). the term ‘indigenous’ having replaced the former ‘primitive’ (ren & thisted 2021, p. 303), it still designates those communities that maintain a sound oral and spiritual tradition, as opposed to ‘modern’ societies, and lack ‘complex administrative structures’ (p. 303). in this regard, dyck (1985) and alfred (1999), among others, provided a thorough understanding of indigenous identity in the context of the emergence of Cultural studies, and which relationship with nationalism (hobsbawm & ranger, 2000) has been recently studied too (Oksanen, 2020). at that point, it is noteworthy to state that the nationalism expressed by indigenous people is based not so much in a question of borders, but in the preservation of cultural practices or ways of life, where aesthetics plays a key role. according to Oksanen ‘indigenous nationalism is not premised on establishing new nation-states, or on capturing existing ones, but on renegotiating indigenous–settler-state relations to gain acceptance for indigenous customary practices as the basis for self-governance’ (2020, p. 1154). in the concrete case of the sami people, despite the fact that the united Nations report Our Common Future (1987) upholds the idea that these people possess a vast treasure of ‘experiential’ wealth (ren & thisted 2021, p. 303), they have constantly suffered the consequences of imperialism throughout history (hilder, 2017, p. 29). this is a shared story with other indigenous around the globe, as in the case of australian aboriginals, a topic also studied in the context of the esC due to the recent participation of australia’s tV broadcaster sBs (Collins & Barker, 2019). having lived in isolation for centuries due to the lack of appeal of their inhospitable land, the northwards expansion of the kingdoms of sweden and Norway in the 16th century (Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 199) would end up colliding with the sami territory, which then became restricted to a west-east strip along the north coast of scandinavia (ren & thisted 2021, p. 303). as early as in 1595 and 1613, the treaties of täyssinä and Knäred entailed the first partition of lapland between sweden and Norway. in 1751, the lapp Codicil was signed, allowing the sami to herd their reindeer freely and to maintain their traditional ways of life (Berg, 2008, p. 10). however, the expansion of railways and highways in the 19th and 20th centuries once again cut off the deer migration routes and their grazing areas (ahlness & Gauto, 2019, p. 64). With the rise of nationalisms, a series of assimilation policies spread, including the sami being violently forced to convert to Christianity (ahlness & Gauto, 2019, p. 64). their language was also prohibited. the constant discrimination they suffered (Berg, 2008, p. 11) exploded in the Kautokeino revolution (1858), when ‘a group of sami rose up against the Norwegian authorities and exploitative merchants’ (ahlness & Gauto, 2019, p. 65). But only in the 20th century would ‘the first pan-sámi meeting’ take place, ‘in trondheim in 1917’ (hilder, 2015, p. 35). however, after Finland had aligned itself with the Nazi Germany, the lapland War (1944–1945) led to the devastation of their towns by the red army. Only after the passing of the universal declaration of human rights by the uN in 1948 could the sami effectively assert their rights, making a significant breakthrough in this regard (Berg, 2008, p. 11). From the 1950s onwards they started an aesthetic-political movement (involving music among other cultural expressions), which, in the absence of sound institutions, became an alternative tool for recognition. it was at that point when the esC was born. although being a national of the country is not an esC prerequisite for either the composers or the performers of a participant in the competition, as far as the sami represent a part of their territory there are four countries that would more likely be willing to incorporate them into their respective competing delegations. they are Norway (which participates through the state tV network NrK), sweden (through the sVt), Finland (through the Yle), and russia (through the C1r).1 thus, ‘under the national confines of the esC, the indigenous or other sub-national identities can only enter under the auspices of states 6 J. l. PaNea (through their broadcasting companies)’ (ren & thisted 2021, p. 311). however, these communities can take the opportunity to subvert, in their own best interest, the very framework they are afforded (p. 311). Whereas russia (when still a member of the eBu) never made the sami problem visible, the Norwegian, swedish and Finnish tV networks have done so, in diverse ways. On account of the persistence of the identity-driven calls to the concept of nation, not only through music, but also through images hoisting that concept (Billig, 2014, p. 24), it is inevitable to read the audiovisual productions performed in the esC in political terms, as mentioned above (Fornäs, 2017, p. 189; lampropoulos, 2013, p. 141). in fact, the staging has, since the first edition, stood out for the incorporation of visual elements that accompany the narratives of the participating songs, with an increasing ‘emphasis on the spectacle’ (Pajala, 2011, p. 410)—noticeable in the sophistication of the costumes and the introduction of choreography and props, arranged by the competing delegations to dialogue with the hosting stage (Pajala, 2022, p. 193). Overall, a great variety of set designs are found throughout the history of the esC. some projects simply show off the possibilities of the space, lighting and tV production, adding spectacular props too. Others prefer to address some thematic lines, so often related to the culture of the host country, inspired by its cities, its cultural heritage or its landscapes (Panea, 2020, p. 34; 2022, p. 233). however, as stage elements at large were still rare in the esC in the period covered by this study, the set design is not really a significant feature. similarly, other visual elements, such as the ‘postcards’ (the short introductory videos aired between the performances) and the promotional music videos of the contestants, only later became established. Nonetheless, an exception will be mentioned below—’lapponia’—which rare music video will be relevant for the analysis. in sum, the most important visual elements on those entries are related to outfits, and in a minor way lighting and live production. 