Ánde Somby

Ánde Somby, born in Buolbmat, Norway, is a traditional Sami joik artist and an associate professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tromsø, specializing in Indigenous Rights Law. [1]

He has been active yoiker from 1974. He has been performing with yoiks since he was 16 years old. A 'yoiker' is a person who yoiks (a type of singing) people, animals and landscapes within Sami culture and context. He has been performing both overseas and in many countries in Europe.

His characteristic as a yoiker is firstly that he is deeply rooted in the yoik tradition. Somby comes from to the reindeer herder yoik tradition from the tundra. That yoik tradition has an emphasis on pretty technical skills for example javzan. His father Aslak Somby was reindeer herder. Ánde Somby also comes from the yoik tradition from the villages of the eastern part of the north sámi. That tradition has its emphasis on melodic yoiking and yoiks that can carry narratives. His mother Karen Kristine Porsanger Somby resided in the village Sirbma. She practised as an arctic farmer and also as a professional in duodji. Ánde Sombys second characteristic as a yoiker is that he further developed the traditional joik techniques. He has expressive performances. The wolf yoik is a signature joik in this respect.

Somby is only one of few Sami with Ph.D in law (dr. juris). Sombys phD is titled "Juss som retorikk". In that thesis he reconnected the Nordic jurisprudence to the classical rhetorical tradition which dates back to Plato and Aristotle. In 2009, Somby was working on a project titled "Is the legal medium the legal message?", in which he attempted to apply Marshall McLuhan's mantra on the medium being the message to jurisprudence.

He has also been producing records with other yoikers. In 1985 he produced the LP record and MC cassette "Ean Máššan" with his father Aslak Somby (1913–2008) and mother Karen Kristine Porsanger Somby born 1920. in 1991 he produced the record Ravddas Ravdii with Inga Juuso. In 2000 he produced the record "Deh" and in 2003 Deh2 with his uncle Ivvár Niillas.

Somby is also one of the cofounders of the sámi publishing house and recordlabel Dat. Somby has also worked within band contexts as well as been a soloist for a symphoni orchestra. Together with the band Boknakaran from Tromsø and the accapella group Rosynka from Petrozavodsk in Russia Somby participated in the project "moya på Tvoja" (1998–2002). From 2003 to 2007 Somby was a member of the group Vajas (in English it means echo) and was the vocals and joiker for the band. His album Yoiking with the Winged Ones is due to be released in 2016.