New yoik produced as Sámi model of climate change impacts on the Deatnu river
A new yoik was released as part of the Sharing our knowledge project on the 4th of November, 2025. Yoiking in Sámi culture is a way of appreciating and describing a person or phenomena. The idea for a yoik as a model of the relationship between the river Sámi culture and the Deatnu river was coined at the River Dialogues across Sápmi tour, after a climate workshop using scientific methods to capture the opinions and voices of participants on climate risks and impacts on watersheds. The Sámi participants wanted another way of expressing climate change impacts using Indigenous traditions. The lyrics capture the relationship between the Sámi and the river and expresses sorrow over the environmental changes – especially the lack of salmon and invasion of new salmon species to the watershed.
The lyrics is fashioned – or dajahusat in Sámi language – by professor II Harald Gaski, who is part of the project and was recently celebrated in an honorary seminar at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences at his retirement Jubileumsseminar for professor Harald Gaski | Samisk Høgskole.
The tune was crafted by artist Niilas Holmberg from Ohcejohka Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg, who also participated in the International Indigenous Salmon Research Symposium organized by the project in 2024.
The yoik is illustrated with an art piece produced by the Sámi artist Kine Kjær, who participated in the River Dialogues workshops and captured the spirit of the trip in the context of invading pink salmon and attempts of capture by a large salmon fence.
Sharing Our Knowledge:
You can listen to the yoik here:
Stream Deatnu luohti by Camilla.brattland | Listen online for free on SoundCloud.
Read the lyrics in Sámi and with the English translation by Harald Gaski below. Sámi juoigit – artists – are encouraged to create their own versions of the yoik and can contact the Norwegian Arctic University Museum (The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø) for a copy.