3.1. ‘Voi-voi’ (1960) and the Sami during the 1950s and 1960s Given that the sami do not constitute an independent nation-state, with their population spread across several countries, it initially seemed unlikely that they would manage to be represented in any way at the esC. however, it was the song with which Norway made its debut in the contest—in the london 1960 edition—the one that first directly alluded to this community (hilder, 2017, p. 32). On that occasion, the NrK signed the performer Nora Brockstedt (Oslo, 1923–2015), who sang Georg elgaaen’s song ‘Voi-voi’. even though this title includes an expression in the sami language, this was in fact the only nod to the vernacular. the remainder of the lyrics were fully written in Norwegian. ‘Voi-voi’ appeared in a context of heated debate on the sami question. Only four years before, in 1956, the Nordic sami Council was founded (Berg, 2008, p. 11) and a sami committee proposed to break away from the ‘Norwegianisation’ policy, a petition passed in the Norwegian Parliament in 1960 (p. 11). Nonetheless, music was, as mentioned above, an alternative way to spread their messages, at that time beginning to have an impact on the scandinavian countries (hilder, 2015, pp. 58–59). the best-known performer from that decade was sven-Gösta Jonsson, who sang in swedish (Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 192) and would incorporate jazz and rock sounds into his songs, as elgaaen did. the main purpose of these creations was to spread sami culture, through lyrics, normally in swedish, Norwegian, or Finnish (p. 195). in fact, at the time under focus most of the singers could barely speak the sami languages, which comes as no surprise when considering the assimilation policies prevailed for more than two centuries (p. 191). likewise, the joik, a traditional singing technique, was only occasionally mentioned in the lyrics of elgaaen’s song (pp. 192–193). From a musical and lyrical perspective, ‘Voi-voi’ mirrors Jonsson’s works. it is an up-tempo song, in which ‘the minor-mode song is accompanied by full orchestra and jazz band’ (hilder, 2017, p. 33). its short duration (2′30″) and intricate structure (chorus – two stanzas – chorus – instrumental bridge – chorus) make it a truly dynamic piece, with ‘the playful orchestral writing’ (hilder, 2015, p. 58) standing out. While the music has nothing to do with the sami culture, the lyrics describe a relationship between a sami girl and her boyfriend. she comes apparently from the south of the country, from an indeterminate region referred to as ‘the valley’. ‘Voi-voi, voi-voi, high up there in the mountains, can you hear my greeting?’, sings the girl repeatedly (Brockstedt, 1960). the utterance of the peculiar greeting is thus highlighted by the subsequent question about it. COGeNt arts & huMaNities 7 another remarkable excerpt goes as follows: ‘Voi-voi, i want to tell you i’m waiting for you. in a small valley, far to the north, where the sun shines all night long. in a small valley, far to the north, i heard a sami girl sing’ (Brockstedt, 1960). While the song is obviously about the wait and the fate of the girl (both common tropes in light music to address feminine condition), at the same time suggests the possibility for her to go down to the valley, ‘on saturday night’, to see her sweetheart. despite the emphasis on ‘heteronormative desire’ and ‘classic gender roles’ (hilder, 2017, pp. 33–34), the lyrics can also be construed as dealing with the relations between two distant bodies, two distant cultures too (Fornäs, 2017, p. 214). the possibility of their rapprochement is hinted at, although through the dichotomy between masculine and feminine, all of it in the shape of a call to romantic love livening up the act. On a visual level, the entry is reminiscent of sami aesthetics through the gákti dress she wore (Kalvig, 2020, p. 7), albeit in a white version—also featured on the cover of the single—of the colourful original. On account of this detail, the proposal ‘is often criticised today for its exoticised representation of the sámi’ (hilder, 2015, p. 58). actually, Brockstedt is not of sami descent nor was anyone in the production team (p. 58). especially interesting is the cover of the vinyl containing the piece, which shows the singer in a forest in the role of the girl the song is about, next to a speech bubble including the expression ‘Voi-voi’. all these visual elements reinforce the exoticism of the content, framed in a rural setting. as regards the scenery, the production presented by the BBC (which organised the event that year) was a remarkable display (Pajala, 2022, p. 192). in order to explicitly allude to the setting depicted by the song, a background set consisting of a board cut-out in triangular shapes resembling a mountainous landscape was built for Brockstedt’s performance. regarding to the tV production, only four shots compound this audiovisual piece: two american shots of the singer taken frontally, a full shot of the seated public in the theatre, and a medium shot taken obliquely, which establishes a greater closeness between spectator and singer. despite the clichés, such was the reception of the song that the singer returned to the competition the following year (O’Connor, 2007, p. 19) with the song ‘sommer i Palma’, composed by Jan Wølner and egil hagen (Brockstedt, 1961), but in this case not related to sami culture. all in all, both entries took good places, fourth and seventh respectively, which is noteworthy, considering the chain of disappointments the voting would bring to NrK over the ensuing years (arntsen, 2005, p. 147). Brockstedt, who had a prolific career, was indeed the most popular Norwegian singer of the period (arneberg, 2015). to sum up, in accordance with our first objective we can note that the sami were represented in this first case study by a popular singer, a leading authority in the field of light music, but distanced from the culture of said ethnic group. this representation was oriented from a friendly and playful, but also stereotypical, perspective. although the music does not incorporate any ethnic references, there are allusions to ethnicity in the lyrics. the sami people are linked to a female figure (the girl) connected to nature and magic as well, taking one of the expressions of the sami language simply as the leitmotif of the song. the scenography and costumes used in the performance reinforce this idea (Figure 1). however, after the precedent set by the success of ‘Voi-Voi’, the sami theme would no longer be present in any NrK submissions for the following two decades, with the relative exception of the participation of two non-sami singers born in the Norwegian lapland: Kirsti sparboe (tromsø, 1946), in 1965, 1967, and 1969; and Odd Børre (harstad, 1939–2023), in 1968. None of them included any reference to sami culture in their songs. But it is noteworthy to state that late ‘60s saw some advances in the sami struggle—an ‘ethnic mobilization’ in its own right, as the media of the time put it (Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 195)—after a series of industrialisation policies enforced in lapland, with a strong opposition from the locals, who reacted by founding, in 1968, the political party Norwegian sami association (Nsr) (Berg, 2008, p. 11). in the same year, a new outstanding cultural celebrity emerged: the sami singer Nils-aslak Valkeapää. Finnish-born, in his album ‘Joikuja’ (Valkeapää, 1968) sang in the sami northern dialect, thus going one step further than Jonsson and Brockstedt. Besides, he incorporated joik into his compositions, in combination with other sung stanzas (Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 194, pp. 196–197). the joik had an important symbolic value. associated with shamanistic rituals (p. 193), was condemned during the ‘Norwegianisation’ period and described as primitive and barbarous, on account of its simple, repetitive, poor structure and its lack of instrumental accompaniment and textual narrative (Paine, 1987, p. 176). 8 J. l. PaNea 3.2. ‘Lapponia’ (1977) and the Sami during the 1970s in the 1970s took place the implementation of government incentives for sami herders from Norway, sweden and Finland to abandon their profession with the aim of industrialising their lands (ahlness & Gauto, 2019, p. 64). in response, in 1971 the Norwegian sami Council was established, which served to assert claims over their right to land, and in 1975 the sami people participated in the World Council of indigenous Peoples (WCiP) (Berg, 2008, p. 11). it was also a time of creative effervescence. some artistic works, such as John Persen’s opera ‘under Kors og Krone’ (1976)—which deals with the Kautokeino rebellion, a case of ethnic resistance—became overtly political (hilder, 2015, pp. 58–59). in the same vein, the following years saw the creation of the first sami publishing house and the first radio station, as well as their own educational Council. all these actions allowed them to disseminate their culture, especially their music (Berg, 2008, p. 12; Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 197). as far as the esC is concerned, this time the Finnish state television network took over the representation of the sami on two consecutive occasions. the singer Monica aspelund (Vaasa, 1946) aspired to represent her country in 1976 with the song ‘Joiku’, co-wrote with aarno raninen (aspelund, 1976), but failed to be shortlisted at the national qualification stage of the contest. in 1977, she ran again, and this time succeeded in reaching the final, which took place in london, with the song ‘lapponia’, also co-authored with raninen. as can be seen, the titles of both songs relate to sami culture. the term ‘Joiku’ of the first one is an inflection of joik, the vocal technique imitated by aspelund in her singing (Gaski, 2008, p. 359). as regards ‘lapponia’, it immediately takes us to that region. Nonetheless, as said before, it would be more correct the use of the term ‘sápmi’, as this community find ‘lapponia’ derogatory, being mainly used by foreigners (Jones-Bamman, 2001, p. 190). On a visual level, and specifically costume-wise, whereas in ‘Joiku’ aspelund’s dress sported the typical colors of the gákti (red, blue, and yellow), the performance of ‘lapponia’ did not incorporate any striking sami-related elements other than a silver necklace, a pair of earrings and a bracelet inspired by local craftsmanship. however, the rest of her outfit was interesting because it included a nod to the country that actually submitted the song. aspelund wore a stripped-back poncho and a slanted skirt, all strictly white decorated with a dark blue stripe parallel to the hem of the poncho. these colours correspond to those of the Finnish flag—a ‘banal’ way, according to Billig (2014), to conjure up the country. the evocation is further reinforced by other means in the promotional music video, which opens with a close-up of an ancient map of scandinavia lying on the rack of the piano on which raninen’s hands are playing the accompaniment. aspelund is standing behind the instrument and looks at the camera while singing, dressed similarly as in ‘Joiku’. a scene follows a set in a snow-covered landscape, where the singer appears in several shots wearing a knit cap and a scarf, acting to feel cold. a group of extras is seen drawing the letters Yle (the acronym for the Finnish state tV network) on the snowed ground. 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